IOWA (Clinton - Marshalltown - Ames)

Friends from Illinois, please don't hate me for saying this, but Iowa is so much more beautiful than Illinois. The terrain rolls with occasional hills, and it offers more vantage points of the landscape. It's also really green. The wind has also been kinder to us (so far).

Fourth of July - Many of the riders wore star spangled ribbons and American flags on the ride. Michael gave us a HILARIOUS rendition of the stirring speech given in the movie "Independence Day" to rile us all up for our ride. Thank you Michael, for that.

There was a bit of a damper pretty early in the ride though. We actually rode through parts of Cedar Rapids on our way, and from the paint damage on the houses, we could see just how high the water line had been (~10+ feet at points), and there were still large piles of damaged goods that needed to be cleared away. There was a layer of grime/dust covering everything, and it felt like a ghost town. It served as a good reminder, I guess.

It was a long day of riding, but there were fireworks in Marshalltown. They were just as great as the ones in Chicago, but I missed watching them over lakefront with Margaret the way I usually do. With the Chicago skyline in the distance all lit up against the clear dark sky ... We were quite the spectacle too. We've developed this trend of lying on each other's bellies, and it turned into a giant chain that day. Also, we all started singing the national anthem together. We got a lot of stares :)

Also for the first time, we had to shower using a hose! I'm glad it was really sunny and warm outside, because it actually felt really refreshing. I had to buy a new swimsuit at Walmart though ... of all the things I lose, and of all the things I forgot to ask my parents to bring for me, it was my swimsuit. On trips like these though, according to Shira, standards drop like rocks off a cliff: I also bought a purple dress at Walmart. I just got sick of wearing the same clothes everyday, and felt like being a little more festive for July 4th.

Today was short and sweet! Also, we've been getting this great tailwind somehow. We only rode 40 miles into Ames, Iowa, a college town. I rode mostly with Brooke today. We had delicious Mandarin food for lunch (white rice!) The bike shop here, Skunk River Cycles, was really kind to us by giving us a 20% discount on all products, as well as giving us free repairs. They also gave us a handful of bar end plugs. Thanks again!

We've also hit some of Iowa's famous gravel roads. Once you get used to them, they're not that bad. It's really about keeping balance. There'd be times when my back wheel/entire bicycle would be going every which way, and I'd just be hanging on to it for dear life. There was this one downhill where there wasn't all that much gravel but lots of rocks, and I was pretty happy I didn't wipe out. I have no excuse for not going on gravel though, since I have the Roubaix and more shock protection than most of the riders on the trip. Yea ...

In other news, one of our riders had to go home with a broken arm. Ironically, it wasn't from cycling. At the YMCA we stayed at in Clinton, there was a small Tae Kwon Do class practicing, and I excitedly ran over to Julie to tell her about it because she's a level 3 black belt. I guess she ended up sparring later that night without protective gear, and ended up breaking her ulna. It was a clean break though, and we all got to sign her neon pink cast. (Hannah Wagley actually spelled her name wrong, as Wagly. Amazing. It was nice serifed font though.) She's gone home for the moment, but she'll join us later. Jeff Hunt said he'd be willing to swap out his bike and her bike for a tandem, and I think they should totally do it.

At the moment, I am living it up at a coffee shop with a strawberry smoothie and a slice of tiramisu.