twin cities, dead end, neowise, the amazing karen

July 19, 2020

Day Six: Dyersville to Monona

My alarm was set for 6:00, but I woke up at 5:45. That’s unusual for me for two reasons: (1) setting an alarm that doesn't have at least a 10 or 11 in it (when I'm on vacation), and (2) waking up without an alarm. After breakfast in the tent, I loaded up the bike and we were rolling by 7:15. Our New Wine campsite was north of Dyersville, and the ACA route heads NNW from Dyersville towards Colesburg, so instead of backtracking to Dyersville we wended our way back to Highway 3, mostly over gravel roads.

In Colesburg, where we met up with the ACA route again, we paused for a break and a protein bar; I now try to consume one at least hourly, and it usually makes a noticeable difference in how I feel at the end of the day. Although we had a relatively strong headwind today, neither one of us complained (much) because it kept us cool.

There were some pretty steep hills today, and Karen ground her way up all of them with only a double on her front crank. She stopped, but never walked up a single one.

We saw a sign telling us that we were passing through the Twin Cities (in Iowa, not Minnesota) of Elkport (pop 37) and Garber (pop 88). (FYI, not to be outdone, Iowa has a Quad Cities) Between the headwind and hills we didn’t reach Elkader (pop 1,209) until almost 2:00, well after lunch time. There was a long, steep descent into town, which cooled us off before our lunch break.

Karen, not having had any experience riding hills, was understandably shy about going down hills and braked heavily most of the way. I, on the other hand…..

The town of Elkader was named after a Muslim Algerian leader spearheading the French conquest of Algeria (which is another weird and interesting thing about Iowa), and we stopped on the river at the City Park for lunch. Because we all use iPhones and were sharing our locations with each other, Sarah was able to see where we had stopped and joined us for lunch before heading to Monona. I had a tuna wrap today, one of my two lunch options.

I should explain my lunches. I brought a 20-pack of tortillas (processed, unfortunately, because they last longer), as well as individual packets of tuna fish, mayo, salt, and pepper. I open up a package of tuna and spread it on the tortilla, do the same with a packet of mayo, then season it with salt and pepper . On alternate days I put Nutella, peanut butter, and banana chips on the tortillas. All of it is stored in my rear pannier, and I pull out one or two tortillas and the individual packets of whatever I'm having for the day and place them in my handlebar bag for easier access. It's probably too repetitive and boring for most people, but it's an easy lunch which has worked well for me.

We dawdled for an hour before heading toward Farmerburg (pop 271).

Karen is officially a cyclist now that she has a chainring tattoo.

I was using ACA’s Bike Route Navigator app, which showed the route was mostly downhill from Farmersburg to Monona; however, it’s a little misleading. Apparently, it doesn’t matter on which location you tap first… it only shows the elevation from north to south. Thus, I was expecting the elevation at the end to be lower, but the entire section was a climb instead of a descent. It shouldn't have mattered, but I was wiped out by the time we arrived in Monona (pop 1,471). I suspect it's the heat more than anything else.

We set up our tents at the City Park, which was right on Highway 18. Fortunately, this is rural Iowa so there was very little traffic before 8PM and virtually none after. Sarah walked across the street to the Casey’s convenience store and brought back a Dr. Pepper for me. It was cold and delicious, one of the best drinks I’d had in recent memory, and I held it against my neck and face to cool off.

We were sitting around one of the picnic tables eating and talking when a middle-aged man in an RV, the only vehicle in the park, came over and brought us some cold bottled water. "I thought you could probably use it," he explained, and he was right. It was just one more of the countless kindnesses from total strangers I've experienced over the years.

At 10:00 we walked to the edge of the Park, which was also at the edge of town. Of course, in a town this size just about anywhere is the edge of town. In many of the towns I travel through on bike trips, you can see both ends of the town from any location.

There, we set up our lawn chairs and looked for Neowise, the comet, as we sipped on some Grand Marnier.

Karen and Sarah are planning to get an early start in the morning, at 4:00, which is early even for Karen. They’re planning to drive all the way to New Jersey, a 17-hour drive, then load up the car and drive straight back to Galveston, a 25-hour drive.

I haven’t told you much about Karen, and now that she’s leaving it might be a good time to give you some background on her. We went to school together 25 years ago at UTMB in Galveston. Standing in the registration line together, we started talking and immediately hit it off. After graduation she stayed there, working for the hospital.

Over the years there were times when we didn't talk for extended periods, but she's one of those friend who, as soon as you start up the next conversation, it seems like you just spoke yesterday. She looks the same as she did two and a half decades ago, and I regularly ask her when she's going to show me the picture in her attic, the one that ages while she remains unchanged (except without the amorality).

Although she’s remained in good condition her entire life, she hadn’t ridden her bicycle much and, in fact, only owned a beach cruiser. She lives on the Gulf Coast where the closest hills are four hours away, so why would she need gears? When she decided to go on this trip with me at the beginning of the year she bought a new bike, which didn't arrive until a couple of months before the trip. Her new bike has shifters, something she’d never encountered before, so she learned how to use them. Because of the flat terrain, training for hills was impossible, but she did the best she could. In reality, with her demanding work schedule, doing ANY riding was difficult, but even so she showed up in great shape and ready to ride. Her one concession to not having bicycled much was to remove her toe clips. This, after falling enough to learn how to do it without injuring herself, something I clearly still haven't learned. We both agreed that the minimal loss of efficiency was worth it to maximize her safety.

Even now, I’m amazed at her accomplishment. It’s hard to believe someone could ride this far without having used gears until a few weeks ago, especially considering the number of hills we encountered.