FJR Adventures: 2024 Trip 1

May 2, 2024

The wind blew most of the night and the rain came early in the morning but my tent stayed up and dry. It was chilly but stuffed inside my sleeping bag and floating off the ground on my air mattress, I stayed warm enough. I slept pretty well, doing a lights out before 10 pm and didn’t get up until 5:45, a few minutes later than my usual get up time.

However, rain is predicted to last until 9am so I took my time getting the day started. I read a book on my Kindle for a while and then started repacking some things while the rain pattered on the tent. I had my “overnight oatmeal” mix with me that works just as well by adding water and waiting 30 minutes so I had that and the orange juice I’d picked up the night before. About 8:15 it sounded like the rain was done so I got up and did all the usual morning chores and got the bike loaded up.

I got gas at the station where Hwy 212 goes through town and then headed south toward Howe.

The big change in plans, and I think I mentioned this in my previous post, is that I decided to get to Interstate 90 and ride The Slab to Blue Earth. It’s almost 480 miles and with the late start and a time change I wanted to shave off a little time if I could.

The ride out of town took me through alternating flat and rolling countryside, some of it farmed and some of it ranched.

I rode Hwy 73 south to where it joined Hwy 34 and took that east for quite a ways. 73 turned off south and I stayed on 34 to Pierre, SD. Although I’ve never been here before, with a tight time frame I only had a quick look and stopped to get gas. There was a car at the next island with the license plate “Quiet.” When he fired up those fart cans, it was anything but.

It was about 30 miles to get to I-90 and the crosswinds out of the west were tough but I’ve had so much practice dealing with them by now they don’t really bother me.

Once on I-90, it was, well, The Slab. The wind was behind me and I just set the cruise control to slightly below the speed limit and let the miles go by. I did stop at rest areas a few times to stretch and once to eat the other sandwich I’d brought. Traffic was light and there were no unexpected events.

The wind was blowing but, lucky for me, it was coming from behind me.

Another gas stop, this one in Mitchell, SD.

Another rest stop, this one as I entered Minnesota..

I arrived at the campground at the fairgrounds in Blue Earth and was welcomed by the host and his wife. Very helpful and friendly. They’d had serious rain earlier and he suggested a site on higher ground so I took site #1 and got things set up.