Oa-who?

Pierre to Gettysburg, South Dakota Thursday, July 22, 2021

At the end of my “zero day” in Pierre, I got a personalized tour of the city in Tami’s Corvette! (a gift from her mother)

She drove me by the state capitol

…and a number of life-sized statues of the former governors of South Dakota

There are 25 of these, called the “Trail of Governors”, peppered around the streets of Pierre in lifelike poses, really quite arresting.

Reasonably caught up with my sleep deprivation, I was able to get on the road before 7:30 the next day, to beat the heat. Tami had left at 5 to take a spin on her racing bike, we met and said goodbye 2 miles into my ride. 10 miles in, I passed a remarkable site, although it looks quite unremarkable in this photo.

I zoomed in and labeled what we were actually seeing.

That boring earthen bank is actually the Oahe Dam, with Lake Oahe behind it. The word kind of rhymes with “Hawaii”, interesting because it is almost spelled like Oahu, Hawaii’s most populous island. Anyway Lake Oahe is quite a thing, the fourth largest reservoir in the country, it stretches 231 miles between the two state capitals, Pierre and Bismarck. Its coastline is said to be longer than California’s.

By the time I hit my motel, it was 99° and I was definitely flagging. Luckily it was only 2:30, I was able to get an early steak dinner (great) and a hazy picture of the lake, with one of the few bridges that crosses it.

The next few days are slated to be in the low 100°s, so I will try to get to bed early and leave before sunrise each day. Tomorrow will be the first test of this.

Distance 58 miles, 4,267 total. Time 7 hours with stops. Elevation gain 1,329 feet

©️ 2021 Scott Luria