Damn, I wish I would have thought to caption my photo, "HI KERMIT."

Amen to that, sister!

I forgot about the gear-drying feature of a motel room. After rainy days, that's probably more important than the wi-fi, and it DEFINITELY ranks higher than a shower and pillow for me. Come to think of it, another major reason for me to get a motel room is that I like spending a night in the downtowns of large-ish cities when I come across them--Dubuque for instance. Camping opportunities are pretty rare in the inner city.

Yes, thank the god of the Church of the Great Outdoors, it was a warm rain. That made a huge difference.

Yeah, what a crap tour for you. I feel sad for you that the weather and everything was so stressful and you spent several almost sleepless nights trying to turn it into something good. Sometimes it just sucks and it's time to go home. Glad you could make that call. I hope maybe you can try again later, maybe in Sept when the weather is more stable or something.
And you are in good company... I trained hard for six months to be all ready for a tough 5-day backpacking trip in CO, only to have to cut it back to a short overnight. There were tears of disappointment and I'm still not mentally ready for my equivalent of a headstand yet..... Hope you can plan another little tour or a second go of this one before the icicle pics start.

Yay - well done! And glad you could muster up a headstand after so many disappointments.

Sign me up!!

Thanks for your memories and interesting info about Dubuque. Looks like a nice town that has been spruced up.

And yes, the nice thing about a tour with no time constraints and a tent is that you can just hunker down and ride it out somewhere while you wait for the weather to pass. I remember 3 days in Buffalo WY and 2 days in Estes Park CO waiting for crap weather to clear so I could safely ride nearby mtn passes. But when 2-3 days is half your tour, that's unfortunately not an option.

Kermit says hello!

Good on you for pushing through on a mucky rail trail. That soft and slow riding is frustating without being pummeled by rain. Shame about the rain timing though - the bit closer to Dubuque looked liked it would be gorgeous to ride.

Yes, absolutely, yes, that is the absolute worst part of a rainy day.... the grit. One rainy day in the Sandhills of NE was so bad that I remember finding NE sand in various crevices at least two months later.

Please, no Jesus either, thanks (speaking on behalf of the rest of the world).

A bit of nostalgia is nice - it's good to remember your roots sometimes. I'm glad the Catholic school instilled in you a sense of reverence that you could transfer to your adult church.

I think most of my friends grew up in very similar-looking homes - a Midwest thing?

I can confirm from my Oct-Dec 2022 tour that riding in day after day after day of rain gets pretty miserable! I hope it will be warm rain at least.