It was a cool and brisk morning when we woke up in West Union Iowa. We stayed overnight at a nice Best Rest Inn, but there was no cell phone service and the hotel Wi-Fi didn't work very well, so I wasn't able to update my blog!
We decided to take Hwy 18 heading straight West today. There were two other more scenic routes, but with the strong 20 to 30 mile-per-hour headwinds we thought we better take the shortest route.
Here's a picture showing what riding on Hwy 18 is like. The car lanes are nice and wide, and there is a small shoulder where bicycles can ride. Unfortunately, they chiseled grooves all along the shoulder giving Bicycles a lane only about 2 feet wide.
Too far to the left, and it's rumble city. Too far to the right, and it's into the gravel. It was kind of a tough ride, but really not too bad - you just had to concentrate. And the traffic along the road was very polite. All of the big trucks pulled way over into the opposite lane when passing.
About 10 miles out, we made our first stop in the cornfield. Doc gathered up a wild flower bouquet for Barbara. It was their 31st wedding anniversary yesterday!
About 20 miles out we stopped at the country chrome biker bar. The bar is in an old milking barn. I think the bar might be designed for that other type of biker ...
It was a fun stop, and we split a beer we were carrying on my bike - an oatmeal stout called "Buffalo Sweat".
The biker bar / old milking barn was right next to an old family homestead. It was very picturesque.
We stopped for a great lunch at a little restaurant and bar in Fredericksburg Iowa. They had a TV, so we watched today's mountain stage ending of the tour de France.
Back on the road to Charles City, the wind was still howling from the west and the temperatures were dropping. It was really a beautiful day, but riding into a 25 mph headwind all day really wears you down !
We headed north up to Ionia IA, and stopped into this little Hide-a-way bar. We've been here before on our ride a few years ago. The owner was really nice young man, and we learned all about hunting quail and deer in this area.
Heading out of Ionia for the last 10 miles to Charles City, the weather was getting colder and the skies were getting darker. And the headwinds we're still blowing strong !
We've been riding into strong northwest headwinds and unseasonably cool weather for the past two days. The weather channel is calling this storm the "Arctic Vortex", or some such silly name.
We finally made it to Charles City, and picked up a beautiful bicycle path that went right to our hotel.
We were too exhausted to go out for dinner tonight, so we decided to have pizzas and salad delivered from the "I don't care" restaurant. The restaurant chose this name because whenever someone says "where do you want to eat", the answer is usually "I don't care".
The food was great - a wnnderful way to end a fun day. Tomorrow we're off to Clear Lake Iowa - see you then !
