These are all over Illinois.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Davenport, IA to Stuart, IA
Leaving Davenport after a couple days was a relief. I was getting tired of seeing the inside of our room, and the neighborhood didn't have much to do. We wanted to go to Williamsburg, IA, but I wasn't feeling well when we got to Wilton. The headwinds were strong, and during the first day back after a good rest, it was challenging to keep the faith. We rested at a town park in Wilton, and we kept going. When we got to another gravel road, I felt ready to throw in the towel. We went another 15 to Iowa City. Google maps kept giving us bad directions that day. We ran into gravel roads a lot, and when we looked up an address Google maps sent us in the opposite direction. It was frustrating, and I cite it as another reason to use an actual, tangible, paper map.
The next day we went from Iowa City to Grinnell, Iowa. Grinnell is a small town with a college and a few hotels near interstate 80. It was all right, and we were really happy to be there as well. Nothing interesting has really happened in these last two days.
From Grinnell, we headed toward Des Moines, but knowing the rain was coming we looked for a place east of Des Moines to wait out the rain and have a good time. We found the Prairie Meadows horsetrack and casino in Altoona and a cheap hotel for two days. On our ride to Altoona, we stopped in Newton, IA, to get some coffee and take a mid-ride break. A woman from the newspaper, Betty, asked us to wait and be interviewed for the local paper. She gave us directions to the building, and we met the editor, publisher, and a reporter from the Newton Daily News. The story can be found at this link: http://www.newtondailynews.com/articles/2009/06/01/r_f7h3tvousgoau66ewgcsba/index.xml
Today we left Altoona hoping to get to Anita, Iowa. A couple miles outside of Altoona, Jim's rear tire went flat. We changed that, but his brakes continued failing to release quickly. When I saw a bike shop on the west side of Des Moines, BikeWorld of Urbandale, we stopped in to get some extra assistance. We stocked up on some Cliff shot drink powder. It's as close to Gu20 we'll come for now. We still like to drink it while riding. Jim needed a new tire. The old one had a huge gash in it we didn't catch when we repaired the flat. After all this, we ran out of time. We only made it as far as Stuart, IA before deciding to quit. The next rest area is 20 more miles down the road, and we only had another hour or so before sunset.
The last couple days have been fairly uneventful. The horse races were interesting, but they only last a minute or two, and the next post isn't for a while. Today I saw a cow stop eating to watch us. It had grass hanging from its mouth. We sent home a box today with some "shrunken" jerseys and old maps.
The next day we went from Iowa City to Grinnell, Iowa. Grinnell is a small town with a college and a few hotels near interstate 80. It was all right, and we were really happy to be there as well. Nothing interesting has really happened in these last two days.
From Grinnell, we headed toward Des Moines, but knowing the rain was coming we looked for a place east of Des Moines to wait out the rain and have a good time. We found the Prairie Meadows horsetrack and casino in Altoona and a cheap hotel for two days. On our ride to Altoona, we stopped in Newton, IA, to get some coffee and take a mid-ride break. A woman from the newspaper, Betty, asked us to wait and be interviewed for the local paper. She gave us directions to the building, and we met the editor, publisher, and a reporter from the Newton Daily News. The story can be found at this link: http://www.newtondailynews.com/articles/2009/06/01/r_f7h3tvousgoau66ewgcsba/index.xml
Today we left Altoona hoping to get to Anita, Iowa. A couple miles outside of Altoona, Jim's rear tire went flat. We changed that, but his brakes continued failing to release quickly. When I saw a bike shop on the west side of Des Moines, BikeWorld of Urbandale, we stopped in to get some extra assistance. We stocked up on some Cliff shot drink powder. It's as close to Gu20 we'll come for now. We still like to drink it while riding. Jim needed a new tire. The old one had a huge gash in it we didn't catch when we repaired the flat. After all this, we ran out of time. We only made it as far as Stuart, IA before deciding to quit. The next rest area is 20 more miles down the road, and we only had another hour or so before sunset.
The last couple days have been fairly uneventful. The horse races were interesting, but they only last a minute or two, and the next post isn't for a while. Today I saw a cow stop eating to watch us. It had grass hanging from its mouth. We sent home a box today with some "shrunken" jerseys and old maps.
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