Tag: Iowa

MAA – Day 20 – So Long Iowa

Today was another beautiful day, but it was one spent staying ahead of the storm. Luckily the roads were good and I encountered a gentler, kinder Iowa. Still rolling hills, but not nearly as steep as the last couple of days. I could easily use the momentum from the descents to get up and over the next hills. I even had a slight tail wind for most of the day. The only hard part was getting across Iowa City. Somehow I ended up going right through the University of Iowa’s campus.

Then, just as I was rolling into Davenport (about 5 miles out), the storm hit. There was a lot of rolling thunder – no lightning, thank God. And then the sky opened up and I got soaked! Glad I had my rain jacket, but my feet got wet through and through! I happened to catch up with the SAG team just as it was stopping. I decided to catch a ride with them since we were only a few miles from our initial destination anyway – and there were more storm clouds headed our way. Our first stop was on the Iowa side of the Mississippi River to meet up with Gracie Comfort Dog – perfect timing after the storm.

We left Gracie and her handlers and got back to the RV when this happened…

It lasted about 15 minutes and then we crossed the Mighty Mississippi and said “hello” to Illinois. 🙂

Thought for the day: I’m sure glad Mr. SAG decided to get that shoe dryer!IMG_5031

Other pics of the day:

Song of the day:

Ride on!

MAA – Day 19 – What a Beautiful Day!

Oh, what a beautiful morning! Oh, what a beautiful day! I couldn’t get that song out of my head all day. Because it was! Bright blue skies. Temperature around 75 degrees. Slight breeze. And I was on this wonderful bike trail for about 60 miles of my ride today. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. It surrounded the greater Des Moines area.

The latter part of the ride was great too. Just more hills, though. Makes it interesting!

Other pics of the day:

Song of the day, of course:

God is good! Ride on!

MAA – Day 18 – Small Towns and Barns

Today was a great day to ride. The morning air was cool and fresh after the storm last night and it stayed that way pretty much all day. I love getting out there early to ride too. I had the first two hours all to my self. Well, besides the one raccoon I saw.

Iowa has been much different than Nebraska. It is all hills! Up and down again today. Another 4000 feet give or take. It’s very green too. Beautiful to look at. And there are wonderful barns scattered throughout the countryside. Iowa has the best barns! Throw in a cute, friendly small town every ten to fifteen miles, and there you have it. Iowa.

This is what the elevation profile looked like all day – except some hills were much steeper and some were much longer. And this was only at 25 miles.

IMG_4949

The barns (click on any photo to enlarge):

Song of the day:

Ride on!

MAA – Day 17 – It’s All Up and Down

Today felt like a roller coaster. Up and down. Up and down. I climbed nearly 4000 feet today – and I descended nearly 4000 feet. Rolling hills on back country roads with 8-9% grades and a temperature of 98*F.  I’ll take it any day over the wind! I drank almost 2 gallons of water too! There was some meandering along the Platte River thrown in for good measure as well.

Before I even got started – 15 miles into the ride – Mr. SAG saved the day again! Flat #4.IMG_4907

Camp got set up as the rain started rolling in. And then it hit! Wow! We’ve never ridden out a storm like that – in an RV. The thunder and lightning and sheets of rain, we could take. But when the wind started rocking (felt like throwing) us to and fro… Even Katie Comfort Dog’s Top Dog, to the west of us now, checked in to see how we fared! Thanks for the prayers! We were saying some too! Thanks for the welcome Iowa!

Off in the distance:

It’s here!

Pics of the day:

Song of the day:

Ride on!

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