September 16, 2021 - Randolph, NE to Sioux Falls, South Dakota

The word for the day was wind. From the time we started until well past the finish (even as I write this) the wind had been blowing strong all day. I mean 20-30 mph strong! They were blowing from the south/south east and of course, Tobey was riding mostly east so a cross wind all day.

He left Randolph about 8am today ready to finish this ride.

Again, today he got to experience all kinds of road conditions as well.

Tobey was able to take some interesting shots of the scenery as he made his way across the last part of the state.

Our lunch break was at Willis, Nebraska. Just east of there we both stopped to look at the “Sentinels of the Prairie” display.

The “sentinels” are a large collection of vintage windmills that existed from the 1880s through the late 1930s. Most of the old mills are from the Howard and Barvetta McLain collection of Carroll, Nebraska. They spent many hours searching the entire Midwest to find the iron parts. Many of the mills have parts from 4 to 5 different like mills.




It was interesting to walk through all the different windmills and read all the informational signs about each one.

From here I headed into Sioux City to get gas and meet Tobey at the Louis and Clark Interpretive Center. My part on this section was pretty boring compared to his!

He had a beautiful view of the Missouri River before crossing the state line into Iowa.

The bridge had a good “pedestrian” walk he was able to ride across.
 

Past the bridge supports, you could see the “Welcome to Iowa” sign. He made it!!!

Only a few more miles and we would meet up at the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center located along the Missouri River. Today’s ride was 57.8 miles making a total of 483 miles in nine days!

We spent a little time in the Interpretative Center before heading to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The folks here are patriotic – the bales are wrapped in red, white, and blue!

Falls Park was our stop in Sioux Falls. We did the “express tour” because it was getting late.

It is a beautiful park with many trails and informational signs about the history of the falls and mill. Even Lewis and Clark stopped here.
We are camping in Sioux Falls tonight and will head west toward Colorado tomorrow.

It was an challenging ride across Nebraska. They have a way to go before the Cowboy Trail will be completed. From several folks we talked to, many of the farmers in the area were not happy about having the “rails to trails” system build in Nebraska. They assumed the railroad would turn the land back to them when it stopped running. Funding has come from several grants and the trails contract with the Game and Parks division for upkeep, but they only get so much money every year and it isn’t enough to adequately maintain the trail. Tobey and Phil enjoyed the ride but it was definitely challenging!