Day 50 - 7/27/16 Clear Lake to Spencer, IA

100 miles in a day, I never thought I'd be interested in trying somethinf like that but, here I am, 100 miles from where I woke up today.  It was a perfect day for it: overcast and cool til around 2:00pm, then the last 25 miles were a bit hot and sweaty but, it's all part of the fun and challenge of this trip.  

When I finally got to Spencer, I met up with another Dan at his house.  Him and his wife are Warm Showers hosts but Susanne was out of town so it was just us two Dans.  We drove up to Okoboji, Iowa, another town with a couple lakes as the centerpiece for all the bustling restaurants and shops that accomodate the summer tourists.  

I feel pretty lucky to have visited Clear Lake and Okoboji, otherwise my perception of Iowa might've been one big corn field.

Day 51 - 7/28/16 Spencer to Sioux Center, IA

It never bothers me one bit when I don't have a place to sleep lined up before I get to the town I'm aiming for.  Something will always work out whether I resort to stealth camping in a field or spending some cash to get a motel room.  There is one pinned location in Sioux Center, Iowa which belongs to Nate and Kirbee.  Nate already said him and his wife were going out for the night and wouldn't be able to host me.  When I got to Sioux Center I was surprised to see Nate working at the bike shop.  

He sold me a seat and a couple other parts I needed for my bike.  Although I couldn't stay at Nate and Kirbee's tonight, he found me a place to stay by asking some of his customers if they would host a traveling cyclist for the night.  Sioux Center just has that small town sense of community where housing a strange, smelly traveler for the night isn't such a strange thing.  I stayed with a great guy named, Iver, his wife, Emily and their daughter, Jovi.  Not only did they put a roof over my head, they also cooked me a lovely meal and they had all sorts of questions about my trip.  I know I've mentioned over and over the overwhelming generosity I've received from people I barely know but, I could just feel it all through this town.  When while I was looking for Iver's house, I got lost and came across this very friendly guy named David sitting on his front steps husking corn, drinking a PBR and hanging out with his 2 boys in the yard.  He gave me some helpful instructions but we ended up talking for a while after that.  We talked about his time hiking the Appalachian Trail when he was my age, my bike trip, and the beauty of living in a real small town.  The way we live back East is not the same as the folks from the Midwest and I wish I knew why.  There's probably a million factors that affect the way people see and interact with the world.  I feel very fortunate see these differences firsthand.

Day 47 - 7/24/16 Manchester to Cedar Falls, IA

I was on the same road for over 40 miles today and it looked a lot like the road I was on yesterday but, the fields of green were just as beautiful as they were yesterday.  I'm staying with Mary on her family's farm tonight.  It may be her family's land but, they've been renting it out for other farmers to grow crops on their 360 acres.  

It was nice to sit around and hear Mary, her brother, Rex and his wife, Valorie talk about crops and farming and gardening – conversation you just never even think about growing up outside of Boston.  What a wonderfully different way of life, having to care for a patch of land this big.

  

After riding through miles and miles of fields, seeing the little barns and homes rising above the corn, it's really great to be able to spend the night in a place where the backyard is completely walled-off by 7 foot tall corn stalks.  No immediate neighbors, just plants stretching out into the horizon and massive pastel clouds filling the Midwest sky.  

I did some drawing in the yard while Mary read and the barn swallows flew, dove, and swooped in the sky, catching bugs before retiring to one of two barns in Mary's backyard.  One of them, she says, is going to collapse soon if a strong enough breeze comes along.

Day 46 - 7/23/16 Dubuque to Manchester, IA

Anticipating more heat, humidity and possible thunderstorms, I left as early as I could.  I stopped at the first gas station I saw for some snacks and saw I had I missed call from my friend, Vinny.  It's hard to pass up a conversation with this dude so I called him back.  He was waking up next to a river in Humboldt County, California, the place where they grow lots of green medicine.  

He just left one farm and was headed to another.  Damn hippies, am I right?  They know how to have all the fun and make a living from it too.  From the gas station I rode up and down some serious hills where I caught some beautiful views of Iowa.  I hear this state doesn't have much to offer (please correct me if I'm wrong) but I'm drinking in the bucolic beauty like it's ice water.  

Maybe the key to enjoying this scenery is just being on a bike.  Maybe that's why RAGBRAI is so popular.  At the bottom of the biggest hill I rode down, my next turn took me on 15 miles of shaded, packed gravel.  I was excited to throw the headphones on for this portion of the ride.  Pink Floyd and nothing else.  

The path wove through tunnels of green, occasionally opening up to vistas showing grazing cattle among ancient oak trees and trickling rivers.

At times, power lines bisected the trail, winding into the hills and cornfields, giving no hint of who's home they were powering.  Shooting out of the path back onto the main road, the hills found me again.  

Not nearly as demanding, I felt like a speedboat riding the currents up and down as I parted the sea of green.  On the crests of the waves, I could see no end to this ocean, only occasional patches of trees and farms veiled in silver-blue layers of humidity and atmosphere like they were painted into the scenery by a true artist.