going north to get to south

South Dakota, that is. After considering several other rides for the early part of the summer, but not finding any of them that I absolutely needed to do this year, I decided to go back to South Dakota and do the Tour de Kota again.

This tour was my first week-long bike tour back in 2006, and I made it back in 2008. The rolling hills and wind offered more than enough of a challenge for an early summer tour, and the miles I piled up helped me keep riding strong through the rest of the cycling season.

I had been trying to get my wife's brother, Paul, to join me on a tour, but he's not ready to commit yet. I'll keep trying. In South Dakota, though, I'll get to ride with my sister's husband, Bruce, who I've joined on two TdKs and two CRMBTs. This picture of Bruce was in the Argus Leader newspaper, the tour's sponsor.

I have fond memories of the Tour de Kota, besides it being my first tour. The small towns that we rode through and spent the night in were as welcoming as possible. Milling around a small town at a rest area was where Bruce saw a guy in a Ride The Rockies jersey, asked him about it, and hatched the idea that we should go to Colorado and ride in the mountains. I thought he was crazy, but I'm sure glad he convinced me to try it!

And as I wrote in this post, if I see any Hutterite children sitting on a hill, I'll stop for a picture. And if an old man gets up out of his chair to offer me a bottle of water, I'll stop and take it.