Day 4- Allison ~ Strawberry Point

We had stayed in Allison at a great camp site. 

As we rode down the driveway into the camp site someone greeted us who had seen us several miles down the road. They were incredibly encouraging and fun to talk with. They got us hooked up to the host of the camp area and we were set. Given the fact that the weather looked/felt brutally cold once again, we splurged and rented a tiny cabin instead of sleeping in a tent. It was such a great change. We were right next to the shower house and it had heat! What more could a person want? Unlike every other night we didn't unpack and set up the tent. We didn't unroll the sleeping pads and pull out the sleeping bags. We had a bed and it felt amazing. 

As we did unpack many things we began to hook electronics up to their cords and Sharon realized that her Garmin watch was missing. It was hard to fathom where it could have gone. We rode a couple detours and then did a mile on some TERRIBLE rail rode track. Where could it be? We decided that in the morning I would head back to the spot where we saw the kittens (She can tell that story) while she headed forward. 

Thursday morning we awoke, ate breakfast and gathered our things. It went much faster as we didn't have as much to pack up and we didn't have to wait for the tent to dry out. We just stuffed it in and hit the road! I went west and Sharon headed east.  

It was really hard to believe but when I approached the area where we had seen some kittens there lay Sharon's watch in the gravel! We were pretty pumped to have found that.

At some point the pictures all look the same, I realize that, but the vastness of the countryside and the ability to cross it on a bike blows my mind. Get out on an adventure sometime!

Click on the previous picture and zoom in. It was exciting to see a sign that said that!

We ate out in Waverly at a pretty incredible restaurant. The food was amazing and this burger brought joy to my soul like no other burger I have had recently. 

Bike trails are such a great relief. They free us from the cars and the constant noise and thinking in the back of my mind, what if we get hit. We pretty much had no luck with bike trails. The first one we were on by Humboldt was only for a little bit. The second was horrible because of the rock and debris on it and this one pictured was closed because they were working on a bridge! UGH!

Thankfully there was an easy way out!

I took this picture because Sharon's sister Holly is married to Sumner. I thought that was special.

Long and flat was the lay of the land. It was good to have many miles of flat ground for our legs.

Overall the week was pretty grey. It seemed like we were always between a handful of storm clouds.

It was grey but beautiful. 

All in all the day went OK. We had two detours, one that wasn't too bad and the other took us a few miles out of the road. A lot of the projects were intended to be complete by September except the rain had thwarted their plans. Iowa is replacing a lot of bridges!

After another long day of riding we rolled into Strawberry Point and met some incredible people.