47 miles: dyersville, IA, to prairie du chien, WI

it was 52 degrees in prairie du chien this morning … sunny, bright, & already windy at 7:30, when breakfast was served in the parking lot.

with those strong south winds we covered the first 20 miles northward on hwy 136 in a flash. we came upon the subaru at this scenic overlook. what a joy to rejoin the mississippi river. we’ve been biking inland in iowa since muscatine.

here are georgia, ann (today’s sag driver), & holly, with a tow pushing 15 barges full of coal on the river below.

we coasted down a long hill & were shortly in guttenberg. many commented on what a lovely little river town it is. i took this photo of some barges waiting for their tug to come thru the locks.

we found out that the “big hill” listed on our cue sheet was just north of guttenberg. one of the times i rode RAGBRAI in the late ’90’s, we ended in guttenberg. i must’ve ridden down this hill then. riding up it was another matter (tho’ in general i prefer uphills to big downhills). i took this photo from about 3/4 of the way up the hill. those teensy ants near the bottom of the photo are bicyclists. i got on my bike & finished riding up the hill after taking the photo. note that the clouds are already gathering & the sun has disappeared.

later at suppertime, patty reported that her gps gizmo said some sections of the first couple of hills we climbed today were 10-12% grades. the downhill warning signs along the highway warned of up to 8% grades on one of our downhills.

after climbing the “big hill,” we got up onto a section of the great river road that leads along a beautiful plateau. even tho’ the rains weren’t supposed to start ’til noon, it was probably around 10:30 or so when laura & i started feeling drops in earnest. we spotted a woman & her young children in an open garage along the road to our left, so coasted over there to ask if we could take shelter while the shower passed by. she said sure.

the kids anxiously ran over to show us their kittens (14 of them!) & the 2 mommy cats. in this photo you see not only the 3 kids in front overflowing with cats, but 2 children coming toward us with additional cats!

there was a dog, too. here are nathan & muffin.

as riders rode by, we waved, & most wheeled over to the garage to share the shelter. i imagine there were 8 or 10 of us in there before long. janet bee, a cat lover, loved holding all (well, not maybe ALL) the kittens.

the rains let up to a steady drizzle, so off we went. pike’s peak was noted on our cue sheet, but at the time we passed the entrance, the weather was very wet & chilly, so we pedaled right on by. i visited pike’s peak in 2004, tho’, & took this photo, so you won’t miss it altogether. & you can learn more about this non-colorado pike’s peak here. it’s an absolutely gorgeous spot.

soon we took a very very long downhill into mcgregor. our previous long downhills today at least had shoulders, but this one didn’t. since it was raining & we had seen some glass & rocks along the way, i wasn’t the only one braking down much of this hill.

we coasted into the cute little town of mcgregor. we knew we were very close to our overnight town, prairie du chien. & we knew if we showed up at our motel this early (it was around noon), our rooms wouldn’t be ready. & we also knew we were hungry. so when we saw a long line of bikes in front of a restaurant, we pulled over & added our bikes to the lineup.

the twisted chicken was brimful of bikers. we found a table near a front window & got menus. what an array of fascinating food! making a choice was very difficult, but i finally ended up with the salmon “blt” pita: “grilled salmon, bacon, tomatoes, pesto mayonnaise & fresh greens on grilled pita.” & when they say “fresh greens” they’re referring to really fresh greens that were probably in someone’s local garden this morning; i’m sure these greens share no blood lines whatsoever with iceberg lettuce. this delicious dish was accompanied by a cup of one of today’s soups; i chose the mushroom, spinach & rice. you’ve heard the phrase ‘to die for.’ that’s what this soup was, & it sure hit the spot on a wet chilly day like this.

here’s a photo of the women of the twisted chicken. i wish i could remember all the names, but i can’t. i do know that kim, the owner, is 2nd from the right. she used to be a photographer for national geographic; the eclectic menu of the restaurant reflects her widespread travels. to kim’s right is lori valley; she told us that her ancestors were among the founders of prairie du chien. one of her relatives has a well-known shop here in prairie du chien called valley fish & cheese. how i wish i had time to go there.

we kept watching the road in hopes of seeing the rain let up, but it never happened, so we finally took off, figuring we’d be safer on the bridge en masse. it was a very wet & messy crossing … & a very long bridge. but here at the americinn in prairie du chien, we were met with the warmest hospitality you can imagine. they didn’t even seem to mind us sloshing across their well-kept lobby in our soaking shoes & other duds. the staff here makes us feel like guests in their own homes.

linda fixed meaty chili & meatless for the vegetarians, plus a delicious pasta salad, big green salad, some delicious polenta, & sliced strawberries & brownies for dessert. we ate inside in the motel’s banquet room. the weather had cleared some in the afternoon, but remained iffy off & on. at the map meeting, laurie told us what many of us had already learned about tomorrow’s weather: winds of 30-40 mph from the south (which will be fine as long as we always go directly north, which of course we won’t), & chance of serious thunderstorms by afternoon, some of which may include hail. laurie said it will therefore be especially important for us to wear our helmets tomorrow!

we’ll start out early in hopes of completing our 62 miles to la crosse before the storms hit. but we know that the subaru, &, if necessary, the van will be available to pick us up if the weather becomes unbikeable.

