Day 42- Boscobel to Blue Mounds State Park

The ride today was INSANE. It was so beautiful. I can't even believe it. 

Pictures can't even touch it. I was in Switzerland. I was in The Sound of Music. I was in heaven. 

Expenses

$4 trail pass

$8 food

$14 camp

Day 41- Decorah to Boscobel- 70 miles

Was off in the morning early. Thanks for everything, Jeff!

My ride today was so beautiful!

I got really hungry halfway through the day, sat down for a snack, and promptly ate everything on my bike that could be dipped in peanut butter and chocolate.

Needless to say, I was then very full for my gorgeous ride down "Pleasant Ridge Rd.". 

Neapolitan barn.

Arrived in Marquette, got an Iowa sticker, and crossed the bridge.

Woohoo! In Wisconsin! 

The lady at the visitor's center in Prairie du Chien looked at me like I was crazy when I asked for a traffic volume map. But then a guy gave me a banana, so all was well. 

Camped in an RV Park- got a free spot! 

Had a veggie-ful dinner. 

With cheese curds that had NOTHING on Appel Farms cheese curds, but... When in Wisconsin... 

Expenses:

$10 food

Day 40- Grafton to Decorah- 70 miles

My stay with Brian and Diana was awesome. BLT's, a burger, sweet corn, fruit, and THE BEST ice cream sundae were had for dinner. I slept in a feather bed and was fed breakfast. They loaded me up with snacks, and Brian rode out with me to Osage, where he works. 

Scenery was beautiful today. 

Church in the middle of nowhere.

Stopped at the bike shop in Decorah, where they trued my wheel for free!

I found the food co-op in Decorah kind of like a metal detector finds a piece of metal (come on, that was a good one)... Aaand promptly splurged on kombucha, magic peanut butter I'd heard rumors of, and other goodies. 

Went for ice cream, arrived at my host's, showered, ate another dinner, and chilled out until bedtime.

Day 39- Britt to Grafton- 71 miles

That bed was the comfiest of comfy beds I have EVER slept in. In my life. I woke up fantastically refreshed, loaded up on breakfast, said goodbyes, and was off to who-knows-where. Thank you, DeBoers, for everything!

I zig-zagged all over the country roads, and even backtracked a few miles once... the roads in the eastern part of Iowa are not as perfectly gridded as the ones in the west. I stopped after 50 miles at the gas station in Manly (yes, Manly) 

and scarfed a footlong sub sandwich and an ice cream cone. Not too shabby for a gas station. Then I was headed to Orchard, but 7 miles outside of Manly, an unloaded cyclist was riding towards me and stopped beside me to ask about my trip. Her name is Diana, and she invited me to stay at her house, which was about 10 miles away. She rode with me, and the 10 miles flew by as we chatted. It was good to ride with somebody again. Pacing yourself is so easy!

I'm now at Diana and her husband, Bryan's beautiful remodeled farm house. Seriously, this house is gorgeous. I've been promised beer and BLT's for supper.
Oh, and apparently Orchard is where all the sex offenders live. Thank you, Lord!

Day 38- Gillett Grove to Britt- 86 miles

No, Gillett Grove to Britt shouldn't have been 86 miles...
I started the day off right with an egg, oatmeal, and an apple for breakfast at Jim and Carol's. They sent me off with hugs and well wishes. They were so much fun.

At one point today, I laid my bike down to go off into the grass and... pop a squat. Seven miles later, I stopped to take a picture and... my phone was gone. When I had laid my bike down, my phone had slipped out of my handlebar bag and was laying in the grass where I'd stopped. So. That tacked on an extra 15 miles.
Then I was getting hungry. I had planned on stopping in Rodman, but there was nothing there, and the next town looked a little more promising, so I pushed on an extra 8 miles to Whittemore, where there was... a Cenex. So I supplemented my oatmeal and chia seeds and cereal with peanut butter cheese crackers and an ice cream sandwich. Needless to say, I was still kinda hungry when I left. But Debbie, and old friend and my host for the night, was promising a meal in Britt, so I pushed on the last 30 miles and arrived a little after six.
Joel and Debbie used to pastor at the church we used to attend! They were awesome hosts. I had a divine shower, relaxed for a bit, and filled up on pork tacos for dinner.

...that was my attempt at capturing a fantastic green caterpillar I saw today.

Day 37- Sioux Center to Gillett Grove- 76 miles

Today was awesome!
My stomach was graced with another delicious breakfast at the Goedharts'- thank you, Chris and Rin for everything! They were awesome. They let me stay two nights with them, and fed me, and let me play their piano, and took me to church with them... Ahh. It was a fantastic two days.
I left at about 7, and got on County Road B40. The first six miles or so were ICKY. It was foggy, the sun was lighting up the fog, and the route was well-trafficked at 7 in the morning. Once I passed the major crossroad, though, traffic eased up dramatically, and so did the fog. Death averted, once again.
 I stopped in Primghar to use a bathroom. When I came back out to my bike leaned up against the wall, I took out my map, studied it for a few minutes, and KATWANG! Another. Spoke. Broken. I turned the bike upside-down and fixed it (hey, I'm gettin' pretty good at this, folks!). And then I called my dad. And I cried. In public. I didn't weep. I didn't moan or wail. I just shed a few tremble-chin-hopeless-despair tears. I called the bike shop in Spencer about him taking a look at it. He was pretty busy, but said he'd take a look at it if I brought it in. So on I rode.
In Spencer, I hit up the bike shop first, and decided to just buy some more spokes and be on my way. I was feeling good, the bike shop was pretty busy, I wasn't exactly impressed with them, and it wasn't very windy out. First, I went to the Hy-Vee, where I indulged in another all-you-can-eat-soup-and-salad-bar, and downed three plates of fruits and vegetables. Hy-Vee is saving me. 

An older guy there asked me about my trip, and after we'd been through the "whats" and "hows", and it was time for the "whos", he deduced I was Dutch because of my hair, I told him my last name, and he asked if I was part of a CRC out in Washington. This is all before he knows I'm from Lynden...
And then I rode some more. It was a beautiful day. I arrived in Gillett Grove in desperate need of a restroom. The only business in town was a motorcycle repair shop. I went in, used the restroom, looked at my map, and deduced I should call it quits for the day. I'd gone about 75 miles, and my next destination was about 75 miles away. So I went back in to the repair shop and asked where the nearest place to camp was.

First he gave me directions to his hay field, saying nobody'd bother me up there, "but if you keep going on up that hill, we're the last house on the left- you'll see it. You just go on up there, and my wife is there. She's got gray hair and her name is Carol. I'm serious now! You go on up there." So I went up there, and met the vivacious "Carol", who showed me the shower, the fridge, the swimming pool, and my bed for the night before leaving to bring her granddaughters to 4-H.
I had such a fun time! I put on my shorts and jumped in the pool, which was c-c-c-coooool, jumped on the trampoline to dry off a little, and had myself a fantastic shower. When Carol and Jim came home, we had smoked pork steaks, mashed potatoes, potato salad, and peas for dinner.
...I slept very well that night.

Well, I took another rest day.

I know. It's only been a week since my last. 

But:

Bed.

Rain.

Food.

A CRC service, just like the good ol' days, and other Dutch Sabbath things, like 3 o' clock apple pie and tea with the grandparents.

No regrets.