Part Six

"The Long and Winding Road”

Waxing poetically back to another Beatles’ hit from June of 1970, Day 6 is a travel day and one that will not be soon forgotten. Mother Nature was going put quite a spin on things.

The road traveled upon, in fact the only road I traveled on today, was U.S. Route 83. Some info courtesy of our friends at Wikipedia.Org.:

“U.S. Route 83 is one of the longest north–south U.S. Highways in the United States, at 1,885 miles (3,034 km). Only four other north–south routes are longer: U.S. Routes 1, 41, 59 and 87. The highway's northern terminus is north of Westhope, North Dakota, at the Canadian border, where it continues as Manitoba Highway 83. The southern terminus is in Brownsville, Texas, at the Veterans International Bridge on the Mexican border, connecting with Mexican Federal Highway 180. Despite its length it has comparatively few concurrencies with any Interstate highways, and those segments are short. In no place has it been decommissioned as a route.”

The folks at the National Weather Service hit the nail right on the head today. High wind warnings were in effect throughout my trip. In Nebraska, winds were forecast to be from the northwest at 35 to 45 mph with gusts to 60 mph. In South Dakota, winds were forecast from the northwest at 45 to 50 mph with gusts to 70 mph. And the wind gusts took their toll. More on that as we move along.

I left North Platte, Nebraska right at 9am and started heading north to my first pit stop in Thedford, Nebraska. It took all of my effort to keep the Sonata on the straight and narrow. Here on Route 83, the posted speed limit is 65 MPH just about along whole route with the usual speed restriction depending on what city or town Route 83 passes thru. The winds dictated a slightly slower speed so 60 pretty much became the norm. 

The wind was not taking anything for granted. What was not locked down pretty much became projectiles. Shriveled corn stalks left over from the harvest became horizontal confetti. Tumbleweeds were just about everywhere going across the road. And I was amazed at how well the trees were hanging on to their yellow leaves. Despite the wind, you still had gorgeous Fall color.

I arrive in Thedford at about 10:15am CDT. The northwest wind was something to be reckoned with as I open the driver’s side door: have control or else the car becomes door less. I am literally leaning down into the wind to keep my balance as I walk into the Conoco gas station. I grab some water and breakfast bars and head back out to the car. A Burlington Northern Santa Fe loaded coal train flies across the street before I could get my camera out. About 10:30am, I swing east then north on Route 83 and begin the next leg to my lunch time stop in Valentine, Nebraska.

Once again, the high winds battle my car. Usually you are supposed to drive with your hands at the 10 and 2 o’clock positions on the steering wheel. That needed some modifications today. With me driving straight north and the winds coming out of the west-northwest at nearly a right angle to the car, I kept the car in cruise control and put my right hand at 10 o’clock and my right hand against my leg at 4 o’clock to keep things steady. In all of the trips that I have been out here, never before have I endured such windy conditions. And speaking of the wind, it decided to test some of my ham radio gear and the wind won.

On top of the car roof is a 30 inch tall ham radio antenna. The magnet base is designed to handle winds at up to 110 MPH. About 10 miles north of Thedford, I am driving along and the next thing I see is a windshield full of king-size tumbleweed. The weed took a diagonal path towards the right rear fender and took the antenna with it. Next thing I know, I see the antenna banging against the right side of the car. I pull over, somehow managed to open the door, put the antenna back on top, somehow again managed to open the door, and then drive on. A few minutes later, I said to myself, “Self??” And I said, “Yes??” And I said, “I wonder how well will that antenna stay on with this wind??” Next thing I know, I hear the twang of the antenna banging against the right rear fender. But this time, the wind is proving to be way too strong as I am now in an area where there is just flat prairie and the full brunt of the wind. I rolled down the right rear window and just pull the antenna back in. Unfortunately, the antenna cable is still between the door frame and the door. So I roll up the window as tight as it could be and basically listened to wind noise for the next 40 miles. Seems the combined forward motion of the car and the forward motion of the wind exceeded the magnet’s holding power.  I guess that guy Newton knew something about the law of Physics.

