Miles: 67.27. Elevation: 1,512. Time: 4 hours 30 minutes
Total miles: 1,687.61 (2,118.61 w/ Uhaul). Total Elevation: 73,756. Total Time: 166 hours 57
Sunshine and tailwinds! Yeah Baby!! After the last two days, we ready for an ‘easy’ days ride.
Starting the day with gas station coffee works well! As we leave 1880 Town and back on to I-90, the winds push us along allowing us to travel around 18 mph. Not bad for a fully loaded bike! We notice an increase in dead animals of many species- porcupines, turtles, birds, frogs and grasshoppers! There are so many of them the tires make a continual crunch sound and they fly up hitting our legs and bikes. This went on for about 5 miles!! Certainly a feast for birds or other animals.
Stopping in Murdo, we enjoy second coffee and grab a snack- pizza for Drew and a protein drink for me. We meet Jamie who is from Canada riding solo from Montana to Chicago. He is also headed to RAGBRAI (7 day ride across Iowa). Miles further down the road, he is by the roadside repairing a flat. Unfortunately, our tire sizes are not the same-we’re riding gravel bikes, so we are unable to assist. The miles ticked away today and we arrived early into Kennebec, a small town. The gas station and KOA camp are the only two sources for food so Drew ate the other half of his pizza and I found a can of soup. Along with Fritos, it did the job!
The KOA camp was adjacent to a creek where we saw a small animal along the shore eating grass. It became startled when it heard us. Still not sure what it was-it looked like a beacon it it had a narrow tail like a rat. Hum.
Just beyond the creek was an arena where huge rigs were filling the area. We later learned a rodeo event would be happening tomorrow. The size and beauty of the trucks and trailers was mind boggling!! Whew! My guess, combined, many would cost in excess of $200,000. Having enjoyed horses in my younger years, I am so happy to have a bicycle now!! So much less work!
The days are flying by and we are now just about a week away from RAGBRAI and nearly half way across the country.
So amazing!!
You never know what you may see along the shoulder.. Today, Road kill was fairly constant
