Well let's just say that I couldn't write last night because I wouldn't have known where to start. Wind. Welcome to South Dakota. We started early from the Badlands after watching a beautiful sunset and staying up to look at the unspoiled night sky. A breeze at 5AM foreshadowed what was to come later that morning. The southeasterly wind intensified and was fairly strong by 10AM. Luckily we were zig-zagging north and east throughout the day so the wind was with us park of the very long day. Finally arriving in Hayes, thoroughly whipped, there was nowhere to stay except a roadside park (basically another rest area). The park had shelter though the structure acted as a wind tunnel. Eddie and I chatted with an older couple traveling in their RV. The woman told us tales of how they had to drive through rain and the tragedy in that she had forgotten her raincoat. I didn't have too much sympathy knowing that we'd be sleeping in our tent tonight baking in the nylon and hoping it didn't get blown away with us in it. We used the picnic tables to create a barricade attempting to block at least part of the wind which continued to beat on our tent well into the night and early morning.

We started a little after dawn. We tried to catch both dusk and dawn to see the Badlands in some interesting light. Since all roads are at right angles in South Dakota our route today would go N, E, N, E. The wind was a constant SSE wind. It was great going North because the tailwinds would push us along the road. The last 5 mile eastward section of the day took us 1 hour to complete because of our exhaustion and the high winds.

With nowhere in sight to lay down our tent, we hoped the owner of the Oasis Too would shed some good news on us. She did not. Her recalcitrant demeanor pointed us down the road to a rest area with a couple of outhouses.