Hi All,

I guess we can say this was an easier day--only 84 miles--funny how we can change our minds.  I giggle when I think of how proud I was when I could ride all the hills on Cathedral Oaks Road--we must have had 100 of those yesterday--rolling country and it never stopped all day.  I sure had the wrong idea about S Dakota.--I thought it was really flat but not so when you get on a bike.  Today was a treat after the battle with the wind yesterday for so many miles.  I found out at breakfast how many of the BIG guys felt like they had been beaten yesterday so it wasn't just little "twiggy" me.

Today started with the first 35 miles facing into that same awful wind--then it just disappeared and the day ended up being beautiful.  We spent quite a bit of the day riding along the Missouri River--I"m amazed how beautiful it is here--the Missouri by Omaha is so different and "muddy".The town of Chamberlain nestles up to the river and it is so unique and beautiful.  We had two BIG hills to climb to get to this beautiful town-about 2400 people. I didn't know how many pedals I would have in me today but made it OK and got in about 4:15.  It is really hot here--probably 100 degrees so had to fight the heat this afternoon--my honey found me at the second SAG stop about 1:30 and it was starting to get really hot then so I'm always so happy to see him.  Afraid we'll have more heat to deal with--we've been  so lucky to have such beautiful weather.

Something else that was exciting today--we crossed over a line today so we now have ridden over half way across America--that is really awesome to be able to say that.  We just get up every day and pedal until we finish--no matter how many miles it happens to be.  Believe it or not, it's 8:30 and I'm thinking about bed--4:30 or 5:15 am comes pretty fast!

Love,

Patricia