Not even a single photo. I slept in as predicted, drifting in and out of sleep well after the sun rose as the van rocked back and forth from the wind. It had worsened overnight. When I spoke to Dad last night, he put a bug in my ear, have I ever considered just relaxing for a day? Staying in one place and keeping camp for more than one night? With that idea buzzing around in my head and the colossal wind, I decided I would do something like that. I made breakfast inside the van and only went outside of it to go the bathroom. When I did, I thought maybe it wasn’t so bad, then with my pants down in the forest I realised it was. A huge gust of wind came out of nowhere, I was lucky to keep myself from sitting in my own business.
Safely back in the van, I awkwardly managed to do the dishes without spilling hot water over anything, then sat back in my comfy chair reading, contemplating the rest of my day. By 10am I’d decided I would get cabin fever if I spent all day in the actual van, so I decided I’d drive into Rapid City and camp in the public library. I had a bunch of documents to get rid of by way of digitizing them so figured I could have a productive day.
The short walk from my parking spot to the library carrying a box of paper was a mission. It was sideways snowing. I kept my head bent forcefully down, hoping like hell my beanie wouldn’t come off because if it did, it would be lost to me forever. I made it and found myself a cozy spot by a window on the top floor. It was warm, there was WiFi, I was happy.
I only retreated outside once to make some lunch and bring it back inside. The wind had died a little, but not by much. In the five minutes I was outside, my fingers were bright red.
I stayed at the library until about 5:30pm when hunger started taking hold. Happy with what I’d managed, I overfilled a rubbish bin with all the paper I didn’t need anymore, excited about the room I’d just created inside the van.
I drove back to my camp of the previous night where the wind was howling as hard as ever. I considered finding a more sheltered camp, but decided not to since it was dark. It was a long process making dinner inside the van, shifting things from the back of the car to the “living room” without exiting the car. I’ll have to come up with a better solution if this is going to be a trend. I persisted without Big Buddy, then eventually caved just before bed time and turned it on. Even cooking in the van didn’t seem to warm the place up. The van will be rocking me to sleep tonight, I just hope the bike is still on the roof in the morning.
Today’s maximum? -2oC. If it’s much like this tomorrow, I think I might have to skip the riding I had planned and start driving south.