Our drive today was 217.8 miles (89,856.9 total) but it was officially the most harried drive we have made in nearly 6 years of full-timing. Highway 85, south of Spearfish, SD, started as beautiful four-lane divided pavement but narrowed as it climbed steeply on the way to Deadwood. I was in 3rd gear chugging along at about 30 mph to the crest of the hill. Then I used exhaust break and 3rd gear back down the hill to maintain a reasonable speed. We saw Deadwood was setting up for something this weekend because several streets were closed. Just outside Deadwood, we started climbing another 7 percent grade for 3 miles and then back down.
I was pretty relieved to finally reach level ground again and actual shoulders so a momentary lapse in concentration wouldn't mean catastrophe.
We had the road to ourselves for the most part - very little traffic. What we did have were some stiff headwinds so nothing about today's drive was easy.
When we made our last turn towards Wheatland, we heard a terrible knocking sound and quickly realized our patio awning had come loose. Actually, the wind broke our velcro safety straps and had unfurled the awning fabric. We were again on a road with absolutely no shoulder and a steep drainage ditch on each side so I stopped in the road and turned on the flashers.
It would have to have been somewhat comical to an onlooker to watch our panic as we tried to get the awning under control and retracted while a steady 60-70 mph wind continued to thwart our efforts. At one point, while Joani was holding the awning strap the wind lifted her off the ground! We finally got it back in and secured with four straps.
During the entire event, I think only a couple of pickup trucks passed by, probably having a good laugh at us foreigners struggling with the Wyoming breeze.
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