Day 12 - still near Hampton, IL - Iowa on the Tri-speed

August 1, 2013

Day 12 - still near Hampton, IL

Posted via email Fri Aug 2 06:21:01 2013 PDT

Woke up and got around at 5:55am this morning. Decided before I was out of the tent that I'd take the day off, in spite of the great bicycling weather, with a west wind that could blow me east in the sunshine.

Fishermen started pulling up and parking along the road at 6:00am. Later in the morning I heard a young girl exclaim, "I got one!" One of the guys fishing took a charcoal grill from his trunk and started it up, it seemed to me before he'd caught any fish. I walked up the road to check out the sunrise. There's educational artwork northeast of the campground - rocks with engravings on them arranged in a spiral on the ground.

At 7:02am, I headed out on the empty bike, looking for a place to eat breakfast in Hampton. The trail stays off the highway where the restaurants are, and the highway itself looked too busy to ride on, so at certain intersecting roads, I'd ride to the highway to see what was there. I passed Hampton's school while doing this. Up 4th Street brought me to Dawn Marie's Family of Hope Restaurant at 7:22am. I had two eggs, two bacon, two sausage, two pancakes, along with coffee. I was full at 8:05am.

Back at the campground I ran into the fellow who took my picture last night, and his wife. Their vacation was over, and they were getting ready to head back to Michigan, where they live. The camp host happened to walk by then, and I asked him about staying here one more night. He said that was no problem, and I could pay for that at the camp office after 4:00pm, when they open.

At 8:45am I called my wife. We talked for forty-five minutes while I enjoyed the cool west breeze. Started work on writing yesterday's report. One problem I was having was there were too many pictures to choose from. I took a break to call my friend Jim. He was heading for the library to read the journal. I told him I was still working on yesterday's report.

At 12:53pm, I took another break to go for lunch. I'd seen a sign along the bike trail this morning indicating that "Remember When Ice Cream and Candies" is open from 11:00am to 8:00pm. They had no customers when I arrived. I ordered a BBQ pork sandwich, potato salad, and milk. For dessert I had a double waffle cone - butter pecan and black cherry, since there wasn't enough butter pecan for two scoops. Lots of bicyclists were there when I left.

I arrived back at the campground at 1:53pm. Got the pictures selected for the report, then took a nap (starting at 2:15pm) on a nearby picnic table in the shade. There are small flying bugs around that are a little bothersome, but tolerable. Well, I woke up real quick at 3:25pm when one of them flew up my nose.

At 5:15pm I renewed my campsite at the camp office and also bought a bundle of firewood. Around 6:00pm it started to cloud up. I finally got yesterday's report done and sent in. Now for supper. I had thought about riding to Rapids City for supper, but decided against the seven-mile round trip, considering the rain in Iowa the BlackBerry's radar image was showing. So instead, I went back into Hampton to 'Remember When'. This time I got the hot dog/root beer float special, plus potato chips, cookies, and a bowl of butter pecan ice cream (they had restocked).

Back at my campsite at 7:35pm. Several other tent-campers have shown up and are setting up - perhaps to enjoy a long weekend fishing. I started work on my campfire - got my purchased wood started, with help from twigs I found on the ground. I enjoyed sitting by the fire and watching the river. No sunset to see, thanks to the clouds, but at least it's not raining yet.

I'm falling asleep again. Time for bed - if I could just get this report done . . .

Jeff

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Spent: $8.31 plus $2 (breakfast) + $8.45 plus $1 (lunch) + $14 (campsite) + $6 (firewood) + $10.52 plus $1.50 (supper) = $51.78.

+ plus signs indicate pictures added after returning home from the trip +