64 miles: maquoketa, IA, to dyersville, IA

it was an eventful day. you’ll see lots of photos in this posting, but i couldn’t figure out which ones i didn’t want to use, so you’ll just have to slog thru them.

the 3 things we were never without today were those blackbirds squawking overhead, the winds, & the hills. the winds weren’t as strong as yesterday, but by afternoon they were usually in our faces & they were a force to be reckoned with. good thing the landscapes today were so beautiful; that took the edge off. as for hills….there were more of them than yesterday, & steeper, longer ones.

the blackbirds, as far as i know, didn’t attack anyone, but it must be the height of nesting season, because they definitely didn’t want us on any of the roads we pedaled today. i’ve never had them overhead so constantly as on today’s ride.

i did have a bird encounter today, tho’ — a first for me in all these years of biking. i’ve had blackbirds dive-bomb my helmet, but this morning i was rolling along when a bird hit me in the face. i caught sight of some light yellow feathers as it glanced off my left cheek. laura, who was riding behind me, said there were actually 2 small yellow birds, but one veered off after the first hit me. all i can figure is that i was hit by a goldfinch — the iowa state bird, no less! i had a little mark on my cheek, but nothing very noticeable.

but the real star of today’s show was the landscape. my photos don’t do it justice. this one of laura, georgia, & clark shows a morning view of the vistas we enjoyed. it was quite overcast & cool early this morning…58 on a bank thermometer as we pedaled out of maquoketa.

it wasn’t too long before the sun came out, tho’; here’s laura heading downhill into a lovely valley.

a little later i took this photo of janet bee, today’s sag driver, in her ‘burlington bees’ t-shirt she bought at weird harold’s in burlington. she’s not a fan of that team, but of course likes their name. she’s also looking for a bike horn in the shape of a bee (like my cow horn). anyone know where she can get one?

& yet another lovely landscape shot … this time of barb heading downhill on her titanium recumbent.

at about 33 miles into our day we arrived in cascade; we’d been promised places to get lunch here. as you can see from the bike lineup along the sidewalk, we found one!

anam cara, cafe, fitness, & learning center, is a darling place with fabulous food. but boy were they overwhelmed with the influx of us women. one of our waiters, it turns out, is the refrigerator repair guy, who was quickly pressed into service when the crowd poured in. here’s a photo of the cafe’s owner with our impromptu waiter. what a nice guy — & so patient with the frenzy of food & females.

i took this photo of a piece of decor at the shop. i really like this:

& here’s a photo of ann with the list of available drinks in the background. this gives you an idea of the very neat decor at the place.

DO stop if you’re ever in cascade. & in the meantime, you can visit anam cara here.

it was hard to leave anam cara, but after an hour or so, we saddled up & headed north on a beautiful road toward farley. this is the very road my folks & i used to travel on our trips between burlington & madison, wisconsin, when i was at the univ. of wisconsin in the early 60’s, so it held special memories for me. it’s as beautiful as i remember it.

this was a good day for animals (besides birds). my cow was happy to see many other cows along the road. here’s a photo of her looking longingly at some relatives along the roadside.

i think i’ve mentioned that my maiden name is holsteen (spelled almost like the cow). when we’d pass pastures of holsteins on car trips when i was little, my father would always say, “look at all those beautiful cows.” so if i refer to holsteins this way, you’ll know why.

& there were lots of pigs, too. we’re in iowa farm country, after all. when i got off my bike to get closer to a penful of pigs, most of them scurried into the nearby shed, but this one stood her ground with a very determined look on her face:

by afternoon, the hills were taking their toll. as we stopped to rest at the top of one hill, clark mentioned how much her right shoulder was hurting. laura quickly & expertly gave her a shoulder massage right there along the road.

ok, i’ll admit it. clark, laura & i took a wrong turn late in the day. we ended up on a road more north of dyersville than we should’ve been, but we stopped a fellow in a utilities truck. he was so nice, & gave us good instructions on how to get to dyersville. & on the bright side, if we hadn’t made this detour, we wouldn’t have met up with ryan & his dog, scooby. aren’t they the cutest?

we 3 finally pulled into the super 8 here in dyersville at about 4:15. i immediately ran into marilyn with our friend, leroy, who was visiting us from floyd, IA. marilyn, leroy & i did a bike trip from st. paul to new orleans along the mississippi in august of ‘99. in this photo, you see that leroy is wearing his t-shirt from that trip. we enjoyed reminiscing over supper.

after supper, leroy offered to take 7 of us to see the dyersville basilica. it’s really a spectacular place. just after we walked in, the organ started playing, & soon the choir began singing. we couldn’t believe our good fortune.

lots of our group had time to visit the national toy museum, which is right next door to our motel. they said it was fascinating. i look forward to visiting it next time i’m in dyersville. here you can see what i missed.

after we got back from the basilica, we went to the cafe next door, which we’d heard had a large selection of homemade pies. several of us had the rhubarb crumb. the pieces were huge, as was the scoop of vanilla ice cream that came with it. here’s laura enjoying every bite.

at our map meeting after supper, laurie mentioned that tomorrow’s ride will get us back along the mississippi river. it’ll be beautiful … but hilly, including some “big hills.” & winds will be strong again — 20-30 mph — but this time, finally, from the south. thunderstorms are predicted for afternoon. looks like it’ll be another eventful day.

