Day 19 – Aberdeen to Webster, South Dakota

A shorter day but otherwise, honestly, not dissimilar to yesterday. Green fields, a flat landscape, straight road, and some kind of small town every hour or so, always lying in the shadow of a collection of grain silos, with the railway running in parallel. I passed blue lakes with ducks and grebes swimming among the reeds. There was enough wind to create small waves, mostly blowing from the south across me, although it seemed friendlier as the day passed.

Two of today’s small towns were big enough to have a branch of a recognised fast food chain, so I decided to make the most of it, since they were both symbols of small town America. The first, in Groton, was a Dairy Queen, which does a decent burger and fries; but is special to me for its Blizzard ice cream sundaes, which are, in essence, ice cream with your favourite chocolate bar all liquidized and frozen together. I went for a nostalgic Heath Bar Blizzard, which you will just have to try yourself one day. They tip it upside down before handing it to you, to prove it is properly frozen.

32 miles later I reached journey’s end for today in another small town, Webster, that is home to a branch of A&W. That name is synonymous to Americans with root beer, which, as you know, is my beverage of choice on these shores. This time, to complete my trip through nostalgic Americana, I went for a very large root beer float, not because I needed it; but because I could. When in Rome. For me this is a combination of two of life’s finer things (root beer poured over ice cream) and it makes both twice as good. Which is saying something. And all guilt-free because of the many miles of cycling I have accumulated. To be fair, you need to break up the monotony of this landscape any way you can. Today, this seemed the best thing on offer. I wasted very little time thinking it over.

I am staying tonight in the most unlikely and bizarre place. It is basically the end section of a large speedboat showroom, separated by an internal wall. Here there are a few rooms for people who are staying over to hunt, shoot and fish locally. I’m the only person here, so I get the big lounge and TV to myself. There are gaming tables and places to store what you have killed. I’m glad it’s just me or I think I would find the whole thing quite uncomfortable. It very much goes with the territory though. Different world to the one I know. I haven’t yet perused any of the copies of “South Dakota Hunting and Trapping Handbook”, or “Ducks Unlimited”, or “Fair Chase” that are on the table in front of me.