Today’s destination: Iowa! Our 6am alarm was unwelcome this
morning, having stayed up a bit late working on overdue blog posts while we had
hotel internet access. We got on the road at 7:30am. Temperatures were cool for
most of the morning and the skies were sunny.
Not far down the road, a hawk came across the highway straight for Michele, with its talons out! She could see its underside. We think it thought her round white helmet was a gigantic egg.
After about 150 miles, we entered Iowa. The landscape became much more green and hilly, so we had plenty to look at.
We took a break about 2 hours into our day at a gas stop
advertising “cleanest restrooms on I-29”. Michele went to inspect them, and
returned with news that not only were they clean, they were private stall rooms
with fancy toilets. Heated seats, bidet, dryer, etc. She did not try these
options, though. This store had it all—150 cc scooters out front for $1799, a
stuffed Doberman and German Shepherd lifesize dogs for $199 each, clothes,
toys, tools, food. While waiting for Rob to take a break, Michele overheard
ladies asking their elderly father if he had the “fancy toilets” in the men’s
bathroom also. Haha!
Around 12:15pm we entered Creston, Iowa, and decided to stop
for lunch.
At lunch, a gentleman with a Kawasaki Voyager was out for a
Saturday ride and asked us where we’re from. He was very kind and talked about
his friends who were just riding their bikes in Alaska, and mentioned the
somewhat bad road conditions and lack of gas stations. Probably a good idea to
carry extra gas with us when we do our ride to Alaska! He also told us about
the Freedom Rock just a few blocks away. Artist Ray “Bubba” Sorensen II has a
program to paint and install large boulders honoring veterans in all 99
counties of Iowa. We went back to check it out since it was on our route, US
34.
What a great artist and even greater tribute.
Back on the road, the day was starting to get toasty but we
enjoyed the views.
Corn and soybeans (we think) are the predominant crops here
outside of hay. This huge facility piqued our interest.
It is the Big River Resources West Burlington Ethanol Plant.
The odor was kinda strange. Out here one can choose between straight gasoline
or ethanol gasoline (less expensive) at every station.
Around 4:30pm we arrived in Burlington, Iowa. We’ll be using
this bridge to cross the Mississippi river over into Illinois tomorrow.
We got unpacked and met our friendly host at the Squirrel’s
Nest B&B. Her property has a great view of the river and was built in the
late 1800s. We took her recommendation for dinner and walked under a mile down
to the riverfront for dinner at the Drake, which was a hardware store for over
100 years. These ladies were chatting it up on the lobby.
Perhaps they used this Dictaphone in their day.
While walking back, we headed a few blocks over to Snake
Alley, which is a Ripley’s Believe it or Not sight as the crookedest street in
the world, built in 1894. The bricks were stood on end to provide more traction
for horse hooves.
While downtown, we also found this very cobbled cobblestone
street. It reminded Rob of the trip he, Tom and Mike took to Savannah on one
very unfortunate road. Unlike that trip however, we stayed off this road.
Tomorrow we look forward to our breakfast at the inn, we’ve
been promised tons of fruit, and our journey across Illinois into Indiana.
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