61 miles: muscatine, IA, to maquoketa, IA

whew, what a day! some folks said it was the hardest ride they’ve ever done. it was those strong headwinds…i’m guessing in the 20-25 mph range, with gusts upward from there. we didn’t have any time to prepare, as they were in our faces on our way out of muscatine. at one point i was pedaling hard & looked down at my cyclometer: i was going only 11 mph … & i was going downhill!

we passed along the edge of wilton as we biked northwesterly. wilton is only 30 miles from my home in iowa city. it’s a favorite biking destination because of the wilton candy kitchen, the oldest still-operating soda fountain west of the mississippi. we didn’t visit there today, tho’; we were not going to add even an extra mile onto today’s route!

we rode on a section of the herbert hoover highway, & in muscatine & cedar counties; they both have borders on johnson county, my home county. something else that reminded me of home was crossing over I80 just north of wilton. here are laura & clark with the interstate stretching out behind them. I80 passes along the north edge of iowa city about 30 miles west of here.

it was quite dreary early, but the sun started shining by mid morning. here’s a photo showing the beautiful, rolling countryside we rode through. this photo also shows one of our new favorite things in the countryside—a farm house & surrounding trees. those provide great windbreaks as one bikes past them, giving us a welcome minute or 2 of relief from the relentless winds.

at about 33 miles into the day, we came to the fast stop arrow cafe that had been mentioned on our cue sheet. when all of us started pouring into this small restaurant in lowden, the 2 ladies working there got a stricken look on their faces. who can blame them? but they did a great job turning out a lot of food in short order for all of us.

luckily, on the menu at the cafe today was one of my favorite dishes–homemade chicken noodle soup. many of us had the soup; it really hit the spot. can you tell how much i enjoyed mine? (you may think i’m blowing a bowl of chicken noodle soup way out of proportion, but you didn’t bike those first 33 miles, either.) of course i had more than soup; the tuna melt with swiss cheese on rye was pretty good, too.

as i was leaving the cafe, i saw linda & judy getting their bikes out of the back of a pickup truck in the parking lot. here they are with jack, who had rescued them in the town of bennett, about 10 miles earlier on the route, when they were just plain unable to pedal another mile. the subaru already had a full complement of bikes on its top, but fortunately jack came to the rescue of these damsels in distress, & gave them a lift to the lunch stop.

 

even tho’ i have photos of neither, there were 2 types of fauna that we noticed on today’s ride. one was red-winged blackbirds. this time of year they have nests along the back roads, & if you ride too close to one, they’ll hover, squawking, above you as you ride. sometimes they dive-bomb your helmet. i’ve had that happen on rides around home, & it happened to a couple of riders today.

another time, as we neared a stretch of road that had pretty thick forests on both sides, we thot we were nearing a power plant of some type. the buzzing sound was very loud. as we rode between the trees, tho’, we realized it was cicadas, as we saw some dead locusts on the roadway. i’ve never heard such a loud locust din!

at about 45 miles into our day, we came to the town of lost nation. that turned out to be a great stop … & not just because i found my favorite ice cream sandwich (blue bunny mississippi mud) in the convenience store’s freezer. stephany was there with the subaru, & she told us that our cue sheets were wrong on mileage between here & maquoketa; we had 10 less miles to pedal than was shown on the cue sheets. you can easily imagine that the air was filled with whoops & hollers of joy! here are several riders gathered around the subaru, with the flag across the street blowing straight out.

less than 5 miles from lost nation we rode through elwood. every town has its claim to fame. this sign proclaims elwood’s:

less than 10 miles from maquoketa, we climbed what we decided was the day’s most grueling uphill. here’s edith nearing the top. a group of us gladly relaxed in a grassy spot alongside the road at the top of the hill to rest for a bit before continuing.

at the top of the next hill, i spotted to my right what may be the most beautiful water tower i’ve ever seen. & luckily, we turned east, which gave us a good boost into maquoketa. several people stopped to take photos of themselves beside the maquoketa town sign just to celebrate having made it there.

linda made another delicious supper: a pork/vegetable dish with lots of garlic & other spices over couscous (along with a tofu version for the vegetarians), the leftover tabouli from last night, a big green salad, & a fabulous waldorf salad with lots of walnuts & other goodies in it. she does a great job turning out one fabulous meal after the other.

at the map meeting laurie told us that tomorrow’s route–58 miles to dyersville–is somewhat like today’s topographically. fortunately, tho’, tomorrow’s forecast shows north winds at only 5-10 mph. that’ll be doable. many are looking forward to visiting the field of dreams movie site in dyersville, & perhaps also the ertl toy factory & museum. with those tamer north winds, we should get into town in plenty of time to sightsee.

60 miles: burlington, IA, to muscatine, IA

the weather looked a little iffy as we got ready to ride … as you can see in this photo of my iowa city (IC) friends (from left, bonnie, sue, (me) & tom), plus clark & laura, who met us at bob & judy’s to begin the day’s ride.

we rode back across the beautiful burlington bridge into illinois & soon got off busy highway 34 onto lovely lowland back roads. here’s a bunch of us stopped at a railroad crossing as a long train rolled by. from left are stephany, bonnie, clark, laura, sue, judy, & dusty. the weather is already perking up … & the winds already picking up.

we spotted a little roadside park with a restroom, so pulled in. there we also found this covered bridge! alas, i can’t remember the name of the bridge; i’m sure it’s a local historic site. here are sue & stephany under the sign with a stern warning about bridge load limit!

by about 10:30 we rolled into keithsburg, a tiny town with a casey’s; we thought we’d have to settle for lunch there. but we ventured on down the block & found a cute little cafe where 3 other bikers were also stopped. the others were having breakfast, but we had lunch. clark said that her hamburger with mushrooms & swiss cheese was delicious. as we were putting our things together to leave, we noticed that it was starting to rain. we rushed outside to move our bikes under the porch, & gladly waited inside while the shower passed.

i’m so happy to have another animal photo today! not too long after lunch we came upon a field with 3 sets of mama & baby horses. bonnie loves animals; she rushed over to pull up some grass & offer it to one of the mares across the fence. i got this photo of one of the pairs of mama & baby.

winds were really picking up; sometimes they were very gusty. thankfully they were often at our backs. we were ready for a break, tho’, when we happened upon georgia, today’s sag driver. here she’s hard at work on her cell phone as tom enjoys some cheez-its from the subaru’s collection of goodies. notice on the hood of the car a few items … some hand sanitizer & sunscreen. these are some of the items the subaru carries. georgia said she had put them out on the hood hoping to entice riders to stop, as she was getting lonely out there. she must not’ve wanted company too badly, or she would’ve put cookies & m&m’s on that car hood.

