Day 111 - Perry to Ames - Two Far 2021 - Sooo... Far

July 28, 2021

Day 111 - Perry to Ames

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We had fun today. It was so nice to start out knowing we had only 36 miles to ride. We were looking forward to riding the High Trestle Trail again, too. The forecast high was upper 90's, so we wanted to get to Ames by noon.

The few miles of gravel leaving Perry were easy to ride. It felt good to get that behind me early in the ride.

There were pretty wildflowers along the road leaving Perry

Last night's motel was a Super 8, and, while OK for a simple room, they are pretty bad for breakfast. We skipped eating anything before we left, knowing there was a Casey's convenience store less than ten miles away. We stopped at the Casey's in Woodward. They have a very good breakfast pizza. The store manager, Sandy, was so impressed that we had ridden all the way from Florida that she bought our breakfast.

Thank-you, Sandy. We appreciate your kindness.

We left Casey's and rode through Woodward to the High Trestle Trail trailhead.

There is an overlook just before you get on the trestle with historical information and great views.

The trestle 130 feet above the Des Moines River

The Des Moines River from the trestle. The water level is very low.

The steel frames over the trestle are lit with LED lights at night. It is a very popular time to ride across.

I would love to do this crossing at night when it is lit up.

Image not found :( — Even the bike racks continue the theme.

There is another trailhead in Madrid, just east of the trestle. There we met this family going for a ride on the trail. Henesis and Kevin ride their fat tire bikes in the snow! I can't even imagine wanting to cycle in the snow.

Henesis, Kevin, Lukas and Tony getting ready to ride across the trestle.

Kerry here... A sign for motorists where the trail crosses a busy road in Madrid. Personally, I wish all drivers would obey this, and let cyclists cross roads at their choosing.

This is another thing I wish all trails would do. Locals know this info, but visitors don't. The Withlacoochee State Trail (our home trail) really could use this, but the state of Florida will not allow it.

At Slater, we left the trail and headed north to Ames. We had a two lane road with a good shoulder for most of the way.

Just south of Ames are the Iowa State agricultural farms.

We wondered what these large white structures were. Hay storage? Grain storage? As we got closer, they aroma was more like manure.

The sign identified this group of structures as part of a composting facility.

And this scenic place is the Iowa State University dairy farm.

We got to Ames by noon and stopped at Dairy Queen for lunch. Ron saw our bike outside and came in to talk. He's from Minneapolis and has done a lot of cycle touring around the world. It's always fun to meet fellow cycle tourers.

We're staying over in Ames tomorrow and plan to visit a botanical garden. The heat is expected to start to abate tomorrow.

Today's ride: 38 miles (61 km)
Total: 4,154 miles (6,685 km)

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