Day 26 - 71 miles from Chamberlain to Mitchell, SD

It was more of the same, that is, a south wind; however, instead of 15-25 mph mostly in our face, this was 10-20 mph from the side. So, we decided Michael would ride the Cervelo the 35 miles to the only SAG stop and Anne and Michael would tandem it the remaining 35 to Mitchell.

It was sunny with the temperatures in the high 80's to mid 90's.

We battled the sidewinds the entire time. They are not favorable for tandem riding as you gain no drafting advantage. Therefore, the ride,which from both the impact of the wind or any real change in scenery, was again not conducive for taking a lot of pictures along the way.

Were these pictures taken on RAGBRAI or in SD? Corn on one side and beans of the other. Not much terrain but a LOT of WIND! You can see why - there are no windbreaks because there are no trees.

The main attraction of the ride was the Corn Palace in Mitchell. This unique facility uses ears of different colored corn to decorate the exterior and interior murals of the palace. It is located on Main Street. Admission to the palace is free. We found the 30-min video on the origin of the palace to be quite interesting.

Here were are in front of the palace.

The state basketball tournament is held in the palace as well as other entertainment such as country western singers, plays, etc. All of the murals you see around the stage are designed with ears of corn.

These are large murals on the sides of the arena and are about 20' x 15' in size.

This one is of Mt. Rushmore.

The murals on the exterior of the building are changed every year at a cost of approximately $130,000. The corn is removed from the outdated panel, next the full panel design is stapled to the panel, then new ears are cut to size by color per the design and stapled to the panel.

These pictures each represent how the exterior looked each year from the palace built in 1892 to showcase the rich soil of South Dakota and encourage people to settle in the area. It was big hit as thousands of people came to witness the opening and millions thereafter. 

Tomorrow, it is 73 miles Sioux Falls, SD and then we have a Rest Day!