Sioux Falls – The Heart of America

We were now on the road heading for Sioux, Falls. We left Mitchell, South Dakota at one o'clock in the afternoon, and we only had fifty –six miles to go. We figured we would be there by at least two-thirty. That was a good time since we were planning to spend the night in a hotel and check in was after two. We found the Birmark Inn near the highway and settled into our room. John needed to use the computer to get reservation for hotels for the next few days, so I gathered all the dirty laundry and spent some time getting it done and tidying up the car for our next drive.

Around four we went to explore the city of Sioux Falls. The city was founded in 1856. The center of the city is near Falls Park showcasing the tumbling waters of the falls. The Native Americans were the first to see the falls and bring notice of it to the early explorers. An average of 7,400 gallons of water drop 100 feet over the course of the Falls each second. The minute we got out of our car we could hear the thundering roar of the Falls. We followed he walk through the park meandering around the red, rock boulders as we neared the bridge. The water was white as it cascaded over the red rocks. I took several pictures and a movie of the rushing water.
We walked across the bridge to the other side and entered a building that was once the beginning of a hydroelectric plant that would use the water as an energy resource at the turn of the century. It never panned out but some of the remnants are still in evidence. We followed the walk up stream to see if there were other falls farther up. Near the parking lot, we stopped and talked to two bikers who just finished their trek for the day. They were hot and sweaty and clearly had gone the distance in temperature of 92 degrees. John and I were eager to take a bike hike too, and asked them about their route. They said you could go for miles and miles and follow the river. It is purely a bike trail and you wouldn't have to cross any streets with cars. In places where there would be an intersection, you simply go under the road and where you cross the river, you simply go over the river on a bridge. We were very excited about that, and said we would plan to do it early the next morning.
We went back the way we had come and made our way to the car as we wanted to see down town and look for a place to eat. We headed a few blocks north and parked Moby Dick with his bikes and surfboards right on Main Street. It was a Tuesday evening and not much was happening down town. Most of the business for eateries here is done at noon. Citibank had moved its cardholder office to Sioux Falls from New York. This seemed to boost more business downtown. We found the McNally's Irish Pub. John liked it because it was Sports Bar and the only one open for evening business. We found a booth and ordered a light meal. We were the only customers in the joint, so we had an opportunity to talk to the bartender who was also our server.
Frank had lived in Sioux Falls all his life and outside of sports he was out of touch with the rest of the world. So John talked sports: Green Bay Packers, Cleveland Indians, and Chicago Bulls. He seemed to know all about these teams – who got traded, who the coaches were, how next season was going to go. I was done with my salad and was ready to chomp on my chicken burger. John ordered another beer and the talk continued. John started on his burger and I had a chance to jump in and ask Frank about what events that made the town jump. He said we just missed the Jazz and Blues Festival this last weekend, and a great St. Patrick's Day Parade, as there are lots of Irish here. "Oh," he added, "You would like the Art Walk right here downtown. Sculptures are put up during the summer and you vote for your favorite one on Facebook. This brings the artist some notoriety and funding. So when you are done with dinner, take a walk and check them out!" We thanked Frank for his advice and walked out to see the sculptures.
It is funny how sometimes you don't see things until they are pointed out? Well, we had walked up and down the streets earlier that night looking for a restaurant and didn't even see the sculptures. Now we went up and down trying to figure out which ones we liked the best. For me it was a toss- up between the girl with the Red Dress, or Goddess of the Grapes. I opted for the Goddess. John liked the Sand Hill Cranes and The Blind Shot Hit and he opted for the Blind Shot because it reminded him of when he played football.




