Chairiton to Pella

On the road again. Can't wait to get on the road again. Are you singing yet? I am.  Carrie's coming today. She's going to meet us in pella. Just over fifty miles today. I'm not looking forward to the hills but today they seemed to be a bit easier. 

Today also marks the half way point in mileage terms. It was nice of Al to set up this spot along the route. 

We got close to Knoxville and I finally got a close pic of a crop duster. I've seen them all week but I can't zoom in with my phone or else the pictures go fuzzy. After stopping at the community church for pie , and some more pie. Wow can I eat when I'm riding a bike. It's fun to eat this much. I'm not sure how I'm going to stop when this is over. I just won't think about it. 

We passed Knoxville raceway and noticed they had a museum. Now I'm not the museum type but I dragged Harold in. 

Albert was inside when we got there. The cars were cool 

This is a typical sprint car. Guys like Mario Andretti are famous for this type of racing. 

This line of cars are ones he used. 

Here's an old race car complete with trailer and an old car pulling the setup. This was donated by a lady who's husband was a racer. She gave it all to the museum including spare parts. A cool display. 

Well we went past the largest lake in Iowa. 

It's dam big. 

People were fishing below the dam. 

We crossed the river over a bridge. 

It was nice to see some water a little bigger than a creek. 

We followed the bike path along the river and headed for pella. Along the way we came across a small school house. 

Inside the city of pella we ran into a bunch of signs that told us of some Dutch roots here. 

Well I had to set up my tent to dry it out. We had rain last night. 

You can tell how fast I was biking by my hair. So I'm going to check out the town before Carrie gets here. Ill take some pics and show you tommorow.  See you next time  Len 

Fogle lake to Chairiton

Well the fun didn't stop last night. We had talent night at peloton. People did goofy things, and it was a lot of fun. Stan was the host. We only got through a few groups because of the desert. I think the plan is to continue tonight. 

Today is another long day 75 miles or 120 km. lots of hills. It's easier to just focus on the next hill or the next sag stop. As we started out today our legs and knees hurt. It takes about 5 km to settle in and warm up. Lots of cement roads again. Also we actually passed a lake that had boats in it. That's the first time we passed a lake like that. Since half way Nebraska the streams, creeks and rivers started to actually have water in them. No really before that one in every fifty had water. There is more trees around now and everything  is a lot greener. 

Anyone for some rolling hills. 

This is what happens to your bike if you don't ride it anymore. 

They had an outdoor jail in this town and a couple of old houses. One was in let's say original condition. 

The next house was beautiful. It was out if place in a small town that was run down.

Not sure go good you can see it , cause on my small screen it seems a little dark. 

This was the Main Street and the only place left was the post office. It recently closed too. 

Well we arrived at our new camp in Chairiton. There's bathrooms but no showers so were using the outdoor showers. They work fine just a little cold. Mind you on a hot day that's ok. 

So the camp is about 500 yards from a train track. Only 7 trains came by km the last couple hours. I guess I'll need the ear plugs tonight. Looking forward to tommorow when Carrie comes and meets us in pella. 

 See you tommorow  Len 

This is today's  bonus pic 

Fogle lake camp

After staying in a nice park yesterday it's tough to get up and move the next day. But move we must. The sunset last night was awesome. This morning I was on sweep so Harold and I left last from camp. With 140 km to ride we hopped  to it. Well whoever said Iowa was flat never rode this section on a bike. I'm not sure what the elevation gain and loss was but I think it was more than our days in the mountains. I am sore and beat up. Well I just found out that we climbed 3800 feet. That was the third highest climbing day the whole trip. No wonder I feel the way I do. 

Last night their was a big crack then a load " what".  A big tree  ranch fell on Billy's tent. I think it was only a couple days old. I think everyone will be looking up next time the set up their tents. 

The hills were all pretty much too long to carry any momentum up the other side. It was a slow grind. They said their would be mental days well this was one. We tried to stay distracted. 