we were nearing muscatine. in this photo, it’s way in the distance behind us. (in the photo are, from left, laura, clark, sue, bonnie, & tom.) i just couldn’t get over how beautiful the clouds were … & the expanses of beautiful corn & soy bean fields. riders who’ve never visited the midwest before often comment at the vastness of these fields.

we had to turn west to go across the muscatine bridge, & thus into the strong headwinds, but it wasn’t a long stretch, so were soon rolling through the streets of town toward our motel, the fairfield inn. sue had called ahead to her husband, who was soon there to pick up the IC riders for their 40-mile trip back to iowa city. it was so much fun riding with some of my iowa city biking pals today!

clark had friends visiting from iowa city for supper. here are laurie, katharine, & clark. katharine & clark were close friends growing up. & it turns out that i know laurie from my work with the free lunch program in iowa city. it was great fun chatting with them while we dined.

tomorrow we pedal 70 miles to maquoketa. my odometer has rolled past 1200 miles since we left new orleans. that means less than 800 to go before we reach the headwaters of this mighty river.

0 miles by bike: layover day in burlington

i stayed at bob & judy’s overnight both fri & sat. early saturday i was treated to this beautiful sunrise over the mississippi.

i took my dog fritz on a little walk, then drove to the holiday inn express to pick up kathy, laura, barb & clark. we went to mr. moto’s in downtown burlington for breakfast. bob went with us. judy, my long-time friend, had told me that mr. moto’s coffee is very good. i don’t drink coffee, but i knew it was important to many of the bikers. the coffee WAS good, & so were the fresh raspberry scones & my greek omelet. a couple of others had a breakfast burrito. all were scrumptious.

on the way to mr. moto’s, we drove down snake alley (!), then after breakfast, we went to bob & judy’s to enjoy the view & the multitudes of interesting birds at the feeders … & samson. here’s samson, bob & judy’s red doberman, enjoying clark’s attention.

samson made lots of new friends this weekend! clark decided to stay around for the day, but i took barb, kathy & laura to other places in burlington where they wanted to go.

before i left iowa city on this bike tour, i got in touch with several friends to set up a potluck get-together in burlington on june 2. the friends & my own family began arriving late morning. around 1 or so, we started our potluck. wow, so many delectable dishes! here’s a photo of some of the potluckers: from left, gloria, connie, & chris & monika. chris & monika biked the 90 miles from iowa city to burlington on their co-motion tandem … into headwinds.

gloria is the person i credit with getting me out on the open road. i’d always commuted to work by bike (except on icy &/or snowy days, when i walked), but never considered biking recreation. then gloria started inviting me to join her & others on 20- & 30-mile rides. i still remember the awe i felt when i made it FROM ONE TOWN TO ANOTHER TOWN ON MY BIKE!! that was iowa city to solon, a distance of some 17 miles. then it was one county to another county, one state to another state, one ocean to another ocean. gloria is the one who originally encouraged me in this cycling pastime, which has become such an important part of my life & my well-being. i’ll be forever grateful to her.

a highlight of my day was getting to see my granddaughter, ava palmberg….& ava’s parents, mark (my older son), his wife, leah, & my younger son, scott. all live in iowa city. you knew this was coming — photos of ava & gramary (ava’s name for me). in the first photo, ava & i are sitting on the bench near the wall enjoying the river; she’s also enjoying a chocolate chip cookie. in the 2nd, i’m holding her plate while she concentrates on some chocolate cake.

i had made reservations for about 25 of us — the iowa city folks plus some of the womantours riders — at big muddy’s for supper. it’s situated right smack dab on the river’s edge near the burlington bridge … an absolutely beautiful spot. here’s one last ava photo for the day; she’s trying out the wacky quacker that i got when barb & i did our ‘ride the duck’ city tour in memphis. those are ava’s parents in the photo … & the burlington bridge in the background.

while we waited for our dinner, ava & i went down along the water to look at the boats pulled up alongside the dock, & to throw rocks in the water. after dinner, we watched a spectacular dark storm cloud spread over almost the entire sky. then came the downpour, but we were all inside by then.

3 of my iowa city friends are staying overnight at bob & judy’s, & will ride with us to muscatine tomorrow. the weather forecast is a little iffy, but the terrain–across the bridge & up the illinois side of the river– promises to be quite flat.

30 miles … of the 53 from keokuk, IA, to burlington, IA

this blog is fast becoming ‘watch mary sag up the mississippi.’ but today i had a very good reason for sagging … to be explained later.

it was very foggy when i looked out our motel window around 5:30, but by about 7:15 when we left, the fog was already starting to lift. many folks delayed their departure so that they would arrive at the nauvoo visitors’ centers, only 14 miles away, when they opened at 9. but clark & i & a few others headed out earlier.

here are pat & jan beginning their ride across the river at keokuk, with clark looking on as she waited for me to take this photo. you see that we had a nice pedestrian/bike path to keep us away from the cars, & this time it didn’t have so much glass in it (as the path did across the eads bridge in st. louis).

the ride along the river on the illinois side to nauvoo was beautiful. along the way we often caught glimpses of geese with their goslings floating out on the river or in tall grasses along the roadway.

we had been alerted that there was a good bakery in nauvoo, so we were on the lookout for it. here are judy, clark & i at the nauvoo mill & bakery.

we went inside to find delightful people & delicious pastries, everything baked this morning. i had a melt-in-your-mouth raised donut; the only thing missing was a chocolate glaze on top, but even without that, it was scrumptious. clark had an apple fritter. the waitress had recommended both these items. several people in our group & in later groups had the apple fritters & haven’t yet stopped raving about them.

