Pre-trip
Inspiration for this trip's route came from my favorite movie, The Straight Story. There is so much in this movie that correlates to a bike trip - at least the ones I take! If you haven't heard of the movie, it's about a 73-year-old man's six-week, 240-mile, trip on a lawn tractor. The movie is based on the real trip Alvin Straight of Laurens, Iowa, took in the summer of 1994 to reach Mount Zion, Wisconsin, where is ill brother lived. As best I could determine, the route Mr. Straight took in 1994 and the route the movie portrayed didn't exactly agree. No matter; I decided to just get from Laurens to Mount Zion, trying to see as many sites shown in the movie as I could. I also wanted to leave-from and return-to my home in Morton, Illinois.
Here's where my idea was on February 20, 2010, when I shared it with my sister Laurie:
. . . cross Illinois River at Pekin, cross Mississippi River at Fort Madison, visit Uncle Gene at Middletown, north to Cedar Falls, northwest to Laurens, east to Mount Zion, southeast to the Hennepin Feeder Canal, south to the Rock Island Trail, and home.
In March, my folks, sisters, and brothers-in-law delivered on my birthday present wishes: DeLorme Atlas & Gazetteers for Iowa and Wisconsin, Wisconsin Bicycle Map - Mississippi River Section, a 2010 Wisconsin State Trail Pass, and an Oregon Scientific WR602 hand-held weather radio. I also procured a free Iowa 2009 Transportation Map for Bicyclists from the State of Iowa.
With these resources, on-line Illinois county bicycle maps, and Google Earth, I started planning the details of the route. I had a few other places I wanted to visit on the way, so routed to cross the Mississippi River at Niota, Illinois (Fort Madison, Iowa). After I had the first three days figured out, Google Maps came out with their beta Bicycling Directions. So I also had fun trying that out.
I loaded waypoints into my GPS's at the places where I would turn. One problem I had was there were too many waypoints for my older Magellan MAP330 GPS to hold. I had a spare MAP330, so split the waypoints between them.
This is the only in-focus photo I have of how my GPS's are mounted on my bike. Their brackets allow for easy GPS removal. There's more data on the DeLorme PN-20, but the Magellan MAP330 is quicker on map screen updates, and zooming in and out.
I got approval at work to take three weeks off, starting the week of May 17, since that time-of-year worked well last year. Later, after more planning, I made it four weeks off. One thing different this year was that many more friends/co-workers knew about my planned trip, which made me feel somewhat committed to the trip whether I was ready or not - my own fault!
I got my bike ready with two new tubes, a new rear tire (with last year's used one on the front), new cone nuts on the front hub, and a 20-tooth rear sprocket to replace the 19-tooth original. This changed the gear ratio from 60.2 gear-inches to 57.2 gear-inches ( www.bikesatwork.com/hauling-cargo-by-bike/gearing-and-gear-inches.html ). The sprocket change made going up hills easier - at least in my mind.
I got myself ready with two round-trips to nearby Eureka on April 10 (33 miles) and April 14 (48 miles).
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Packing was about the same as last year, with one more set of clothes, more food, and a reconfigured bike-loading layout so that I could get to my raingear without a complete unload.
My friend George turned over his BlackBerry again this year for use on my trip. When I picked it up, George's wife Kris showed me that she'd loaded on two new programs: 'Weather Bug' and 'Poynt', that'd let me see non-moving weather radar images and look up business addresses. I spent most of the Saturday before the trip setting up my Gmail account on the BlackBerry with addresses of the twenty-one persons I'd be sending daily trip reports to. I sent out a preliminary test message with the plan: 1039 miles in 20 days.
Subject: attempting to follow the Straight path
Sent: Saturday, 5-15-2010, 4:42 PM
Most of you know I've been planning another bicycle trip, ignoring Tahdra's reminders of what I said shortly after last year's trip: "I won't want to do that again."
I've got four weeks off to get this done, and what I'm planning to do is follow Alvin Straight's path between Laurens, Iowa and Mount Zion, Wisconsin. No one knows for sure what his actual route was, including those who made the movie, "The Straight Story". So basically I'm just riding between the two places on a route I made up, with stops at a few places featured in the movie.
During last year's trip, I sent out short email messages to Tahdra (and a few others) using my friend George's BlackBerry. George has handed over his BlackBerry again this year, and I've included you on the recipient list for these (hopefully daily) emails. They will be from my gmail address (or from George's Verizon-BlackBerry address if I mess up).
The Verizon service map shows spotty coverage in northern Iowa and parts of Wisconsin, so don't become overly concerned if you don't hear from me for several days.
I'm planning to camp-out when practical, but I'm sure there will be a few motel nights, and perhaps a few days off, too. I may even delay my planned departure date, if the weather looks bad on Monday.
I'm so "not-ready" yet, but I do think the BlackBerry email set-up is ready. Sending out this email will be the test.
Thanks for all the good wishes and advice you've given me.
Jeff
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
Sunday after church was spent packing, though it seemed I wasn't getting near done. I finally went to bed with the thought that the time crunch in the morning would force me to bring the packing to an end.
Informational note:
The Straight Story is copyright The Straight Story, Inc. and Walt Disney Pictures. There are a few quotes (attributed) from the movie in this report. The inclusion of these copyrighted quotes is not intended to infringe upon the ownership rights of the original owners.
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I read this journal several months ago and I should have commented on it then, but for some reason I didn't. "The Strait Story" is also one of my favorite movies. It is so sweet and quirky and well-acted. Major kudos to you for riding that route.
I grew up in northeastern Iowa and have seen many of the roads Alvin Straight rode on. I know that hill where he lost control of his lawnmower and had to wait for it to be repaired very well.
The reason I bring it up now is because somebody brought your recent CycleBlaze journal up on one of my other cycling websites. Check out the comments section at the bottom of the page: http://cycle365.life/cycle-life-challenge-rides-12-15/
Also, check out this comment section: http://cycle365.life/the-collection-that-wasnt/
3 years ago
Thanks for reading my journal and for this posting. This movie is still my favorite. At one time I'd purchased six DVD copies - some to give away and others to loan out. I'm down to two now.
Thanks also for the links to the recent Cycle365 discussions. I didn't know about those.
I had heard of pasties before. My wife reminded me of the only time we came close to eating some - in Mackinaw City in 1996 during a family vacation. We'd finished our lasagna dinners and asked the waitress if pasties were a type of dessert.
I enjoy reading Emily's trip reports at "Ramble Out Yonder" and now, thanks to Bill Stone, Scott Anderson, and you, I have another site to go to for interesting reading!
Jeff
3 years ago