Eastern Iowa

Just as I was getting bored with the windy flats of Indiana and Illinois mother nature decided to mix things up a little bit. As soon as we crossed the Mississippi river in Clinton, we have been in some absolutely stunning country. While still surrounded by corn and soybeans, the flat lands have turned to hills. These hills are bigger than found in East Texas, but the momentum from one will often get you half way up the next. Its kind of like a roller coaster. Kind of.

We left Clinton a few days ago and headed to Mount Vernon, IA. We were supposed to be going to Cedar Rapids, but due to the flooding we stopped about 10 miles earlier. It was a great 82 mile ride. Being in the hills again is nice because even though you have to work a little harder to get up a hill, you get to coast (or push it and go really fast) back down.

From Mount Vernon we headed to Marshalltown yesterday, the 4th. All decked out with American flags and any other patriotic nonsense we could come up with, we went another 89 hilly miles. It was a long day, but absolutely beautiful. The weather was perfect, and we had a great day. The church we were staying at in Marshalltown didn't have a shower situation set up for us, so we all donned swimsuits and bathed with a water hose. After that we cooked burgers and had a great fourth of July picnic. Then we all went downtown for a great fireworks show that lasted pretty late. We sang patriotic and not so patriotic songs (Christmas carols) while we waited. It was definitely a fun night.

This morning we slept late (7 am) and then headed to Ames. It was only 43 miles, and Jeff and I were riding sweep today. Sweep is the last two riders who make sure everyone is okay on the ride. Jeff had a flat which put us well behind everyone, so we just enjoyed the short ride all morning. We stopped about 8 miles out and had lunch at a Dairy Queen, and then came into town. After a quick bike shop run we've just been hanging out and enjoying the afternoon.