Saturday, June 18th, 2011 (Day 4)
This morning we checked our route on the computer at the Econolodge. We found a route to get us back to US 6 and wrote it down.
The first 5 or 6 miles went great, the road was nice and there were hardly any cars on it. Unfortunately, eastern Iowa must not have gotten the memo that the rest of the country had upgraded to asphalt roads, because our route took a turn onto gravel roads.
Adam and I were hesitant about going on it, but we figured it was probably a really short stretch of it until we got back onto asphalt roads. We were wrong.
The rocks were all about as big as walnuts, and rolling over them felt like we had hexagon wheels. It rattled the crap out of us and loosened a bunch of parts inside our velos. After over 2 miles of this we came to a T intersection, that was another stone road...with bigger stones. We couldn't believe it.
We got out and started pushing our velos toward the highway. We saw a pickup truck pass by going the opposite way so we waved him down. He was a really nice guy, he helped us put our machines side by side on the rails of his truck bed and he drove us to the highway, which was about 2 miles from where we were at the time. His name was Mike.
When we got to the highway we thanked him and took a picture with him. He drove off, and we checked over our velos, which had gathered about 5 lbs of rocks inside them, and had loose bolts on many components from being rattled around so badly.
Pushing my velomobile across the rocks also didn't do much good to my cleats. They were completely worn down, with barely enough rubber left to be of use anymore. Awesome.
The first 5 or 6 miles went great, the road was nice and there were hardly any cars on it. Unfortunately, eastern Iowa must not have gotten the memo that the rest of the country had upgraded to asphalt roads, because our route took a turn onto gravel roads.
Adam and I were hesitant about going on it, but we figured it was probably a really short stretch of it until we got back onto asphalt roads. We were wrong.
The rocks were all about as big as walnuts, and rolling over them felt like we had hexagon wheels. It rattled the crap out of us and loosened a bunch of parts inside our velos. After over 2 miles of this we came to a T intersection, that was another stone road...with bigger stones. We couldn't believe it.
We got out and started pushing our velos toward the highway. We saw a pickup truck pass by going the opposite way so we waved him down. He was a really nice guy, he helped us put our machines side by side on the rails of his truck bed and he drove us to the highway, which was about 2 miles from where we were at the time. His name was Mike.
When we got to the highway we thanked him and took a picture with him. He drove off, and we checked over our velos, which had gathered about 5 lbs of rocks inside them, and had loose bolts on many components from being rattled around so badly.
Pushing my velomobile across the rocks also didn't do much good to my cleats. They were completely worn down, with barely enough rubber left to be of use anymore. Awesome.
|
|
If you look at the picture above to the right, you can see our flags. The direction they are pointed is the direction we were headed, so we were at least fortunate enough to have some tail wind for the rest of the day!
|
|
|
|
We rode on until we made it to the Amana Colonies, which is where we thought and hoped we would be able to stay for the night. We spotted a bed & breakfast place right off the highway and went to the entrance. The building was way up on the top of a hill, and the way to get there was a crappy stone driveway, one of the ones that only has stones where the car tires go.
We struggled for about 3 minutes to make it up this driveway that was probably only 50 yards long. It was so steep and our rear wheels kept sliding out and kicking up rocks behind us.
Once we finally made it to the house, we rang the doorbell, knocked, hollared, and we got no answer for 15 minutes, so we left. When we made it to the bottom of the hill and back to US 6, a man in a pickup stopped and asked us "what we were doing in those?" We replied cycling and that we were looking for somewhere to stay. The man offered us his back yard to camp in and we thanked him. He told us his name was Steve and explained that his house was just about 5 miles away and that he would drive down the road and wait for us.
His house was 9 miles away in Merengo, IA, and we had already ridden 81 miles when he talked to us at the road by the bed & breakfast place.
When we spotted him off the road waiting for us, we rode up to meet him. "Dang! You guys are fast! I can hardly believe it!" was what he said when we were within earshot. He told us how to get the rest of the way to his house and we rode there to meet him.
When we got to his house he showed us his back yard which was filled with little solar lights everywhere and a tire garden which had some cacti in it, which Steve told us his neighbors were jealous of because the cacti were in bloom. Before going inside he asked us to pardon his mess since he said he just moved in. I have never in my life seen any single place so messy. There was random clutter on every surface in the house, with a small path between rooms to walk on. There were cups, dishes, clothes, papers, electronics, nicnacs, tools, furniture pieces, pictures, and anything else you can think of strewed about everywhere. And when I say everywhere, I mean ev-er-y-where.
He offered us some lasagna for dinner, let us use his shower, and washed all our clothes. He was a really nice guy that loved to talk, sometimes it was hard to stop talking though, especially when we wanted to go to sleep at the end of the night.
We really appreciated the help he offered us, he was an extremely generous person. We were so relieved to go to sleep clean that night!
Miles covered today: 90
Miles covered total: 295
Overnight Town: Merengo, IA
We struggled for about 3 minutes to make it up this driveway that was probably only 50 yards long. It was so steep and our rear wheels kept sliding out and kicking up rocks behind us.
Once we finally made it to the house, we rang the doorbell, knocked, hollared, and we got no answer for 15 minutes, so we left. When we made it to the bottom of the hill and back to US 6, a man in a pickup stopped and asked us "what we were doing in those?" We replied cycling and that we were looking for somewhere to stay. The man offered us his back yard to camp in and we thanked him. He told us his name was Steve and explained that his house was just about 5 miles away and that he would drive down the road and wait for us.
His house was 9 miles away in Merengo, IA, and we had already ridden 81 miles when he talked to us at the road by the bed & breakfast place.
When we spotted him off the road waiting for us, we rode up to meet him. "Dang! You guys are fast! I can hardly believe it!" was what he said when we were within earshot. He told us how to get the rest of the way to his house and we rode there to meet him.
When we got to his house he showed us his back yard which was filled with little solar lights everywhere and a tire garden which had some cacti in it, which Steve told us his neighbors were jealous of because the cacti were in bloom. Before going inside he asked us to pardon his mess since he said he just moved in. I have never in my life seen any single place so messy. There was random clutter on every surface in the house, with a small path between rooms to walk on. There were cups, dishes, clothes, papers, electronics, nicnacs, tools, furniture pieces, pictures, and anything else you can think of strewed about everywhere. And when I say everywhere, I mean ev-er-y-where.
He offered us some lasagna for dinner, let us use his shower, and washed all our clothes. He was a really nice guy that loved to talk, sometimes it was hard to stop talking though, especially when we wanted to go to sleep at the end of the night.
We really appreciated the help he offered us, he was an extremely generous person. We were so relieved to go to sleep clean that night!
Miles covered today: 90
Miles covered total: 295
Overnight Town: Merengo, IA
