Author Archives: arletelouise

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Sioux Falls Bike Trails – 4

We left early, after a big rainstorm last night. Riding clockwise on the main trail this time. North of airport, a small plane landing:

Because of the heavier rains last night, the Big Sioux River was running faster:

We rode on the west side of the river as far as we could, not the main trail, more in downtown. We thought we’d seen the best part of Falls Parks but were pleasantly surprised to more great views upstream.

As we rode through the Levitt at the Falls (an outdoor concert venue), the band performing a free concert at 10 am was warming up. We rode right past the front of the stage and felt like we got a brief mini-concert. The saxophonist sang special lyrics for Billie as we left. Apparently she was “dancing” on her bike.

After our usual rest stop, we continued on the west side of the river to Fawick Park. Just in case I never get to Florence Italy to see the marble version …

David, a full-size bronze replica.

We continued down the west side of the river until Cherry Rock Bridge.

I extended my ride a bit by crossing over Cole’s 1906 bridge and riding to Dunham Park then back to the turn off to the RV park which meant today’s ride was 25 miles. And … I rode 100+ miles this week.

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Sioux Falls Bike Trails – 3

Without showing you the map again, we rode the spur and turned right, going 19 miles counterclockwise around the loop. Why? Today we will climb the switchbacks up. Tomorrow, we get to go down.

Rest stop, slight right, up the ramp, sharp U to right and … you know where we are, right?

North of the airport with a small plane landing:

And back to the RV park. 23 miles.

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Sculpture Walk

Sioux Falls is the site of the largest annual exhibit of public sculptures in the world. Each spring new works are installed on loan from their creators. The public is invited to vote on their favorite. There are more than 60 sculptures to visit. The biggest cluster is on Phillips Ave between 9th and 12th Streets. You can see all of them at this website: sculpturewalksiouxfalls.com

My favorite was Cherry Tree made from found items: rebar, red marbles held in place with the curled tines of forks, the leaves are stainless steel spoons.

Fresh Take on one side ..

but as you walk up the sidewalk, you see this:

We had lunch at

The Q Burger – excellent!

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Sioux Falls Bike Trails – 2

Today we rode the same spur in and turned left to ride north around the airport and back to downtown.

Country clubs on the left and right:

The bridge took us to the other side of the Big Sioux River:

From the northern end of the trail, a glimpse of the airport in the distance:

Across the Big Sioux River again:

At the top of a switchback descent (which we will climb on our return trip) to cross the bridge (and river) as we head toward Falls Park and downtown:

Falls Park is a must-see in Sioux Falls.

Same perfect turn-around point as yesterday!

Several times a day, fighter jets (not sure what to call these fast/LOUD airplanes) take off in 2s or 3s, fly around, and land. The South Dakota Air National Guard station is located at the Sioux Falls Regional Airport.

From the main trail, this is the spur across the bridge takes us back to the campground. Some maps call it Skunk Creek.

Where Cherry/Skunk Creek flows into Big Sioux River:

Great ride. 26 miles.

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Sioux Falls Bike Trails – 1

A 19-mile loop surrounds the city. Our RV park is about 1/2 mile from one of the spurs – on this map, that spur is left center more or less:

Today we explored the spur which ended at Legacy Park.

At the end of the trail, the next extension is under construction.

Back along the other side of the creek.

We met Cole at this bridge built in 1906. He and a friend had been collecting artifacts.

After crossing the bridge we turned right on the loop and headed downtown. Many parks were linked via the trail.

The Arc of Dreams sculpture over the Big Sioux River in downtown Sioux Falls was our turnaround point.

Free Flight by David Skora

28 miles!

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Your bike rides this week

Sunday July 25. Barbara and Cheryl met up with Jonathan who had ridden with a trike group.

Monday July 26. Dani, Rich, Kathy, Leo, Cindy, Jane, Cheryl:

Tuesday July 27. Jonathan, Leo, Cindy, Cheryl, Dani, Barbara:

Wednesday July 28. Cheryl, Kathy, Barbara:

Thursday July 29. Jonathan took this picture of Jane, Kathy, Barbara, Dani, Cheryl:

Jonathan, “It takes a village … to fix Jane’s flat.” What a great group of cycling friends!

Friday July 30.

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Hello South Dakota

Again, we didn’t have far to go, so we left at check out time, more or less.

Goodbye Iowa:

Hello Sioux Falls SD. There are almost 30 miles of bike trails here + other interesting things to see. Our RV site is also close to the bike trail so there won’t be any loading of bikes onto Versie (tow car) and driving somewhere.

iou
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Little Swan Lake Winery

We left on Friday and spent one night in an RV park in Clear Lake Iowa. Our driving distances are short, we arrive early at every destination – a rather relaxed way to travel! By early afternoon, we arrived in Estherville Iowa at a Harvest Host: Little Swan Lake Winery.

The main building featured the wine-tasting area and gift shop. The far door was the entrance to the music/dinner venue. The metal tower structure beyond that had two B&B apartments, the very top was an informal gathering area. There was a 2-bedroom apartment on the second floor at the left end of the red building. Included in the B&B was a bottle of wine and a hot breakfast (eggs in a cloud).

We were early into the tasting room and purchased a few bottles.

Scott, the owner:

When we booked this HH, we also reserved a table for the meal + music event that evening. What a great accent to this overnight.

Music by Lauren and the Drifters:

The meal was simple, a bison burger and cole slaw – everything was delicious. The place was packed. The B&B overnighters had their own staircase to come down into the venue and their own special table.

Everyone was having a great time. I took a little break to go to the bathroom, came back, quickly grabbed my camera .. a few people were having a REALLY good time (this is actually 3 people dancing together):

Little Swan Lake Winery also raise their own bison!

That was too much fun. Good night.

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Harmony-Preston Valley Trail

We drove to Preston.

We’d planned to ride to Harmony even though the map said there were some steep climbs. We’d ridden uphill to Fountain, so how hard could these climbs be.

As it turned out, there are two trails out of Preston and we did not ride toward Harmony. Instead we rode to Isinours Junction, the intersection with the Root River Trail, then turned around and rode back to Preston. We took a selfie here a few days ago when we rode (right to left) from Whalan to Fountain and back.

From Preston, we now headed toward Harmony.

We crossed over Watson Creek many times.

Hazard! – but a small mown path over to the side.

Shortly after this, the climbing began. No thanks, we turned around, back to Preston. Fun ride and trail today – 25 miles. SE Minnesota along the Root River = a great cycling destination. I would come back here.

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Short ride

It was supposed to be the hottest day of the week, so we planned a short ride. Get up at 5 am – very foggy. 6 am – ok, slightly foggy but more light, let’s do this. We were able to ride along the campground trail

toward Whalen until we had to get onto MN-16 for a brief time. At this time of the morning, we encountered zero cars in either direction. There was a 12-inch paved shoulder and and 24-inch gravel shoulder right of that.

We stopped at Lanesboro Pastry Shoppe and got a scone before riding back. It looked like they also served really good breakfasts. The place was filled with the local guys maybe 20 of them. I think they solved most of the world’s problems this morning before leaving to start the day’s work.

We returned the same way we came for a short 13 mile ride. Crossing the Root River in Whalan:

We got back at 9, then the raindrops began to fall as I locked up the bikes. It rained for the next 2 hours. Thank you Mother Nature.