Day Thirty-four: Grinnell, Iowa to Washington, Iowa

July 13, 2019

I was slow getting up this morning, after going to bed about four hours later than usual last night. I hadn't tried using the laptop yesterday, and this morning I found that it had stopped working again. Bummer.

I hung out for a while with Kristen, Jeff, and Juniper Rose, then Jeff and I rode downtown to a bakery where I got an extremely greasy, but satisfying, apple fritter.

At Jeff's suggestion, I rode out of town on US-6, which had a rare, for Iowa, paved shoulder, then I turned onto "Old 6", which was nice and quiet.

I stopped in Brooklyn, population 1,468. Brooklyn is apparently known as the "Community of Flags", but I didn't spend much time looking at all the flags on display, and instead devoted my attention to a second breakfast at the Casey's. This was one of the newer Casey's with tables to sit at, so I spent some time there studying my Iowa Bicycle Map, trying to work out a route for the day.

For the first time on this trip I rode away without putting my helmet on, and had to ride a few hundred feet back to Casey's to retrieve it. I dislike wearing a helmet, but I love the helmet-mounted mirror. I don't think I could ride a bike without that mirror. Sometimes at the end of a day of riding, when I'm walking down a street, I forget and look to my left to check the mirror. Heh.

It was hot, and the scenery was not very inspiring today. I crossed over I-80. I believe this was the first time I was south of I-80 on this trip, although I'm too lazy as I write this, days later, to go back and check.

I arrived in Deep River, population 279, just as some sort of event was ending. "You could have been in the parade!" a man told me as I rode up. I asked him if there was a store where I could buy cold drinks, and received the expected negative answer (because every establishment I saw in Deep River looked long-closed.) But he welcomed me into the American Legion building and gave me a bottle of ice-cold water.

I somehow briefly became lost as I left tiny Deep River. A woman was attempting to get her unruly family to cooperate in the taking of a photo ("Dammit, I want to send this to Grandpa!"), and a couple of boys probably further angered her by leaving the group to give me directions out of town.

It was so hot now. I arrived in Millersburg, population 153, to find that the Home Town Cafe, a bar and grill, was open. I went inside the cool place for an extended stay. There wasn't a grilled cheese sandwich on the menu, but they made one for me anyway.

I forced myself back out into the heat, and rode south, then east. The roads were reasonably quiet, but there was no shade at all, and the sun beat down.

North English, population 1,041, seemed deserted. I imagine that everyone was wisely inside an air-conditioned space. They certainly were not outside riding a bicycle in the midday heat.

I went into the EV Malt Shop and ordered a banana milkshake, which was so, so good that I briefly considered ordering a second one.

I sat in the cool malt shop for a while and studied my map. I decided to end the day in the larger town of Washington, which had a couple of motels, one of which was directly off a bike path that led into town.

I got back on the bike and into the heat and left North English.

The rest of the day went slowly. I didn't see anyone, or anything memorable.

The bike path into Washington, population 7,266, was unpaved, and poorly maintained. Not for the first time, I was happy to be riding a mountain bike on this tour, instead of a bike with skinny tires.

I checked into the motel, which was reasonably priced, and decided I didn't feel like going into town for food, nor ordering a pizza, so, in what has become a sort-of-sad routine on this tour, I ate some snacks I was carrying with me and went to bed.

Today's ride: 90 miles (145 km)
Total: 2,710 miles (4,361 km)

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