That's when I noticed that my wallet was missing. I panicked, and considering that I had not only my credit and debit cards, but also my license and insurance card I was rightfully worried. Thinking that I left it at the café, I was able to get on some wifi and do a google search of the cafés in Pierre (since in couldn't remember the name of the place) and found the number. Luckily, somebody had turned it in, contents still in tact. Now the only question was how I would get back. I was 60 miles away, and they were closed for the night when I called, so my options were to...
A. Start riding back, camp somewhere, pick it up in the morning and get back to the same campground the next day, essentially losing a day
B. Stay at the campground for the night, and try to push a 120 mile day, essentially losing a day
C. Go back in the morning and stay in Pierre for the night, essentially losing two days.
See the trend? I was not a happy camper.
However, when I pulled up to a site (the primitive campsite ended up being an additional 12 miles, and I was not in the mood for that. Luckily I had a stash of bills in my bag to pay for a cheap tent spot), I was greeted by a guy drinking a beer, sitting on an atv. We chatted for a bit, he tossed me a beer, and after I explained what a dumbass I was, he without hesitation gave me a fourth option to retrieve my wallet.
He would drive me back in the morning, then back to the campground so that I could take off the next afternoon losing hardly any time.
Are you kidding me? Talk about changing moods. He had plans that night, but told me he'd be back at 9am to pick me up.
I could relax after all.
Reading with a view, munching on some elk jerky given to me by Bruce and Mary in Pierre
Sure enough, he pulled up at 9 the next morning, and he along with his wife Gerri drove me the 60 miles back to Pierre, refusing to let me at least treat me to breakfast. They were so gracious, and we had no problem making conversation the whole way there and back. By the time we got back and I was ready, it was already around 1, so another 60 mile day was in store. Seeing a sign pointing to a recreation area, I took the mile long dirt road to the shore of the river, hoping to have a nice peaceful night.
There were a few RVs there when I pulled up, and while I was pitching the tent, a guy came up to me asking where I was from/going and offered to help me set up. After I told him that the tent goes up real quick, he told me to come on over if I want after I'm set and grab a beer. There were about a dozen people in all, and they ended up being some of the best people I've stayed with thus far. They treated me to a home-grilled dinner to start off. Pork Chops, salads, sides you name it. One of the guys in the group, Brad, told me that the only thing I need to worry about is having a beer in my hand.
The night was filled with good conversation, a roaring fire, plenty of adult beverages and even s'mores. After the topic of fishing came up, I confessed that I hadn't been in ages. Brad offered to take me out on the boat in the morning if it worked with my plans, which it did! We along with a couple others set out the next morning and caught a whole bunch of walleye. I snagged three of em, two of which were big enough to keep.
The day's catch
We got back earlier than expected, so we decided to bust out the fryer and have some of the fish for lunch. Catch and eat my own lunch? Check. It was the perfect morning to go with the perfect night. They even invited me to stay another night, convincing me that one more mouth wouldn't take much more to feed. I thought about it a lot, but given the last couple half-days, decided that I really needed to log some miles. We said our farewells, and I promised that we'd see each other down the road at some point.
Grillmaster Brad doing his thing
I made it 60 miles north to the small town of Pollock, where I asked a couple people if there were any places I could pitch a tent (since I didn't want to pay the $20 at the campsite), and they suggested heading out to the park, which sat at the end of town. After a good 20 minutes of sleuthing around, I found the most perfect spot.
Stealth camping at its finest
This morning my plans were to get into Bismark. After failing to make a connection with a warmshowers host (they were leaving to go to disneyworld this morning), I found a campsite charging $10,but I was overdue for a shower, and sometimes it's nice knowing that you don't have to worry about any curious people going to check out your stuff.
So that's where I'm at. I'm enjoying a little bit of the city tonight, and then it's back to the middle of nowhere.
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