Friday, July 26, 2013

Pella to Iowa city

So here I sit in pella. Who knew there was such a Dutch little town in the middle Iowa. Ok so there's two Dutch bakeries right beside each other. Is that enough for a Dutch town? How about a windmill
How about a windmill made out of bike parts? 
Still not convinced. Ok how about a canal with a draw bridge. 
Still not buying it how about the largest working windmill in the USA. Thatought-a do it.
Too bad were only here one night. We're staying in the dorms tonight and in the morning we head out. 95 miles. 
So we left pella. 
  Ok one other story. A girl on the tour broke her bike and the frame was compromised so we called a giant dealer and got the runaround. Typical. She was supposed to bring it to Iowa city but was delayed. Finally Friday afternoon Harold and Danita went to the local. Bike shop to just look at bikes. They got in the shop and the  lady said someone had overheard riders  in a coffee shop talking about her situation. That person gave 1000 $ to the shop to put towards a new bike for her. She was stunned and thankful. Her new bike allowed her to ride today. Pretty awesome. 
Speaking of awesome look who showed up. After a nice dinner last night at a local  restaurant  we took a pic of the canal that was right next to our table. 
Ok  back to the ride. This time I'm serious. We left pella this morning and we were on the road by 645 am. We packed a lunch but we didn't have breakfast. We had to ride 26 km to sully, just outside pella. The CRC church in sully served us breakfast. Pancakes, bacon, hard boiled eggs. It was awesome. 
Out side they  were making the pancakes  with an fancy home made pancake maker. 
You lift the lever and the three chains pull up cone shaped plugs, this allows the batter to flow until you have a big enough pancake. 
After that we got going again and came across a lake that reminded me of cottage country. 
Complete with a marina. 
Nice to start seeing lakes, trees and grass. 
During the day as we ride Billy patrols the route and checks up on bikers to make sure there ok. It was a little cold today so he was dressed for it. It was excellent weather for 100 miles. 
There were lots of farms and corn as usual. 
Old barns as well.  This area the barns have the extra peak on the front for loading things. 
We went through the town of montezuma and all I could think was  "revenge". 
Lots of cement roads. Every time we turned north it was straight into a wind. With all the climbing combined with the wind it made for a tough day. 
At one of the last sag stops riders were treated to a piece of boter koek complements of Carrie. I think we had a lot of Dutch decedents that tasted their first boter koek. I think everyone was a fan. I mean how could you not be its just the most awesome thing ever. 
We arrived in coralville. It's on the edge of Iowa city. I'm tired but still feeling good.  Looking forward to a day off.  It supposed to go down to 10 degrees cels 
I guess I'll have to snuggle. See you tommorow  Len 

2 comments:

  1. Blessings as you get a well deserved rest and a time of worship. The story about Dan ita's bike is just awesome!!

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  2. GOOD TO SEE TWO VERY HAPPY FACES, SNUGGLE AWAY!!

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