I arrive in Valentine, Nebraska at about 11:35am CDT. Just as I was about to get out of my car and head into McDonalds, I heard what sounded like thunder. What I then saw to my horror was a huge piece of steel roofing being torn off of a building not even 100 yards in front of me. I immediately called 911 to inform them of what had happened. Seems I was number two in calling. And soon after I hung up, I could hear more steel roofing being ripped apart but it was out of my sight. The shot below is part of the damage that occurred to another building nearby:

Local police were there and it appeared that no one was injured.

At high noon, I leave Valentine and within 10 miles, I cross into our next state on the list:

South Dakota, home of my longtime friend Jenn whom I will be visiting the next few days.  And across the street from the SD sign is the Rosebud Reservation Gambling Casino:

And right next door to it is a windmill which provides some of the power to the casino:

Seems the very high winds today could do damage to the windmill so it has been secured for the day.

Things are uneventful as I go from the casino to my next point in travel: the town of Mission. Once again, the winds are playing havoc and it is still quite the chore to keep the car steady. There are large ponds along the way where the cattle go to get water and you could see whitecaps  on top of the water:

Upon arriving in Mission, it is a left turn onto South Dakota Route 14/U.S. Route 83 for the next five miles. I am now going headlong into the wind and the car’s sleek aerodynamics gives me some comfort.

Out of Mission, it is again north on U.S. Route 83 and 45 miles to my next pit stop in the town of Murdo. About 20 miles into my trip, I come over a rise and see a cattle transport truck off to the side of the road. But he was deep in the prairie grass. Seems the wind affected this “high profile” vehicle and he lost control but managed to make it off the road and not jack-knife the truck.  But five miles later, that was a different story. I come up over this hill and I come to a grinding halt. Another one of those cattle transport trucks is off the road but this time, the whole thing was on its side:

Against what seems like a 60 MPH wind, I get out of my car and use the truck as a wind support. I find the windshield busted out but found no driver. I look around to see if he/she may have been ejected but find no one.  I get back into my car and back up to the top of the rise and put on my four-way flashers and call 911. Seems this tractor trailer had already been called in and that the driver was OK. I make the sign-of-the-cross for the driver and go back to my driving.

One other observation about these big rigs: now is the time that harvesting is going full bore. And one of those items is hay for horse and cattle feed. Every so often, I see one of these things coming at me:

That wide load big rig has about 20 bails of hay strapped to its flatbed trailer. I basically held my breath until these rigs passed me by. Talk about a high profile vehicle!!

I get to Murdo and the junction with I-90 for my last pit stop and find the parking lot to be full of tractor trailers; maybe a good 25 of them. And three of them are hay bail carriers. In talking to one of the truckers, it seems that the high winds have taken their toll and there were at least four other big rigs on their side due west of Murdo. I get onto I-90 eastbound/U.S. Route 83 northbound. A traffic pattern to keep vehicles away from repair holes in the concrete are scattered about and within a few miles, I find two more big rigs on their sides. Luckily, it looks like the cabs held up from the rollovers and I hope the drivers are OK.

I arrive in Pierre (as in “pier”), South Dakota at 2:30pm CDT. I call my friend Jenn at her workplace to tell her that I made it and that I will meet up with her at her house for dinner at 5:30pm. I somehow manage to get out of my car, fighting yet again the high winds, and make it into my hotel room. Despite all of the craziness, my hands feel pretty good. Seems typing this entry loosen things up a bit.

Tomorrow we will make a trip up to North Dakota to add another state to my See All States collection. And I have a special location that I will be visiting. As far as the weather goes, the winds will be out of the northwest but down to 10-20 mph. As far as I’m concerned, Mother Nature can have the rest of the week off. 

I’m Philip J Zocco. On The Road. In Pierre, South Dakota.