North to South Dakota

Thursday,  July 20, 2023

Bowman North Dakota to Buffalo South Dakota 

We didn't have far to go today so we had breakfast and left around 845am. Finally, we headed south. After yesterday's huge wind, it was surprising to me how calm today was. We still had about 7 mph tailwind,  so that was nice.  The temperature got up to 88, but the breeze still felt cool. There were rolling hills, green pastures, some bluffs and some creeks and ponds. And lots of hay bales. 

US85 (aka CanAm Highway) was nice until we got to South Dakota,  then it was bumpy and the shoulder was crumbled and potholed. We had to stay on the road just to ride. We moved onto the terrible shoulder when traffic came.

We stopped at the Crooked Creek bar in Ludlow SD. We got there about 15 minutes before it opened but Suzette, the owner, saw us and invited us in.  She was very kind and talkative. The town of Ludlow has a population of 7, which consisted of her family.  There is also a school which I think she told me there are 4 students.  There's a church with about 50 members. We bought a couple of canned beverages to go. She told us about an 88 year old lady that had stopped in one time, and we asked her if it was Ethel from Missoula... and,  of course, it was. Very cool. We told her that we had met and stayed with Ethel just a few weeks ago. Small world. Anyway, we signed her wall and headed on. I gave her a St Christopher pocket token, which she seemed very happy to receive.  

We got to the much larger town of Buffalo South Dakota (population 346) around 1pm. We ate our pb&j sandwich that we made from the motel in Bowman while waiting to check in. It looks like there are a couple of restaurants and a saloon for food options. Since the restaurants close at 5, the No. 3 Saloon it is.

44.9 miles

1,381 feet climbing 

Check out my activity on Strava: https://strava.app.link/RGyxAwc7ABb

Relive video:  https://www.relive.cc/view/vPv4RwLRe36

Tomorrow we go to the center of the nation!