Day Thirty-one: Audubon, Iowa to Adel, Iowa

July 10, 2019

I was up and ready very, very early this morning - too early, because it was still dark outside, and would be that way for a while. So I had plenty of time to walk over to the "Waspy's" truck stop and eat breakfast. While I waited for dawn, I talked to one of the employees there. What's the deal with this fancy new hotel and this new truck stop, which is much nicer than any truck stop I've ever seen? And why was it all built kind of in the middle of nowhere?

He told me that a local family of hog farmers decided to diversify into the lodging/restaurant/truck stop business. The presence of some very fancy details at the hotel had surprised me, and this truck stop was more like Whole Foods than the Flying J, Love's, or Pilot truck stops I'm familiar with. I guess the family was tired of dealing with smelly hogs, and wanted to try something very different. I know I would.

Check back here to see how the "Waspy's" empire grows, and if the family can transition successfully from hogs to hotels: Waspy's News and Events.

It was finally light enough to ride with my red blinking light, so I headed back to the park to take a photo of the world-famous Albert the Bull.

The only traffic on the backstreet that I rode through town was a group of women walking five-abreast. I tried, and failed, not to startle them in the near darkness when I called out "Good morning." They were apparently surprised that anyone else was out in Audubon so early in the day.

I left town and got on a quiet back road. The sun came up.

There were some of the enormous windmills that I see sometimes. I usually find them ugly, but they were somehow appealing, at least as a photographic subject, this morning.

It started to rain a little, which surprised me - rain had certainly not been mentioned on the early-morning TV news I'd watched at 4:00. It never amounted to anything, though, and I didn't get the rain jacket out.

I was making great time this morning, which pleased me, since I needed to get a lot of chores done during my time in Adel, later today and on a day off tomorrow.

I passed an absolutely enormous chicken egg facility. I'd been thinking for a while about only buying local farmers' eggs, laid by chickens that are allowed to run around outside pecking the ground, and doing whatever else chickens naturally do. Passing this vast, industrial factory was probably the final push I needed to implement my plan. Strangely enough, I talked to Joy about this later on the phone, and found out that she'd already bought some local farmer's eggs while I've been on this trip.

I rode into Guthrie Center, population 1,503, and took a few random photos.

I left town on an unpleasantly busy state highway, IA-44. The traffic was bad enough this morning that I started riding on the gravel shoulder much of the time.

For the first time on this trip, an approaching driver crossed the yellow line. It was only for a few feet, but it unnerved me enough that I pulled far to the right of the shoulder and stopped. A woman in a car behind me also stopped, asked if I was alright, and then offered to make me breakfast when I reached Panora, her hometown, in a few miles. Unfortunately she was unable to provide directions I could comprehend, so I told her not to wait for me if I didn't appear in fifteen minutes.

Sure enough, I couldn't find the house, her description of which had been too vague for me. So I got on the nice Raccoon River Valley Trail and headed to Adel.

The trail passes through a few small towns. I stopped a few times, once at a little library that also sold a few snacks, where I purchased a (non-Diet) Pepsi, the only soft drink they had. It was way, way too sweet for me, and left a sickening aftertaste. I prefer whatever chemicals and unnatural substances go into the Diet Pepsi.

I reached Adel, and the familiar brick factory right on the trail, before 11:00.

Joy's mom Ruth was, as usual, hard at work, in this case in her garden, when I arrived. She'd generously carved out some time in her busy schedule for my visit. Thanks, Ruth!

We drove into Des Moines and visited Best Buy, where, surprisingly enough, the employees there were actually able to get my laptop working again after they identified a loose internal cable and plugged it back in.

Today's ride: 58 miles (93 km)
Total: 2,502 miles (4,027 km)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	8
Comment on this entry	Comment	0