as we left we chatted with this group of locals at a nearby table.

one of the women told me that they go to mass early every friday morning, then meet here to have breakfast & visit. i heard them talking about the geese that seem to be very prevalent around here, at least now. the lone fellow at the table said he heard of one chasing a semi truck recently. the young woman standing at the rear of the table was our delightful waitress.

we pedaled on, & soon left hwy 96 to take some of those kinds of roads that put the ‘back’ into back roads. by this time the clouds were darkening & winds picking up. we enjoyed great tailwinds when pedaling north, but we turned right every 2-3 miles, & when we did, the side winds could be quite a pain. after a while we felt some droplets, so took cover in a farmhouse’s carport. this shower appeared to be short-lived, & it was.

i call this photo ’sharing a country road.’ out here that means sharing with farm equipment. here dusty waves to a passing farmer on his tractor. those beautiful flat, green fields are filled with young corn stalks … in other places, soy beans.

early this morning i told linda, our cook, to pick me up on the road when she came by with the van so i could guide her to the various places she needed to go in burlington; i knew this would be easier than my trying to give directions. i grew up in burlington, but haven’t lived there in over 45 years. my odometer showed 30 miles when linda came by. i loaded up my bike & stuff & off we went to burlington. here’s my cow again on the front of the van, this time as we approached the beautiful bridge that took us into burlington.

you can see in this photo that the skies were still gray. all the other riders were still further back on the route at this point. some rode through rain showers. & the winds got very strong, but they provided fantastic tailwinds on the last 10-mile stretch up the illinois side of the river to the bridge.

i enjoyed going with linda & georgia & seeing all the hard work that goes on behind the scenes of a tour like this. we went shopping at the hyvee for tonight’s supper, to the bike shop (bickel’s–a great shop), to the motel & unloaded all the luggage–plus some bikes from the top of the van–& to bob & judy’s to unhook the trailer. linda started supper preparations early afternoon. vicki came over late afternoon to help.

the van brought the riders in 2 shifts from the motel to bob & judy’s, & linda set out our delicious picnic supper around 6:30: hamburgers on the grill (actually turkey burgers, plus boca burgers for the vegetarians), corn on the cob, baked beans, a big bowl of delicious roasted veggies, & mixed berries on shortbread with whipped cream for dessert. earlier i put out my spicy sweet potato wedges as one of the appetizers. that recipe actually came from my son mark, who’s a much better cook than i.

in this photo, linda, on the left, is giving instructions for the meal. you can get an idea of our spectacular picnic spot in bob & judy’s yard. those chairs that usually are lined up in a motel parking lot this time were lined up facing the magnificent vistas we enjoyed of the mississippi river.

after dining, we lined up on the wall with the river behind us for this group photo. in front center are bob & samson; samson is the adamses’ friendly red doberman. (bob’s wife, judy, my friend since 2nd grade at sunnyside school in burlington, was away at a conference this weekend.) you can barely see my little black dog, fritz, a schipperke, in the photo at right. she & i are very fortunate that bob & judy always take her in when i do long trips. she loves it here….& what a relief for me!

part of the group returned to the motel in the first vanload. fritz & i led the rest on a walking tour of these older neighborhoods in burlington. we walked down to see snake alley … the crookedest street in the world (yes, crookeder than lomboard in san francisco). it was too dark to get a photo, but you’ll see some views of it here. be sure to click on the ‘criterium’ link to see photos of the bike race that is held on snake alley every year. i’ll never understand how those cyclists–on high-tech teensy-tired bikes–climb those rough cobblestones. my son scott & i attended last year; this is one of my favorite photos from that day. through the triangle created in this biker’s legs you can see a darling little baby boy sitting on his bike-racing dad’s lap.

tomorrow is a layover day in burlington. there’ll be trips to bickel’s, the bike shop, to coffee shops, & for many, to dinner at big muddy’s down by the river. my family & some iowa city biking friends are driving (& biking) down for a visit, too. wish the weather forecast were better, but we’ll enjoy the day, whatever.

50 miles: from hannibal, MO, sorta to keokuk, IA

as you can guess from the title of this post, i again sagged part of today. 2 times in 2 days! that’s a record. you’ll find out why soon enough.

first of all, something upbeat left over from last evening in downtown hannibal: as we wandered with mark twain, i took a photo of the town’s mosquito-control device there along the waterfront. i didn’t see any birds going in or out of their condos. they must’ve been out doing their job.

back to today: clark & i aimed to leave around 7:30, but most riders left earlier. i didn’t bother going inside to the motel’s breakfast, because i prefer the multi-grain oatmeal that linda makes. plus she always has sliced almonds, raisins, & soy milk to put on top of it.

clark & i finally pulled out of the motel’s lot onto highway 61 north, where we’d spend, it turns out, all of our biking day. in this photo you’ll see that the road we took out of town was quite nice for biking, with wide, well-surfaced shoulders.

if you didn’t mind the rush of air & noise as the semis zoomed past your left shoulder, it was fine. & nice tailwinds made the miles speed by. the clouds were still very gray early today, & it had rained much of the night. we pretty much expected to get wet again today.

the first rest stop was at about 25 miles along a frontage road near a state park entrance (i think wakunda state park). as we all milled around snacking & drinking, a fellow drove up & stopped. he’s in this group of women chatting. he wanted womantours’ mailing address so that he can send a poem.

ann, today’s sag driver, is in the right edge of this photo. she was on her phone for a while, then relayed the bad news to us: the ferry we were to take at about 36 miles from canton, MO, over to illinois was out of commission today; the coast guard was conducting their annual inspection of the craft. so we were to continue all the way to keokuk on highway 61.

