Joey here.

One never should pray for zero-sum benefits like tailwinds.

That would be praying for someone else to get a headwind.

We got rolling this morning at sunup. We needed to cover 100 miles before dark.

The first leg of our trip was 22 miles due east, into a strong headwind.

The wind shifted south but still slowed us. By the time we reached the crossroads for our turn north, Jeffrey was tired, cold, and half deaf from the roar of the gale.

As soon as we turned: quiet. For the remaining 80 miles, the wind was at our backs. Our speed doubled. What a pleasure!

Our hosts upsized and wanted to sell their old house. Mary Kay said the house is so tall that no one wanted to move it. (Relocating houses must be a thing in this region.) They converted it into a very nice guest house instead.

Tim is a native South Dakotan. His hobbies include team roping, in which one horseback rider ropes a steer’s horns and the other ropes the animal’s back legs. Tim is the leg man. He’s been riding a horse since age 4.

Tim taught Jeffrey about chislic, the local climate, the cost of keeping horses, and other things from his world.

Jeffrey explained the Ride and how the right to request asylum is meaningless if the applicant doesn’t have the tools (in particular a lawyer) to help prepare the case. Tim gets it.

South Dakota is two thirds the size of Italy, with half the population of our 23 square mile home island, Manhattan.

This was a real South Dakota day. Long distance rural travel. People of quality, not quantity.