I packed up everything I needed for a five-day tour last night.  It was almost too easy.   When I was done, I could not believe how much room I had left in my panniers after eliminating the camping gear.  I was able to say goodbye to my handlebar bag and the drybag I usually mount on my rear rack.   Then, I took it a step further by condensing everything into one pannier.  I successfully stuffed my clothing, air pump, spare tube, a few bike tools, roadside snacks, phone charger, band-aids, toothbrush, and other miscellaneous items that I can't think of right now, all in one bag. 

In the interest of balance, however, I decided to move some of those items back into the other pannier.   One pannier would have been nice, but in the end, I'm okay with carrying a second one.  Now that I have extra space in my left pannier, I packed another shirt and a second pair of boxers.  

As you can see, I'm going first class for this trip!  Plus, I still have enough room to bring home some Iowa corn, porkchops and other souvenirs if I want. 

I'll be driving down to Iowa tomorrow to hang out with my dad.  His eyeball shot is Wednesday morning.  I expect to start this trip Wednesday afternoon. 

New Developments 

No doubt, I should have done a little more planning for this Quicky.  I should have looked into options for transporting me and my bike back to my dad's town of Oelwein after I took Dubuque by storm.  Also, I should have looked at the weather reports.  I'm slow.  I didn't consider those things until today, which is two days before my tour begins.

Here are the details of my lack of foresight:

- I was surprised to learn there is no bus service from Dubuque to Oelwein or any of the surrounding communities.  Nor is there train service.  (Iowa could take a few lessons from Europe, it seems.)  A one-way U-Haul rental between the two towns wasn't available with such short notice.  I'm afraid to ask the price of an Uber ride, assuming Dubuque even has Uber.

- Rain is in the forecast for my first day, Wednesday.  Rain is not a problem for me.  Sometimes I LIKE rain.  It cools me off on hot days.  But HEAVY rain & wind (headwinds for me) are predicted for my second day, Thursday.  Now, I've always been skeptical of weather forecasters.  Sometimes their predictions are unnecessarily dire.  Other times they underestimate the strength of a storm.  Oh, what to do?   

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Alright, as I said on the first page, I'm adaptable.  Therefore, I'm thinking of a new plan.  Actually, I don't have a REAL plan to deal with the new developments yet, but whatever plan I come up with will absolutely NOT involve abandoning this Quicky tour.  It will probably involve a head start by driving my car to a convenient point to begin a five-day loop tour.  And it will definitely still involve storming the city of Dubuque.

I'm as excited to see what happens to ME in the next few days as you are.  Lest there be any doubt, I intentionally capitalized the word "ME" in the previous sentence because I am my favorite subject.  This journal will be more about ME than it will be about road conditions, wind conditions, history, architecture, hotel amenities, restaurants, and people.  If I write about those things at all, it will be in a way that expresses how those things effect ME.  I'm sure I can make this journal more about ME than any of my other egotistical journals were about ME.  GONZO!