if highway 61 had remained a 4-lane road with lovely wide shoulders, this would’ve been no problem. but, after sashaying on business 61 & road B thru la grange & canton, we again came out on 61, & it had changed in our absence. for a while the shoulder was doable, tho’ not very smooth. but then we entered the thick of a construction zone. our road went down to 2 lanes & the shoulder became wet mud. all the semis were still on the road, tho’. now, however, there was nowhere for us bikers to ride safely; this section of road was older & narrow. there was no room for us along the edge of the right lane. nor did the motorists have any safe way to avoid us. we have found that motorists, including truckers, have been very courteous, & have gone out of their way to give us space–when they could safely do so.

clark & i just stopped along the road; the only spot we could find to get off the roadway was very muddy. & as i took out my cell phone to try calling the van or subaru, the sky opened up & down came the rain. it was a spotty rain that didn’t last long, but it seemed to add insult to injury.

our luck changed quickly, tho’, when along came ann with the subaru. clark, ann & i loaded our bikes on top of the car. then kathryn came along, & she was very ready to stop biking, too. here she is loading her bike atop the subaru … with one of those ubiquitous semis on the road behind her.

we had barely gotten out onto the roadway heading north toward keokuk when we spotted the van loaded with bikers & bikes at a rest stop off the roadway to our left. we pulled in, then unloaded our 3 bikes from the subaru onto the van. here’s linda on top of the van pulling bikes upwards from the folks on the ground.

moving our bikes & ourselves from the subaru to the van allowed ann to go backwards on the route with the subaru to pick up the riders behind us. my bike again went on the front of the van; it’s the only bike that fits there with barb’s recumbent. here’s my poor cow again having to settle for riding in a bike rack rather than careening along the open road.

then to make matters worse for the poor creature, after we were all packed into the van, linda started pulling onto the roadway & exclaimed, “that pig is right in my line of vision.” THAT PIG??!! i told linda that she likely hurt the cow’s feelings. there’s just so much a cow can take.

actually, i really like piggies, too. given the dearth of photos for today–& of animal photos in general of late–i dredged up a couple of my favorite pig photos. the first was taken at the iowa state fair last summer, the 2nd on a bike ride near iowa city a couple of years ago.

 

at our map meeting this evening, we learned that, as far as we know now(!), we’ll bike 53 miles to burlington tomorrow. we cross the bridge here at keokuk over into illinois, then some will make a stop to sightsee at nauvoo. the ride from nauvoo to burlington is quite flat; i’ve ridden it with friends. tomorrow evening we’ll have dinner atop the bluff overlooking the mississippi river at the home of my dear friends, bob & judy adams.

i hope i won’t be posting any more sag photos tomorrow.

80 miles from grafton, IL, almost to hannibal, MO

it was sprinkling as we put together our bike-bag snacks & had breakfast in the parking lot of the ruebel hotel in grafton before 6 this morning. the sky was very gray. everyone was anxious about today, so left early.

just 3 mi north of grafton we came to our first ferry of the day … a very short ride across the illinois river. again it was a very small commuter ferry; there were cars using the ferry even at that early hour, we surmised going to jobs in st. louis. this little ferry runs 24 hours a day, & is free. usually the ferries we take are $3-$4 for bikes one-way.

by the time we got to the other side, the rains were heavier, tho’ not terrible. (terrible would come later.) you aren’t seeing any early-morning photos, because i don’t want to risk ruining my camera.

at mile 19 we came to our 2nd ferry for today. again it was a small commuter ferry. the rain let up a bit as we rode this ferry, so i took this photo.

note that we shared our ride with a big truck filled with logs. as we got off the ferry, i asked the ferry operator if a big truck like that ever sinks a ferry. (i was afraid to ask this question at the beginning of our ride.) the operator said that the truck on the ferry with us weighs “only” 40 tons, half the ferry’s maximum allowable load of 80 tons. carol quipped that we made up the other 40 tons.

after leaving the ferry, as we rode through the bottomlands of missouri, the rains got heavier. we got to the intersection of our road & highway 79 & turned right onto 79. by then the rains were steady & substantial. to make matters worse, highway 79 was narrow with a gravel/dirt shoulder (so no help to us), had a very rough surface, & carried lots of traffic, including big trucks. those miles into our first town of the day were harrowing. (i don’t remember the town name; it was on my cue sheet, but the cue sheet got so wet that i threw it away midday, so don’t have it to refer to this evening as i write.)

i don’t know that anyone stopped at this first town; we decided to ride on to elsberry at 35 mi into the day’s route. there we found a convenience store, where i had a chocolate milk & others had hot cocoa. we were soaked, & when we came into the convenience store, quickly got chilled.

thankfully rains were starting to subside by this point, so i took this photo to show you that we’re still following the MRT much of the time, & today also the great river road in missouri.

the plan laurie outlined for us last night was for the van to drive straight to clarksville (at 51 mi into the day), & people who wanted to sag to hannibal would be picked up there, first come/first served. so clark & i pedaled on to clarksville, hoping to be on the first load of riders to hannibal so we’d have time to see the town in the afternoon.

when we got to clarksville, we found a very cute little cafe, went in, & ordered lunch … even tho’ it was kind of early for lunch. we’d been thru a lot by now, after all. there was another table of 5 bikers there, too.

when the van arrived, it was already full of riders & the top loaded with bikes. turns out that people were concerned they wouldn’t get on the first load to hannibal, so they got onto the van earlier than clarksville. clark & i were too naive to figure this out, i guess. after our delicious lunch, clark decided to sag in with the subaru; it had a space left. rather than wait there for the van or subaru to come back from hannibal (which would be a couple of hours, at least), i decided to ride on with carol.

