A Mish-Mash of Miscellaneous Observations, Anecdotes, Tourist Information, Road Lessons, Pictures, Videos and Lame Jokes Presented in a Unique Arrangement of Mini-Chapters

September 14, 2022

Oelwein, Iowa

Mini-Chapter One: The Backbone State Park Wrap-Up

Most of the time I was in the park, I had the feeling of having it all to myself. Other than a few trout fishermen, I can't remember seeing any people outside of their cars. Even at the campground, everybody else seemed to be hiding inside their big, hard-sided camping vehicles. As far as I know, there are no bears in this part of Iowa. Therefore, I have to assume they were hiding from ME and my vagabond appearance and my loud music.

Part of it might have been that it was a weekday. Wise retirees like me know that parks get much more use on weekends. Whatever the reason, I was happy to have my own little corner of solitude.

I've been seeing a lot of these green bugs. My initial guess is some kind of aphid, but I have very little insect knowledge to back up that guess. I had a much easier time identifying the most common bug in the campground, namely, the mosquito.

Rapunzel's tower from the other side of Backbone Lake. I took this picture just before exiting the state park.

As always, I was excited to be back on the road. On this day, I was so excited that I made a video of me doing tricks and showing just how excited I was.

I bet you thought I'd never turn back to retrieve my phone, which was recording the video from a bridge railing. I did ride back for it though, because it would be expensive to replace it. Like any professional movie director, I edited out the return trip. Like any amateur director, however, I failed to zoom in a little bit. It's almost impossible to see me doing the arm waving and the no-handed riding--my best tricks of all.

That failure was easily counteracted by the cricket sounds you can hear throughout the video. I didn't even discover that feature until I posted it on Youtube. I mean, can a musical score to a movie get any better than that? I think not.

Mini-Chapter Two: An Iowa Road Primer

Iowa roads are often criticized by cyclists for their lack of paved shoulders. I say, use the gravel shoulder on those rare occasions when big trucks are coming from both directions. I had to do that twice today. No big deal, dudes.

Sometimes the shoulders are crumbly. In that case, G-2 advises you to take the lane. You're not likely to bring traffic to a standstill.

Iowa roads sometimes have slippery spots. Be careful, lest your tires go flying out from under you.

No Iowa bike tour is complete without a couple miles of gravel road riding--especially when they provide a shortcut. They can be found every mile or two. Enjoy!

Mini-Chapter Three: The Wonderful Small Towns

The first little town I came to was Dundee (population, 198). I like the name of the town. It was probably named after the famous movie star, Crocodile Dundee. The other thing I like about the town is that, while it's not mighty in population, it definitely has a ton of pride.

The next town was Lamont. It has 429 citizens, a two-block-long downtown area, a liberty bell, and pretty groovy dayglo green fire hydrants. Nice!

About four miles beyond Lamont came Aurora. There are 169 Aurorians according to the 2020 census. I already knew I'd like the town of Aurora because I am a big fan of the Aurora Borealis. While not as spectacular as the colorful light show in the sky, the town had its own charms--like the clock, the Pepsi machine, and the Marshall Oil mural, for instance.

I went a couple miles out of my way to get to Stanley (population, 81). What can I say about poor Stanley, IA ? It doesn't have much, but it DOES have one amazing tourist attraction that enticed me to ride a couple miles out of my way.

Stanley the giant tin man on the left, ME on the right. Wish you were here!

The ninth, and final, small town on my tour was Hazelton. It could be called a suburb of the big metropolis of Oelwein and it's actually the 2nd biggest town on my tour, with a citizenry of 713. It might also be the shabbiest town on my tour, but at least it has the most nicely painted water tower I've seen.

Mini-Chapter Four: Beautiful Scenery, Glorious Structures, Gourmet Dining, Amazing Flora and fauna, Historical History, and Other Iowa Wonders

The owners of this barn seemed to have anticipated the groovy 70's theme of my tour. Peace! Flower Power! Cool!

These friendly Iowa horses not only tolerated my presence, they seemed to enjoy it.

These goats are the G.O.A.T. (Greatest Of All Time) goats. But the real gem is the little pony grazing among the goats. Hint: The pony is in the middle of the picture.

Betty Boom, meet The Reckless Mr. Bing Bong. Go forth and make your own fireworks.

Early this morning I made the decision to ride back to my dad's house a day early. Yeah, I knew my mini-tour would be even mini-er than my other mini-tours, but I thought it might be nice to spend the late afternoon with my dad.

Still, I wanted to make another short trip out of my way to check out the campground I'd be missing. It was in a county park, and it included a National Historic Site. How groovy is that!

The campground was okay, and I most certainly would have had it all to myself. On the negative side was the infestation of mosquitoes.

I sprayed DEET on my arms and legs and spread the chemical over the rest of my exposed skin. Then I prepared a nice Iowa lunch.

When it comes to gourmet food, northeast Iowa is usually associated with juicy pork chops and sweet, succulent corn-on-the-cob. Somewhat out of the ordinary is a great place to enjoy some delicious seafood. I was lucky to have found such a place. I was served a great batch of fresh, crispy, fried fish.

The server said it was "goldfish," but to me it looked like Orange Whale Fish.

From my lunch spot, I noticed something else that was orange. Mmmm, I like fresh mushrooms, but I wasn't sure about these. From an early age, I remember my mom warning about poisonous mushrooms. Perhaps somebody out there (Bill?) can tell me if I could have safely sauteed these things over my camp stove.

That Jakway guy built the first house in Buchanon County (my fourth county by the way), and here it is many, many years later. I guess that puts it on par with anything you'll find in Europe.

Check out this cluster of rare White Tipped Peace Weed. That's the name I gave it myself. Correct me if somebody else has named it before.

As I said, I decided to cut this mini-tour short by a day. I even eliminated the part where I planned to ride into the Amish country west of Hazelton. That part would have been pretty redundant since I've written about that area before on my "Debunking the Iowa Myth" journal. No need to bore you with that again.

So, it was straight north from Hazelton to Oelwein.

Downtown Oelwein. The current population is 5,990, which is about 2,000 less than when I lived there. I guess that's how it goes in the small towns of America.

I want to end this mini-tour journal on a positive note, and this brand new mural in Oelwein is the most positive depiction of Iowa I have ever seen. The colors, the cornfields, the barns, the silos, and the scenery are almost as good as the real thing. Peace!

Today's ride: 36 miles (58 km)
Total: 387 miles (623 km)

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Keith KleinHi,
Good to spend time with your dad while you can. Dads don’t last forever, y’a know!
Cheers,
Keith
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2 years ago

George (Buddy) HallI'm also a big fan of Iowa for bicycle touring. Especially so since I discovered that Muscatine was once the pearl button capitol of the world - you just never know what secrets and unique history you might find in a town in Iowa. Thanks for doing this journal "differently," it has been fun to follow along (even though I'm actually just now catching up).
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2 years ago