Back on the Prairie

My whip(s) in front of the parent's house.

Hello all! I am writing this from the kitchen table of at my parents house in Aberdeen, SD. I've been on the road for 6 days. 1,400 miles down, 375 to go. Custer or bust(er)!


I made the trip from suburban Milwaukee to Minneapolis on Wednesday. I had some pretty good luck on the road until I made a stop in Eau Claire, Wisconsin to use the bathroom. Shortly after I arrived in said bathroom, I heard the door open and the voices of a dad and two small children. I looked to my left and through the crack in the stall door, I see a girl, maybe 4 years old, staring right into my eyes. I was understandably creeped out and uncomfortable They stood in the bathroom until I was done, the little girl staring at me the entire time. I needed to get the fuck outta there. In my frazzled state, I backed into a pole in the parking lot and bent the crap out of the front tire of my bike.

That thing sticking out of my bumper is the screw that held my reflector onto the spokes. It's lodged in there pretty well.

I got to Minneapolis without further incident and headed out to meet my friends Tanya and Rachel. The bar we met up at was doing trivia and was super loud, but it was otherwise a very nice time. Rachel had to head home, so Tanya and I went out for a couple more drinks. It snowed a little bit on the walk back to her place, where we watched a documentary on M*A*S*H.

Thursday I wandered around town to find a mailbox to mail a few postcards. I got some tacos from a taco truck and made a trip the mall of america. My friend Rob called the bike co-op to see if they had a wheel that would work for me. They did, so I went out there to get it. As it turned out, the skewer was bent, so I spent 2 1/2 hours finding workable parts and rebuilding the innards of the wheel. Not a total loss though, the volunteers there were awesome and it was a valuable learning experience.

Later that evening I watched My Own Private Idaho (starring River Phoenix and Keneau Reeves), ordered a "Fuck Nasty" Philly (Philly cheesesteak +horseradish and bacon), drank tasty beer, had some wine out of a bag and stayed up too late.

"Who ordered all this white shit?" Ice covered lake at 80 degrees. I saw some dude ice fishing on it today.

The next morning I was off to Sioux Falls to eat dinner with my little sister and hang out with some friends. We went out to a few of my old haunts. It was fun. Very nice to see the Sioux Falls crew.


I woke up on my friend Shane's couch, watched half of Bloodsport, ate some Taco Johns and began the trip to my parent's house in Aberdeen. I made a stop in Brookings (home of the South Dakota State University Jackrabbits and city where I delivered a million pizzas) to drive through campus and look at the scummy houses I used to live in. Made it to Aberdeen where I've been hanging at my parents house since.

Here is some random stuff:

Frank Dukes!

Powderhorn Park, Minneapolis. Still got some ice.

Blue Earth, MN. Home of the 50 ft. tall Jolly Green Giant