June 2, 2010
Day 16 - ending at Clermont, Iowa
rode on Charley Western Trailway
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Up at 5:40am. Went over to the building where the complimentary breakfast is available. I had two donuts, one bagel, raisin bran cereal, orange juice and coffee. No one was there to see how much I ate.
I loaded up the bike and left refreshed at 8:20am.
I wanted to do some more on the Charley Western Trail, so went north to the trail.
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When the trail met Highway 18, I got off. It was a hazy morning.
A very nice shoulder appeared near the Little Cedar River, but it didn't last.
At 10:12am I crossed the 'Wapsi'.
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It was 11:10am when I arrived in New Hampton.
I was farther north in the town than I'd expected. But that was OK, since here's where I wanted to be. I stopped at Klunder's Kafe for lunch.
The Trucker's Special breakfast sounded good to me.
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I headed east after that, spotting a farm-supply type store (Theisen's Home-Farm-Auto), where I bought batteries for the GPS's. Further east I came to one of the locations from the movie shoot - a busy intersection where (in the movie) the truck traffic in the rain was intimidating. Highway 18 has since been re-routed around town, so the traffic wasn't as bad for me, and it wasn't raining either.
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None-the-less, I didn't stay on this highway for long, turning instead east onto residential streets after the railroad tracks. I rode through the campground where I'd intended to stay the night before, and then headed out of town east on Route 24.
At 1:06pm I turned south on Odessa Road, since it looked like rain to the northeast.
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At 1:49pm I stopped for a break. The clouds to the northeast were building up now.
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I messed around a little with the BlackBerry's camera, and came up with this picture. Maybe I was starting to look like Alvin Straight.
Shortly after, I turned east onto Highway 18. Not much later, I was near Fredericksburg. I'd passed an old bridge that I decided to check out. It's not used for vehicles anymore, and was apparently delivered to its present location by-way-of helicopter.
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At 2:41pm I was at the city limits.
A little farther east I came to a picnic shelter along the road across from a Casey's General Store. I parked the bike and walked over to purchase a cream soda.
It looked like I'd get wet if I didn't slow down a bit and let the northeast rain pass to the southeast. So I took a 15-minute nap on one of their tables.
At 3:18pm I left, but stopped again at 5:00pm (at Quarry Road) for the same reason (the rain, not another nap).
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I sat on the edge of a storm water drain pipe, half wondering what critter might come running out as I was sitting there. Ate the m&m's I'd bought the day before and called Tahdra for a weather report and to hear about how they were doing.
Back on the road I passed this farm, which left me wondering what the cows think of the 'Surge Milking System'.
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I was in West Union shortly after 6:00pm.
Stopped at the Dairy Queen for supper, enjoying a Hawk Burger and a small butterscotch shake.
On my way again I passed this barn. In the movie, Alvin used a similar (but smaller) structure, for shelter from the rain. Fortunately, I didn't need shelter at the moment.
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Just after 7:00pm, I was at the top of the hill featured in the movie, where the tractor's brakes and transmission give out. The hill wasn't so bad, but I had brakes.
In the movie, Alvin is zooming out of control past an old barn that's on fire to his right. Here's the field where the barn had sat.
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There wasn't a burning barn at the bottom of the hill for me, but there was the turn-off to Skip-A-Way Resort, where I planned to spend the night.
After checking in at the office, I rode to the camping area, and set up at site #7.
This place was nice. Each campsite had its own night-light! There was a pop machine near my site, so I had a root beer while I relaxed.
Subject: Day 16 report
Sent: Wednesday, 6-2-2010, 9:38 PM
Awake at 5:40am. Ate motel breakfast at 7:20am: two donuts, bagel, raisin bran, orange juice, and coffee.
Left at 8:20am. Went out of my way a little to ride some on the charley western trail. Then got on route 18 east to new hampton. Lots of hills. According to the movie I wasn't expecting them until east of clermont.
Arrived in new hampton at 11:10am. Stopped and ate the trucker's special at klunder's kafe. Then bought gps batteries at a farm and fleet-type store.
Took gravel roads south then route 18 east to arrive at fredericksburg at 2:50pm, where I bought a cream soda at casey's. I wasn't completely in the clear rain-wise. The rain was north of me moving southeast. Took short nap on picnic table at fredericksburg to let the rain move on.
Stopped again at 5:00pm for 30m for the same reason.
Arrived at west union a little after 6:00pm and ate hawk burger and shake at dq there.
Definitely hill country northeast of west union, but mostly downhill for me.
Arrived at skip-a-way campground at 7:35pm and selected site 7 at 7:50pm.
Lunch: $8.91+$2tip; batteries: $13.86; soda (casey's): $1.76; supper: $6.51; camp fee: $16.05; soda (machine): $1.50.
62miles, 9.1mph moving average.
Jeff
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
Day Sixteen: 62 miles in 11 hours, 30 minutes = 5.4 mph average progress.
Spent: $8.91 plus $2 (lunch) + $13.86 (batteries) + $1.76 (soda) + $6.51 (supper) + $16.05 (campsite fee) + $1.50 (soda) = $50.59.
Today's ride: 62 miles (100 km)
Total: 761 miles (1,225 km)
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