I started riding among corn fields and I ended surrounded by corn fields.
And guess what, I saw nothing but corn fields all day.
The first (and only) town I passed through was Midland, South Dakota - a small, quiet community with a nice park to rest my legs.
This park even had a free tent camping area - something I haven't really seen before. I almost wish I would have stayed the night in Midland, just to avail of the camping area, but I still had 30 or 40 miles to ride.
It is nice to see such a well-maintained public area. No RV hookups, no campfire pits, just a flat spot for travelers with tents.
From Midland, I turned north, catching an amazing tailwind. The road looked like this the entire way.
Infinite fields, infinite rollers, infinite road.
Just after turning east again, I ran across this Little Brown Church, just outside of Hayes.
Even more interesting was a single tree standing in the middle of the fields. I never thought a tree would be so interesting, but I hadn't seen one in a few hours.
And this one was captivating; I rested my legs for a couple minutes, just staring at the tree.
Within a few minutes, I passed through Hayes and stopped at the rest area on the side of the road. Little more than a set of picnic tables and two outhouses, it was a perfect place to setup camp. Especially with the potential for rain tonight.
This is where things get interesting. A car pulls up, just as I am finishing eating my dinner. A gentleman gets out, sits on the bench across from me and just starts talking to me.
But he opens with, don't worry, I have prescriptions for all the drugs I have.
Bam, red flag! He told me that he was meeting someone there to discuss some things, and turned the conversation to the story of his life. I rarely spoke a word, as this guy commandeered the entire conversation.
After three hours or so, the sky already dark, he decided to take off - the person he was supposed to meet never showed up. At this point, I contemplated leaving and setting up camp somewhere else. Would anyone else show up?
I opted to stay, not having any energy to move, but tried to hide myself the best I could behind some trees. This experience, by far, was the most unsettled I've felt in the last three months.
On the bright side, he insisted on taking a photo of me with the sunset.
And it was a spectacular sunset.
Joe