Lewis and Clark Cycling Trek

Thursday, July 07, 2005

Pierre, SD to Bob's Resort (No town)- Day 19- 57.05 miles

The big event for this day was the weather. It was fairly hot and humid. As we biked along we were able to watch a thunderstorm develop to our south and west. Here on the praire, one can see so far and so well (with no trees to block the view) that we could actually see the storm get revved-up, complete with lightning and heavy rain. The storm remained off to our left and never reached us. Anyhow it carried on for about 1 hour then as quickly as it developed, it dissapated and disappeared. Interesting! This was a difficult day for only one reason. We miscalculated our mileage. We both thought we were doing a 44 mile day, which isn't too bad...but around noon we checked the map and realized that it was a 60 miler instead. That bummed both of us out. We had started later in the morning, thinking it wouldn't be too long, then when we are over halfway there, we realize we have a third more to go. It's hard to stay motivated. We finally arrived at Bob's Resort, sort of in the middle of nowhere. We had not seen any sign of a town, restaurant, or even a convenience store in 60 miles...nothing but prairie! It seems so strange. Back in Indiana, one cannot go for more than 15 or 20 miles until coming to another town. We did see pheasant and prairie dogs along the roadside and we tried barking at the praire dogs...they were not fooled. Bob's Resort had an open campground with just a few small trees, a bathhouse, a convenience store, and an evening restaurant. I must say a word about the restaurant. It was located on a bluff about 1000 feet over the Missouri River. One could look out its expansive picture windows on the winding Missouri with a beautiful old bridge crossing it. The view was worth the cost of the meal alone. That night about 11:00 p.m. a storm hit us like no other I had ever experienced! It lasted for almost 4 hours. 60+ mph winds, torrencial rains, and constant lightning. At the height of the storm, I was bracing the southwest pole of the tent to keep it from collapsing on us. Holding a metal pole in thunderstorm is probably not the most sane thing I have ever done, but the lightning was mostly cloud-to-cloud and I didn't feel too threatened by it. The rain stopped long enough at 2:30 a.m. for me to go out and check the tent stakes and guylines I had set up in the afternoon. Everything held well and the tent remained almost completely dry. Another crisis averted.
Seventh Grade Question:
There is a very handy and simple formula (that could save your life) that calculates the closeness of a thunderstorm to your location. What is the formula? Hint: It involves the speed of light and sound.

-ClarkWheel

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