we had already climbed some hills, but we had been told that things would really get hilly after louisiana, MO, & by golly they were right. the landscape was very beautiful, as you can see in this photo of carol, kathryn, & frankie. the weather was now mostly cloudy, but we had no more rain on the ride.

there were 2 especially steep & long hills on the day’s ride. my legs turned to mush not far up the first one, & i ended up walking most of it. i’m a relatively good hill-climber, but i just couldn’t manage. the hills coming so late in an already-trying day didn’t help the situation. not long after we finished our long downhill, in the distance i saw what appeared to be an even worse uphill. i’m afraid you really can’t appreciate it in this photo.

as if by magic, when i got nearer the bottom of that hill, there was the van. by the time i got to it, my odometer showed 80 mi for today. that was already 30 more than i had planned to do, & i was exhausted, so i gladly loaded up my bike on the van’s front rack & got in. i must say that my cow seems pretty happy to be riding on the van, too, don’t you think?

i got to the comfort inn here in hannibal around 3:15-:30. jo ann greeted us … & even carried my bag up to my room. she was wondering about taking a cab downtown to see historical hannibal. i quickly showered while we waited for carol to come in off the road. when she did arrive, she opted out of the downtown trip, so jo ann & i called a cab & went to see some sights. lots of things were closed; we had heard there were train or trolley tours & hoped to find one, but nope. so we walked along the streets enjoying some of the mark twain sites & the river.

at one corner, we came upon a couple seemingly doing a walking tour with a fellow dressed like mark twain. we asked if we could join, & they said OK. so for the next hour, we walked around historic downtown hannibal with mark twain as our guide to life as it was in hannibal when he lived here. here’s a photo of twain under a sign bearing his likeness along the river.

it turns out that this fellow, richard garey, travels all over the U.S. giving performances as mark twain; he also performs at the local nonprofit theater. here we were getting our own personal hour-long performance! it was really fantastic.

here’s another photo of garey/twain; behind him down the river is a local riverboat along the shore.

you’ll notice that the clouds are getting dark. turned out that we got a shower, but spent that time in the gazebo along the waterfront hearing some of twain’s stories about huck finn. garey told us later that, to perfect his impersonations, he had studied recordings that thomas edison, a close friend of twain’s, had made of twain.

jo ann & i rode back to the motel in a cab in time for supper at 7. we can’t believe our good fortune at falling into another great city-tour experience!

linda, our new cook, did another great job at supper. there was the leftover quinoa/craisin/green onion salad, a big green salad, some succotash, baked catfish, red beans & rice, a big pot of homemade macaroni & cheese (which was a very big hit) … & homemade chunky chocolate chip cookies for dessert. linda had baked them in the kitchen of the lodge in grafton where a few people stayed the night before (because there wasn’t room for our whole group at the tiny hotel).

at the map meeting, we learned that tomorrow we’ll ride 68 miles to keokuk. we take a ferry back over to illinois early, then the bridge into iowa at keokuk. laurie says the terrain is “mostly” not as hilly as today. at the meeting laurie also recognized the 8-10 riders who rode all of today’s 97 miles. one of them, marilyn, the most experienced rider in our group (she’s crossed the US ocean-to-ocean 5 times, plus 3 times border-to-border, along with many partial crossings), was sitting next to me at supper. she said she was half-dead after today’s ride … then she added, “maybe three quarters.” laurie also recognized janet bee, one of today’s 97-milers; today was the first day she had ever biked in the rain (she’s from california).

i’m looking forward to arriving in my home state tomorrow. i wish the weather forecast weren’t so dreary & wet, tho’.

41 miles: st. louis, MO, to grafton, IL

this posting will be short; those of us who are using our computers on this trip are all clustered at a small coffee shop in tiny grafton, IL, using the shop’s wireless internet. our hotel is older; there aren’t even phones in the rooms.

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’twas a beautiful morning in st. louis. we enjoyed the hotel’s buffet breakfast. laurie is back; she did the map meeting around 7:30.

we were all instructed to line up along the top of the steps below the arch by 8:15. laurie took a couple of photos, then we carried our bikes down all 64 steps to the path that would lead us north of town.

here’s clark beside some 3D murals on the seawall just beyond downtown. at this point, the bike path wound along the shore.

sometimes the path would go up onto the levee, as you see it doing in this photo.

at about 11 miles, we came to “old chain of rocks bridge.” it’s an old vehicle bridge that is now just for bikers & pedestrians. it used to be part of route 66. you can see in the 2 photos below that there are mementos of its past right on the bridge.

on we rode…almost always on a bike trail all the way to grafton. we ran across a few stretches of gravel where some big trucks were doing work on the trail. here you can see how nicely a trail a little further along kept us off busy roadways.

at this point we had just left an excellent lewis & clark interpretive center containing very informative displays about the expedition’s preparations to leave camp river dubois.

further north, as we neared alton, we came across another excellent visitor’s center … this time the national great rivers museum. “Opened in October 2003, this state-of-the-art museum is dedicated to telling the story of life on the Mighty Mississippi River and how it has shaped our culture, history, economy, ecology and people of the region.” we watched a video about the river; we were wishing we’d seen it very early in our journey. the museum is located right next to Melvin Price Locks & Dam #26 … one of the newest locks on the mississippi.

i took this photo just south of the rivers museum in hopes of showing you the beautiful clark bridge there at alton. its cables are a yellowish gold that shine in the sunlight.

some folks stopped at a gelato place there at alton, but clark had told us last evening about a very good pie place in elsah, so we pedaled on north. the trail was either off the roadway or right along the right side. either way, it was very easy riding. here’s a photo of a section of the trail that was tree-covered; you can see an expanse of the river through the break in the trees.

