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May 11, 2015

Pike's Peak State Park, Iowa

Today I reunited with the great river of many names--The Mississippi River, Old Man River, Father of Waters, Ne Tongo, Gichi Ziibi, El Grande, The Mississisloppy, The Big Muddy, The Great American Sewer, whatever you want to call it.

You didn't think I actually came up with all those names on my own, did you?

Like Dyersville, the town of New Vienna is no slouch in the church building game.

And New Vienna-ites can build a pretty nice water tower too.

Looking ahead, I can see the biggest hills I will face on this entire trip.

Here is a family of geese in the Guttenburg City Park. The dad was off to the side with his mouth wide open, his tongue sticking out, and KHHHHHHHHHHSHSHSHSH-ing at me in the most frightening way.

Right after my break at the park where I met the goose family, I noticed a couple of stray dogs playing around in a yard. I kept an eye on them in case I had to take evasive action. But they didn't give chase. No, it looked like they were getting ready to make love--at least the male dog was. I passed by unnoticed.

North of Guttenburg I had truly entered the bluff country of the upper Mississippi River. There are some pretty long, steep hills here which most people do not associate with the mid-western states. The bluffs are very pleasing to the eye. And, personally, I would rather climb these roads for two miles at an 8% to 11% grade and go rocketing down the other side for two miles like I did today, than to go up and down 10 shorter hills in the same distance like I did yesterday.

On the first of those two-mile ascents I stopped in an attempt to show how steep the road was, but I failed. I'll leave it here anyway because it does show the Mississippi River.

This is the view in the other direction.

I hate to admit this but I missed a turn and went five miles out of my way. I was smart enough to realize my mistake only a mile or so after the missed turn, but I was dumb enough to keep going anyway. I really hate turning back, and I was pretty sure I had found a decent alternative route on my map.

When I worked my way back to The Great River Road, I came upon a road construction zone. Traffic was reduced to one lane and I was stopped by a flag man. I talked to the flag guy while I waited for the pilot car, which arrived about five minutes later leading ten cars and trucks. Then the pilot car made a U-turn and it led me and one car back the other way through the construction zone. The pilot car and the other car left me way behind, of course, but when I arrived at the end of the road construction several minutes later, it was fun to see that the flag man was holding up another 10-15 cars just for me.

After a few more long uphills and fast downhills, I made it to Pike's Peak State Park. I like this place but it is COLD. Not so much because of the temperature itself (about 50-degrees) but, add to that the biting wind that is blowing through here and I am shivering my ass off.

Bike camping and journal writing in Iowa bluff country.

You might be able to tell I am not happy about having to wear every bit of warm clothing I possess. On the upside, check out that nice tan I got from the previous week.

Today's ride: 43 miles (69 km)
Total: 1,395 miles (2,245 km)

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