Jen and Rebecca Bike Up a Lot of Hills in the Rain

R: One of the guys in our group told us as we were setting out on Monday that there was a chance of rain. Yeah, there were a few clouds, but they didn’t look too ominous. Turns out they were indeed rain clouds. Sigh. But it didn’t start raining on us until about halfway through the day. Up to that point, we were able to see Swedish dancing in Stanton, plus Stanton’s famed water towers shaped like a coffee pot and a tea pot!

Hills

J: Then it was on to Villisca - home of the Murder House. We were too cheap to take the $5, 5 minute tour, so we don’t have all of the details, but we did learn that several members of one family plus some friends were axe-murdered in 1912. My bike and I got into several spats yesterday as well. It almost got axed. But, after fixing my chain five times, I’m very good at putting it back on. Plus, I got to meet some very nice bike mechanics on the road who adjusted the cables for me. It appears to have to worked.

The Villisca Murder House

R: Because Jen’s bike pedal bit her and I had some sort of allergy-eye itch issue, we also took a pit stop at the first aid bus (provided by the U of I, thanks Jen’s alma mater) which made our stop in Corning a bit longer than anticipated. We did have yummy sloppy joes AND we got to use the indoor toilet which had a museum/old fashioned bank safe in it. Sadly, the line behind me was too long to spend much time in the museum after doing my business.

J: The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. I guess that’s not entirely true. While I was at the bike repair stop to get my chain checked, Rebecca and Aaron 3,050 pound bull headed to the Iowa State Fair. The rain wasn’t much fun, but we survived. I did make a new friend. He kept offering to race me up hills, and then he’d let me win. Hmmm….. But, he was funny and distracted me the pain of climbing.

Rebecca and the bull.

Jen and her repaired bike.

R: He was funny because he said he’d rather Jen won the race because he’s get a better view. Tee hee. The last few “towns” of the ride were those fake towns where it’s pretty much a beer tent and nothing else. But we survived that too. Once we set up our tent in the rain, we headed to the nearby high school for showers, and made it one-stop shopping and had lasagna dinner there too. Where we saw Miss Iowa giving autographs. Sadly I hadn’t brought my camera. (Afterall, I thought we were just going to take showers.) We also wandered around the town square with Aaron where we finally got pie! Jen and Aaron chose rhubarb and I went cherry.

J: Yep, I can go home happy. I had some homemade rhubarb pie. Once I have walking tacos my trip will be complete.

R: More riding set for Tuesday, and we hope the forecasted “intermittent thunderstorms” don’t
come to pass…