Day 17 - Murdo SD to Mitchell SD, 145 miles, 2000' cumulative climbing

Nearly fogged in this morning at breakfast, we started out on the road with taillights on for safety.  Visibility was extremely limited for an hour or more before the fog began to burn off.  Fortunately it kept the morning cool, but sopping wet with moisture.  Then it looked like it might unexpectedly rain on us, something that hasn't happened for two weeks.  
It did not rain.  But the winds once again were against us.  Mostly out of the northeast today, something we call a quartering headwind, as it was hitting us across the front left shoulder.  Fighting the wind is draining when you are going in one direction all day and know there is no other option but to keep going.  Once again, the end of the cycling day couldn't come soon enough.  But, it's part of getting across the country and every mile is going to count, however unappealing it might be.

So when we are traveling from west to east and one ordinarily expects a prevailing westerly wind pattern, why don't we get what we want? Just wondering...
We crossed the Missouri River shortly before lunch today, and that was the major sightseeing attraction.  The beauty of South Dakota was apparently limited to the previous couple of days, as we slogged through corn, bean and hay fields with not a lot of passing interest to keep our attention.

At the end of the day, however, PAC Tour had one of their popular Ice Cream Socials in the parking lot for riders and crew.  As the picture shows, not much was left over!  This crowd doesn't stand on ceremony when there's food in the vicinity.  

Tomorrow we move on into a new state as our route takes us into southern Minnesota.  Maybe we can hope for a change in wind direction?  We'll still be going east.