Day 6 - ending near Gladbrook, IA - Iowa on the Tri-speed

July 26, 2013

Day 6 - ending near Gladbrook, IA

rode on Heart of Iowa Nature Trail, Iowa-330 Trail, Linn Creek Recreational Trail

Posted via email Sat Jul 27 08:55:02 2013 PDT

A truck somewhere woke me up at 4:40am, but I didn't stay awake for long. Finally up at 5:55am. It hadn't rained much overnight, but the tent would have been wet if it wasn't under this pavilion. I walked over to Casey's for a to-go coffee first thing. Back at the park, I finally noticed that the mud-dust all around was from flooding. There are muddy water-line marks on the attached building indicating that the water had been four-feet high. Got packed up with the bike ready to go, then sat down to eat the large sandwich cream cookie I was too full for last night. It fell apart as I tried to eat it, and I wished I had a fork (which was already packed away). However, it was good! Left at 9:15am.

It had started out cloudy this morning, but was sunny by the time I was back on the Heart of Iowa Nature Trail. With the warming sun and the cool northwest breeze, it was a perfect day. Made my way through some more "flood-damaged" spots on the trail to arrive at Collins at 10:30am. I was hoping to come across a place that served breakfast, but the BlackBerry's Poynt program and my PN-60 GPS didn't indicate any place here. The trail has a three-mile on-road section east of Collins, following 310th Street. I arrived at 730th Street - where the trail picks back up - at 11:03am. I took a break here under a cottonwood tree blowing in the breeze. I couldn't get over how pleasantly cool it was for a sunny day in July.

Following the trail east brought me to the Hoy Bridge at 11:38am. I took some pictures from there, then saw that there was a path to an observation deck on the east side of the bridge. The view from the deck was of the bridge arches, but I couldn't get a picture of it all with one shot. Continued on to Rhodes, arriving at their trailhead at 12:09pm. Still not seeing a place to eat. Back on the trail for a short ways, until its end at the east side of Rhodes. I didn't follow my pre-trip planned route to Melbourne (which I see now is also the official trail route), since it was on a gravel road, and this paved road I was on (295th Street) was working OK. That brought me to IA-330, a divided highway with enough shoulder for me.

Arrived in Melbourne at 12:52pm, and got quite lost. I was looking for the Iowa-330 Trail, but since I was off-route, I'd missed the starting point. I had a printout for the trail in my pocket. Looking at that would have helped. Finally got on the trail, which parallels IA-330. The trail is wide and concrete - very nice in spite that it goes higher and lower than the highway grade. At one point along the trail, grasshoppers were jumping all over the trail - and me!

The Iowa-330 Trail bought me to the west side of Marshalltown at 2:29pm. It connects there with the Linn Creek Recreational Trail, which I got on going east. At 3:00pm I arrived at a park in Marshalltown where there is a caboose. I parked the bike by there for a picture, and the bike fell over - in slow motion. The water jug survived this time. I was still looking for a place to eat, hoping it'd be along the trail. Some places were close, but not exactly what I had in mind. My opportunities to eat had come and gone by the time I reached the Guthrie Memorial Bridge on the east side of town. I left the Linn Creek Trail here at 3:29pm, which was really bad timing. I needed to cross Lennox Drive at its four-way stop with East Main Street, and apparently the Lennox factory work day ends at 3:30pm. I finally forced my way through and continued east on Main out of town. This highway wasn't the best for bicycling, but I didn't have to stay on it too long. I turned north at Vine Avenue, pedaled up a hill with dog accompaniment, then turned onto Wallace Avenue going north. I stayed mostly on the gravel shoulder of this busy road as I fought the still-northwest wind.

I saw on the GPS that a small town (Green Mountain) was ahead. One more chance to find some food (maybe) before I arrived at my evening destination: Union Grove State Park. Arrived at Green Mountain at 4:35pm. Stopped to take a picture of their church, and then their "town square" - a grassy area with a bench in the middle of the road. While I was doing that, a fellow walked up the street to talk to me. He said the town got its name from settlers from Vermont. I noticed the town had a bank, but didn't appear to have a place to eat (nor even a place to get a cup of Green Mountain coffee). The fellow I was talking to said there'd been a place to eat here in the past. Then he offered to get me a cup of coffee. I was ready for a break, so we walked over to his back-porch deck. We sat at a patio table/chair-set he'd just got at an auction, at a very good price, I thought. Not only did I get coffee, but also a sandwich, cupcake, and milk! We enjoyed visiting about road trips and old bicycles. I gave him my journal address and got his picture and name, which is Terry Watson. We discussed my intended route to Union Grove State Park. Terry wasn't sure about my plan to leave town from the northeast corner and take gravel roads, but said it would be shorter, and maybe a little less hilly, than one of the paved-road routes. As I left (at 5:53pm), I told Terry he'll be able to read tomorrow how the five miles of gravel roads worked out.

It was actually six miles of gravel roads and a short-but-steep paved hill (walking-grade) at the end. Arrived at the campground at 7:01pm, and had selected my campsite (#24) by 7:06pm. Got set up, then ate some animal cookies and the other HyVee protein bar I'd bought back in Omaha.

Walked down to the lake to see the sunset, then started work on the report. I couldn't stay awake to get the report done, so that'll have to wait for the morning. The northwest wind is still cool, and I expect a cold night-ending for this very pleasant day.

Jeff

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Spent: $1.27 (coffee) + $11 (campsite) = $12.27.

Day 6 - Maxwell, IA to Gladbrook, IA

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+ plus signs indicate pictures added after returning home from the trip +