One of the (many) times I had to stop and change a spoke, I turned around and saw THIS:

Is that what it LOOKS like? ... ....

maybe?

not sure...it dissipated quickly, whatever it was.

I made it a little over 100 miles west, a little west of Watertown, South Dakota, where I found the only microbrewery in North East South Dakota! Dempsey's Brewpub. Truth be told, I did not like either of the beers I tried that first night. The main problem was the lack of body. Both the Banshee Pale Ale and the Black Bear Stout were thin. The stout is much closer to a porter. The pale ale just tasted...off. ew. BUT: The food was great! After I studied the menu intently and barely made out a few items in the dimly lit tavern, I had someone cast Finbar's Salmon Sandwich of Knowledge for me in the kitchen. material components: 1 thick salmon steak, a Kaiser roll (aka a 'hard roll' in Connecticut), pepper jack cheese. damn. While I ate it, I KNEW...this is a good fuckin sandwich.

Next day I went back there for lunch and in the daylight I noticed they had a Hemp Ale which was written in small letters on their hand crafted brews thing in the bar. The owner/brewer was actually there and he told me he uses hempseed from Canada. OMG the hempseed oil adds the body which was sorely lacking in the beers I had tried the night before. Delicious! Also I had a Long Ship Lager (strong Viking lager) which was almost barleywine like in its flavor and alcohol content. Then I ate a turkey and cranberry sandwich on a dark bread, black forest bread was it? I was so impressed I bought a glass which lists all the lovely beer names. They do have excellent beer names there, even if some of them are not so good to drink.

I didn't take any more pictures until I was well on the way back. Here is the fireworks stand where I took shelter from quarter-sized hail:

"I will glady pay you Tuesday for a firecracker today..."

It's right on the state line.

Never thought I'd say this, but after a day of biking straight into a headwind, having to stop every hour or two to change a spoke, I sure was glad to be back in Minnesota.

I made it to Dawson, the next town after Wimpy's fireworks, at mile marker 19, right about at sunset. There, I met these cows:

I sure could go for a deuber right about now...

FOR SALE! A lot of things in this town are for sale. Mostly businesses.

GNOME TOWN?

ok...

Pools Closed due to GNOMES.

lol

And finally, from the 'only in Minnesota' department, a GRAIN ELEVATOR STYLE OFFICE BUILDING!!

I hope you enjoyed this trip as much as I did.

more stuff at bniblet dot com!