Day 16 Dyersville Iowa -> Ion, Iowa

Saturday 6 August 2011.  Second day of week 3.

Today we continue north in Iowa paralleling the Mississippi River on our way to Wisconsin.  Weather conditions were beautiful in the mid 80’s and although humid, very tolerable.

At the crest of a hill the crew stopped for some water when a lone cyclist was spotted moving strongly up the hill towards us with saddle bags on. Once at the summit he rode over and introduced himself as Hugo from Austria.  He was on a long journey from Canada to Tampa Florida! This guy was amazing.  He was 64 years old and looked 50. He was traveling alone in a country he does not know winging it with a combination of Adventure Cycling maps and some paper maps from a gas station.  He was camping almost every night and said he eats bananas and sour cream most of the time!  Wow…..

Now that dude is one tough character.  He is a retired school teacher and his wife is waiting for his return.

Later in the day a line of antique tractors came towards us. There must have been nearly 30 of them rolling down the road. They must have been going to or from a tractor show somewhere.

We still see corn all day but the rolling hills make it more enjoyable. Most roads are still traffic free. And when you do encounter a car or truck they cut you a huge path in the road.  It is truly amazing the difference between the way drivers treat cyclists in Connecticut and here in the Midwest.

Today our mileage was cut short by the lack of available places to sleep.  The crew only covered 73 miles on gently rolling hills. The next available sleep spot would have been 50 miles further.  We decided a light day was due to us at this near 1/3 point in our journey.  It actually worked out in our favor as we stayed in a real nice cabin at The Natural Gait in Ion Iowa.

Chow Down!

The cabin is out in the middle of nowhere on an unpaved road bordering the Yellow River.  Tim and Joe cooked pasta, beans and corn that had been picked up in town 12 miles away.  Also on the menu, tossed salad, a couple of tubs of macaroni salad and another tub of potato salad.  

Now remember we have to load these supplies on our bikes for the 12 mile trip to the cabin.  We also needed breakfast items and fluids to start the day. So lets add the rest of the new load to the bikes. A gallon and a half of water, oatmeal, powerbars and celebrate  the 1/3 point a bottle of wine and 3 beers to have with dinner.  Now you have some loaded down bikes to travel with. In the chow down photo inside the cabin take a look at Ken’s tan line…dude  think you need to work on that!

73 Miles

3161 Feet of Climbing

Temperature 80-85 degrees

The weekend is here!  Team has a short ride today north through Iowa. 

Forecast for Dyersville:

Today: Scattered showers, mainly before 7am. Patchy fog before 7am. Otherwise, partly sunny, with a high near 84. East wind around 5 mph becoming calm. Chance of precipitation is 30%.