Hit from the Blind Side



Goddes of the Grapes

 We walked around doing some window shopping and John was glad that the stores were closed when I spotted Haegle's Western Wear shop where there was a fantastic display of decorative boots. It was just what I wanted for Line Dancing! But alas, the store was closed. To take my mind off of buying western wear, John pointed to Minerva's, an upscale restaurant where we might get an ice cream and Kailua for desert. Again we were the only ones at the bar and although the request for ice cream had never been made to the bartender, he obliged and brought us each a bowlful, and we asked him to drown it in Kailua liquor. We got to talking to Eric, since he had nothing else to do. We told him about all the foreign kids that were working in the U.S. when we had so many people unemployed. He said that many of the U.S. kids go to Europe for the summer to do the same thing. Many are sponsored through their universities, so it's a good exchange as it opens the eyes of young people in this now global economy. We liked talking to Eric and would have spent the rest of his duty there talking about anything under the sun as he was most erudite, but we were getting a bit tipsy and had to get back to the hotel and get a good night sleep in preparation for our bike hike the next day.
The next morning we got up early, had a complimentary breakfast, and got a late check-out so we could enjoy our bike ride. We drove to Falls Park where we saw our biking friends the day before. John pumped up the tires as I got water and we were ready to ride. It was early so the heat index was still mellow. We got on our bikes and went downhill to the railroad crossing and beyond as we followed the river. At one time we went below under the underpass hearing the cars zipping above us. We had to go slowly as we neared a blind right angle turn. We circled around and were back following the river. Soon we approached a bridge and started going across when I saw John stop in the middle of the bridge. We both looked at the smooth water swiftly flowing down from a dam as smooth as Lady Godiva's hair. It was beautiful how smoothly it came down the smooth concrete panels and curl bubbling at the bottom.
I don't know how long we stayed watching the water but we had to finish our ride and we hadn't gone for a half hour. We hopped back on our bikes and followed the bike lane went straight up and kept climbing on the other side until we hit the levy. We road on the levy with arms in the aero bars as we settled down for a long ride for miles ahead. Off to the side there were hay lofts rolled up in circles like little loafs of bread. Looking closely I noticed that there was a mesh netting all around it to keep it together. Noticing these from far away in a car, I never would have seen the netting. I found this very ingenious on the part of the farmers. Also I noticed that the well for the water was at the end of a sprinkler such that the sprinklers rolled in a 360 degree turn as it watered the hay. If I were looking from a plane, it would look like circular crop circle.
Along the way we crossed a few people that were riding the other direction. One was a little, old lady that rode a bike with no gears and a basket in the front. She wore sandals and a floppy hat and a skirt. She was in her own world as she passed us humming a tune. Up ahead was a fast rider that passed John and I at a fast clip. He was wearing a light blue racing suit with a helmet and clip on shoes. He must have been going at least twenty-five miles an hour. When he passed us, he disappeared like a spec in the horizon.
The bike trail actually goes about 35 miles around the whole city. We were beginning to feel fatigue since we had not ridden for a while so when the trail turned to a rest stop we decided to stop and get a drink and asses our situation. There on the top of the hill near the port-o-potty was our peddling hero doing yoga exercises. He was stretching every direction and giving his full concentrative effort in doing so. I was feeling a bit stiff too so I did a few hamstring leg bend and arm stretches. John came back from the nearby woods, no port-o-potty for him especially near Romeo. He took a long drink and said, "Let's go back."eHe That was fine we me.
We turned around and rode around the corner and BAM! It hit us! We hadn't felt it before but now that we were facing the wind, we realized how easy our ride had been with the wind behind us. We quickly made a gear change and off we went feeling it in our quads a bit more than before. By getting lower in our aero bars we offered less resistance so we could combat the wind a bit easier. The good thing was that it was a steady wind and not gusty. Being high on the levy a sideward wind would easily pushed us over the edge. But for now we were going slow and steady against the head wind and making progress.
We retraced our tracks and by the time we got to the parking lot, there was the lady with the big hat having her lunch sitting on a near-by bench. We got off our bikes and drank the rest of our water. "Did you have a good ride?" asked the lady from the bench.
"Yes, but we didn't plan on the wind coming back," John answered.
"You must be new to these parts," she exclaimed pealing her banana.
"No, just passing through. We're from Road Bike Magazine. We go to every city and try and rate their bike trails," said John looking at me with a wink.
"Well, how do you rate us?" she asked flipping her banana peal into the garbage can.
"Absolutely fantastic!" John exclaimed hoisting his bike on the rack.
"Well, that's great news. I'm going over to the Sioux Falls News and let them know." She got on her bike, tucked in her skirt and road off into town.
We finished putting our bikes away feeling a bit guilty, but what the heck we meant no harm and besides it was a pretty fantastic ride!