The corn is pretty tall here

They were filling up the trucks with corn. I'm not sure if their making room for this years or if that was this years. 

There were not as many deserted places through these parts but still plenty of old places. 

I've never driven on so many cement roads. It was nice and smooth. Well other than the cracks. 

Well about half way the ride,  we came across a "sign" that we might be getting close to the end of the ride. How could that be. We're in the middle of Iowa. 

Yes that's a surf board on the roof. Not too sure where they would use it. 

Well when we got to camp and had supper a local united church group made pies and ice cream as a fundraiser for their new church. They raised over 700 $ 

They even had an old motor running as it made ice cream.  

It was fun. I'm out of time and the Mosquitos are biting me. Ill try and post this tonight but the cell reception sucks. 

See you tommorow  len 

Oasis to Iowa

Well I slept a little better last night. No train. Around nine last night I got a hold of a recording of the train in fairbury and played it into the mega phone. I think a few people were starting to panic. 

Here's Eric holding the moon on a stick last night. The weather forecast called for thunder showers last night. That being the case most people slept indoors last night. Well at 5am I woke up to a blast of wind shaking my tent. It was just a short blast and it stopped. So I went back to sleep. 530 am and I woke up to some more shaking. This Time I looked out and the sky was red. A cold front was moving in. Dark clouds were coming fast. I got up and packed up in record time. 

We got everyone outside packed up and the gear all in the trailer just before it started to rain. We ate breakfast and waited for it to clear a bit. 8 am we headed out. It rained for about the first 20 miles. The wind was not as big a factor as we thought it was going to be. Of course it was a stiff cross wind for quite a way but that works. 

Well once the rain let up it was back to business. 115 km went by pretty fast. 

The later sag stops were busy. 

We stopped at the Lewis and Clark  long boat and visitors centre. We then proceeded to cross the Missouri River 

Well when we reached the other side. You guessed it. We were in Iowa. 

The view in this part of Iowa kinda reminds me of the marsh. Flat as a pancake with hills around the outside. It felt like a bit of home. 

This is a shot if Harold behind me through the flat section. He lead most of the way today so this was a bit of a uncommon sight today. 

Once we got into the waubonsie state park, we found this lookout. I felt like I was over looking the marsh. Well I'm on sweep tonight and I'm not sure how good my reception is so ill try to get this blog out today   Thanks for reading Len 

Alright I forgot the bonus pic yesterday so here's one 

This is a local paper that wrote an article about seatosea. I'm the one with the blue helmet. 

Fairbury to Firth.

Well I got a couple of pics of my sleeping buddies. Well I guess there not my buddies. Maybe my sleepless buddies

This is his front end 

And here's his tail end. They kinda look the same. I kinda forgot to talk about the secadea bugs that sing all day and most of the night. It's a high pitched buzzing like you electrical wires , except 10 times louder. What's the answer you ask ? Ear plugs. They worked ok. Well actually better than last night. 

Off we went this morning.  We got a nice early start. We puttered out of town am came across a marker. 

It talk about the pony express coming through this area.  

We had more rolling hills today. They were however not hard to climb. We made it to the town of Beatrice in no time. 

Harold thought it be a good time to have a hair cut. This is the before picture. 

While I was a waiting I noticed a couple of deer heads hanging on the wall. Hey Evan they both have drop tines. 

Well here's the after. I think it says beauty shop. I'm not sure if he had his nails done as well. 

As we headed out if town we went past the local airport and saw a crop duster take off. After the airport we got back into the corn fields in a hurry. The next two picks are taken from the same spot on the road. One of the left side, one of the   right side of the road. 

As you can see there is corn as far as the eye can see. On both sides. The shorter mileage today was welcome to most riders. The high mileage says in a row take a toll on your body. They expose your weakest area. Be that knees, back, or whatever bugs you. 

Well we made it to camp oasis. It's just south of Firth. 

Tent set up and ready to go. Looking forward to a nice relaxing night. See you tommorow   Len