I spent a week biking and camping across Iowa with 10,000+ strangers. It was one of the better vacations I’ve taken. Here’s a map of the route, about 450 miles (50-80 miles/day, only one day with serious hills).
I emailed some updates and photos to this blog from my cell phone while I was on the ride— I’m combining all those updates into this post (link below).
Saturday:
Starting off the trip with a near-disaster: the airline (Fronteir/Midwest) lost my bag (tent, clothes, cycling gear, everything except my bike itself). The bag wasn’t even in their system— they had no idea where it was. Then an agent in Milwaukee called me because he’d found my bag and it had my number on it. He didn’t know I was in Omaha. They said they could get it to be a few days later— not useful since I was about to get on a bike the next morning. They said there were no flights left today to send it on. Then I asked someone else and he found a flight to put it on. 4 hours later, it showed up at the airport!
Tent camp, Sioux City, RAGBRAI Day 0. Later this evening I ate a “taco in a bag” (a.k.a. walking taco), drank a Bud, and watched Smashmouth play that song everyone knows.
Sunday:
Day 1: starting off
You’ve got to be kidding— it’s before 9AM, with 60 miles to ride
Corn and bikes
The SF2corn boom box trailer (a.k.a. “Mr Boomy”), providing tunes
Monday:
Day 1 was 72 miles, rolling hills, good food, sweating in the sun, a swim in Storm Lake. Phone’s mostly dead so may not update much more. Today: 80 miles to ride (but very flat).
First pie of the trip: strawberry-rhubarb
Pork chops grilled over corn cobs
More bikes and corn, and clouds!
Happy to have (more) pie.
Tuesday:
Pie and corn in Britt, Iowa
Corn partly gave way to soybeans, and then there were wind turbines. Yesterday was a long 80 miles but I rode fast. Today’s only 60 and I’ve stopped 4 times and consumed pancakes, sausage, three lemonades, a pork chop (no sauce: straight meat), a slice of pie, an ear of delicious corn, and half a beer (dark homebrew), all by noon. Now listening to some country and bluegrass bands in a small-town park, waiting out the midday heat and humidity before I move on. This is a great vacation.
Laying on my back, beat.
Wednesday:
Breakfast burrito with meat and eggs, worth the wait
More corn, and wind turbines
Silos and ride comrades
Guess what? More corn.
Thursday:
Filling water bottles from a pipe-with-holes, Clarksville.
Having people cheer, wave, and say welcome! when you roll into a town is fun. Having a line of schoolkids at the side of the road try to high-five you as you ride by borders on the ridiculous.
Hello, hay turkey:
Friday:
Pasta/pesto/salmon hits the spot after 3 hours of biking through the rain:
Only a few hours ago I was biking through driving rain, thunder, and lightning, and now:
One of the cops directing traffic had a stereo on the roof of his car, cranking out tunes:
It gets a little silly the last day. 400 miles down, 50ish to go (some Lady Gaga being played on a bike-mounted, breath-powered melodica(?))
Took a detour to the Field of Dreams to hit a ball.
450 miles, and done!