the tiny town of elsah is like stepping back in time. it’s like a storybook village. you can get an idea of what i mean by visiting elsah’s web site.

we pedalled around town looking for the ‘my just desserts’ place, & finally found it. inside were a couple tables of bikers. the list of homemade pies on the wall kept being altered as pies were depleted. i got the last piece of mrs. ledbetter’s, a sinfully rich chocolate pie with pecans & coconut baked into the top. the post card i picked up at the shop has this recipe on it; i know why! i took this photo as we left this lovely little place.

it was less than 5 miles on to grafton. we’re at a small hotel here … the only accommodations in town. linda made us a plentiful meal this evening … all delicious, including steamed kale with black-eyed peas. she’s trying to fortify us for tomorrow’s 97 miles to hannibal. at the map meeting, laurie described in detail the plans for providing a lift for the last 50 miles, as many of us really want to explore hannibal, & know we won’t be able to if we bike almost 100 miles … especially since we have two ferries to take tomorrrow, & particularly since the last 25 miles into hannibal are steep rollers. & as i recall, the forecast for tomorrow is wet. sagging is looking better all the time….

0 miles by bike: layover day in st. louis

we really had a great day in st. louis today. weather was iffy early, but sunny & very hot by early afternoon.

our trolley picked us up at our hotel by 10:15 … ‘us’ being barb, jo ann, carol, & me. we’re becoming known as the ‘city tour experts’ at each layover town. today we immediately were welcomed–& entertained–by esther, our driver/guide. she started our tour by driving past & giving info about the many fascinating buildings in the downtown area. i didn’t realize what an architectural mecca st. louis is.

esther provided interesting tidbits about many st.louis sights as we made our way to the anheuser-busch brewery, where we got off our trolley to take the brewery tour. my primary interest was the clydesdales. here’s a photo of one in an exercise paddock.

i couldn’t get its feet in the photo; they’re such a distinctive feature of a clydesdale. the grown horse weighs 2,000 pounds! i can’t begin to relate all the fascinating facts we learned about clydesdales, but you can read about them here.

here’s a rear view (the only view i could get) of one of the clydesdales in its stall in the very ornate brick & stained glass stable;

many of the buildings on the brewery site are leftovers from the 1904 st. louis world’s fair. 3 of the buildings are on the national register of historic buildings; the stable is one of them.

not only the stable, but every other inch of the whole brewery complex–inside the buildings & out–is perfectly groomed, including beautiful flower gardens. here’s a photo of a stunning chandelier in the (i think) fermentation building.

you can see the giant equipment in the background of the photo. in the packaging building we learned that one 6-pack of 12-oz cans is packaged every second!

in an hour we were at the end of the tour & the tasting room. we were allowed 2 samples each, but all i could handle was one. you can see from this photo that the samples are pretty substantial.

with our beer we each got a little package of pretzels. i tried ‘mule kick,’ an oatmeal stout, & it was really really good. alas, it’s not widely available.

after leaving the brewery, esther drove us to the cathedral basilica of st. louis. she had told us that she won’t allow anyone to leave st. louis without seeing it. admittedly, we were kind of ho hum about her enthusiasm for a basilica … but we’re now believers! the basilica is one of the largest collections of mosaics in the world, created by 20 different artists & covering 83,000 square feet. installation was begun in 1912 & completed in 1988. the basilica’s web site is under construction, but you can learn a little more about the basilica here. it’s really a stunning place.

i have to relate one cute story about esther, our driver/guide. i asked her how long she’d been doing these tours. she clearly loves doing them; she grew up in st. louis & has so many great stories to share. she replied that she was a school bus driver for many years. but about 3 years ago she had a conversation: “God, i’m going to kill them; please tell me what else i can do.” & now she’s a trolley-tour driver, & a really good one at that!

we asked esther if she’d drop us off at the dock for the riverboat excursions, which she did. here are barb, carol & joann near our trolley.

carol & jo ann went back to the hotel, but barb & i, loving boats the way we do, headed right onto the riverboat & enjoyed our 1-hour sightseeing cruise. here’s a photo of a barge we passed.

we learned that up to 15 barges can be pushed by tugboats from st. louis northward, but south of st. louis, where there are no locks, up to 40 or 50 barges can be pushed by one tug … the record being 80!

here’s an interesting alternate view of the gateway arch; looks like a monolith.

& here’s the arch seen from underneath the eads bridge. no, i never considered going up in the arch; it’s hardly the place for a woman with considerable acrophobia & a touch of claustrophobia.

as we got off the riverboat after our cruise, i took this photo of the debris that’s accumulated as a result of recent flooding upriver. that’s quite a collection of junk, isn’t it?

from the riverboat dock, barb & i climbed the long steps up to the base of the arch & across the park. she wanted to find a starbucks, so i went along. there i had an iced decaf double mocha with soy milk that really hit the spot. the young fellow who made our drinks was fascinated by our trip. he’s a cyclist himself, so we suggested he come ride with us tomorrow morning. he got very excited about the prospect … ’til he realized there was no way for him to get out of working tomorrow.

we spent a few minutes freshening up in our hotel room, then went back out on the streets heading for supper. our original destination changed when we met up with a few other riders, including linda, who were going to TGIFridays. we enjoyed sharing another mealtime with linda; she takes a 6 a.m. plane tomorrow back to rhode island. here’s a photo of the supper group (minus me) under the arch this evening. from left are judy, barb, holly, linda, judi, & marilyn. to the right is the beautiful historic court house where the dred scott case was originally heard.

we’ve had a grand day in st. louis. tomorrow we follow a bike trail from riverfront park much of the 42 miles to grafton, IL. it sounds like getting out of this huge city will be relatively easy. whew!