A Walmart truck passes me. So that has me wondering, how far am I from a town with a Walmart? As best I can tell, today I was always at least an hours drive away (north to Bismarck, South to Pierre, east to Aberdeen). I am following a major US highway #12 but the population signs all are for less than 1000 people. Today Mound City has 71. I have seen some Dollar General stores but this is not Walmart country.

Today was a day of following US 83. The road was good, traffic was light and there was a slight head wind. I stopped briefly in Herreid and Strassburg. I also did this ride in 2018, also with a slight head wind.

On the road at sunrise.

I passed more wetlands today.

Downtown Mound City. There is a similar row of buildings on the other side, but this is the downtown. They did have a park.

Explaining Mound City

Eight miles later was Herreid

Just outside town was the Super Stop. They had some tables inside and some locals seemed to be holding a caucus.

The last twelve miles before the border had a smaller shoulder

Farewell South Dakota

Hello North Dakota

Back to a shoulder for the rest of the day.

I am not the only one taking pictures of the sunflowers. These tourists had pulled off.

Lawrence Well was born here

So what goes on in these small towns? A lot if you look at the bulletin board

Silo with a tall tower.

Protest sign about a CO2 pipeline – the pipeline would take CO2 emissions from ethanol plants to be sequestered underground – https://bismarcktribune.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/summit-analyzing-potential-south-bismarck-route-for-co2-pipeline-north-bismarck-residents-oppose-project/article_a7cf2e08-edde-11ed-a95c-374de68f5730.html

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