July 1, 2016
What a whirlwind day yesterday was! We needed to dump all
the tanks, so we were both ready to head out at 8:15
and Bill drove through Sioux City.
There are no bike lanes in the city and I didn’t want him flattened. He pulled
out his bike in a Menard’s parking lot on the edge of town and rode away.
I did
some primping and left ½ hour later. I drove about 9 miles on Route 20 and
noticed that the bike lane got narrower and narrower until it went to gravel.
Bill called and was just a mile ahead of me. No bike path and heavy truck
traffic meant driving north to find another road going east. Route 3 looked
good so back on the bike he went.
I’m sitting on the side of the road just
outside of Cherokee, Iowa. A
little more traffic here, but so far the bike lane is good. Arghh! Famous last
words! The bike lane just turned to gravel. There are still too many big rigs
for him to ride in the road. Looks like we pull out the map and see what else
we can find. Route 18 looked like it might work. Bill called the State Police
and asked them about it. So we are driving another 35 miles north to find this
road. When we arrived, a good part of the day had already been spent, so we
went into Spencer, Iowa
to look for a place for the night. Since we have been stopped from going east
today, guess we have to stay put. We stopped by the police station and met the
Chief, Mark Warburton. He told us a little bit about the town and we exchanged
patches
and got a picture. Also shook hands and thanked him for what he does.
Spencer is supposed to be the safest town in Iowa…nice
place to end up after a frustrating day. We went over to the city park and they
have campsites here with electric and water for only $15 a day! Showers too. So
we decided to stay until after the 4th hoping that the traffic will
be a bit lighter after the holiday. There’s a cool looking fire department here
in town, we’ll have to stop by tomorrow. Thank-you for reading.
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