(Sharon) Day 5. The last day of the ride. I've struggled with how much detail to write about. The previous night was rough. The morning was rough. It was so cold. We had issues. But we hopped on our bikes and hobbled (ok, WE didn't hobble, I hobbled) the first 15 miles until my butt was "used" to the saddle again. I say used in quotes because at some point you start praying for your butt to go numb. I've said it many times and I'll say it again. Almost anyone's legs can take them across a state in a short amount of time, but their butt can't.
This was the day that we needed encouragement and that encouragement came in the form of the most precious video from Pedro Juan, a couple of the teachers and several of the kids at The Center in Santiago! It was just what we needed to give us a good kick in the pants to get it done. We stopped at The 4-Square Restaurant in a tiny town about 30 miles from Dubuque for cheeseburgers. Believe me, we've learned our lesson in not skimping on the meat. The farmers there for lunch weren't accustomed to seeing people in skin-tight pants and we got a couple of questions and more than a few stares, but we got our cheeseburgers!
Roadkill Report for day 5...
There were a lot of dead moles in one area about 30 miles in
many, many frogs
5 birds
4 possums
1 skunk
1 cat
The road got busier the closer to Dubuque we got, so the Roadkill Report took a back burner. There were an awful lot of birds circling overhead throughout the ride on day 5, so there were either a lot of dead animals along the way, or I was in worse shape than I thought!
Thank you so much for all of the support, likes on Facebook, encouraging texts and messages. We know The Center will use the money raised to reach more kids and their families for Jesus.
Thank you so much for supporting the Ride for the Dominican Republic. Amidst the busyness of the bike ride I want to be continuously mindful of the purpose of our ride.
The purpose:
It is important to me that you see the people we are connected with and hear about their needs and the plan from them. We love Pedro Juan and his staff. We wish you could get to know them as well.
The Plan:
The ask:
660 (2 cyclists) miles at $17.42 ($18) = About $11,500.
The project is estimated at $9,000 and we added $2,500 to go down and further our relationship with the school and see the project getting done.
So now the moment you all have been waiting for, where did we END UP!
*Drum roll please*
Currently we have 150 miles sponsored or just under $2,700!
We are SO grateful for the many who jumped on board with us on this adventure! Every dollar boosts this project forward and we are humbled by so many gifts! Thank you, thank you!
We will keep the giving open for about another week and a half in case you want to JUMP IN. If you have any questions about the project or the ride, please let us know.
Woot woot... Day three got underway. The previous days didn't get off to such a smooth start but this one had promising signs. The wind was in our favor and we were only a little bit off of highway 3 when we camped.
It was the coldest night of camping I have ever experienced. We showed up late the night before, threw our tent up and headed for the showers. The shower house was really nice. That is such a blessing after a long day of riding. When we got back to the tent it was time to pull out all the warm clothes and extra blankets and try to sleep! We survived.
When we got into Humboldt there was a detour as they were replacing a bridge. No worries though, a great train track trail was right there.
It was crazy because the bridge I show at the end of the video was crossing the road we needed to take!
We got down and headed back out to highway 3.
It was beautiful, again.
I honestly cannot remember what town this was!
The wind was at our backs and we were sailing!
We crossed Interstate 35 today. I guess that means we are in the middle? It was really interesting getting to the other side actually. The cars were a lot less forgiving. Throughout the trip we have been smiled at, waved at and encouraged along. After I35 there were a number of angry honks and people yelling out their windows within the first 10 miles. It was a bit discouraging and scary at times.
So let's talk about this picture. Google Maps shows a bike path that is gravel covered for 10+ miles that will actually lead us to our campground towards the end! How great would that be, no more cars and it leads us right to our campsite?! Well, we looked forward to the peace and quiet of a train track trail and this is what we got. After driving a mile or so off Highway 3 on gravel towards this trail, we found it in need of a lot of work. The first part looked as if they had just pulled the railroad ties. Golf ball size rocks all over. We committed to taking it for one mile and at a couple points it seemed a bit better but for me most part large rocks, large holes from animals all over, and at one point it was so sandy we were sinking in.YUCK! Very frustrating after a pretty good day of riding. We were fortunate that nothing broke and there were no wrecks on our one mile stretch. Google Maps and me are at odds for the moment.
Sharon is all business.
All in all we made it to the end. An important piece of information is that our giving went from $400 to just under $2,000! Thank you all for being a part of this with us. We appreciate you.
So, that's our campground through the water and to the right in the picture below. So close!
The lady in the picture said that the water was almost up to their building (to the right of the stop light at the top of the hill) a few days ago. She also told us about the way around the water which was 8-9 miles extra. My knee said, "no". Before we pulled out of her lot, she came out to tell us about a "green space" called MHI--sounded like a nice place to go since we have a tent that needs some "green space" and it wasn't an extra 8-9 miles.
A couple that we stopped to confirm our directions answered Matthew's question of "what does MHI stand for?"-Mental Health Institute. Pretty sure I didn't hide my shock very well. It's an institution For severe sex offenders without the chance of parole.
Meet Jeff...an IT tech at the Hy-Vee distribution center for 34 years. He was getting ready to relax and have a beer on his patio when the most unfortunate thing happened to the poor guy. He made eye contact with Matthew as we rode by on our way to MHI. Matthew also noticed "eye contact guy" had a big pickup parked in front of his house. Matthew unhooked the Burley and circled back around to find "eye contact guy" relaxing on patio. Two minutes later, Matthew and Jeff drive up with Matthew's bike in the bed of his pickup. He was so kind...really everyone we met in Cherokee was so kind and helpful. Jeff took us to Hy-Vee so I could try to find something to help my knee. While checking out a lady said that she saw us earlier in the day on HWY 3 and then later riding through Cherokee. Thank you, Jeff for so willingly hauling 2 strangers with bikes, panniers, and a trailer to our campsite. You may never make eye contact with another stranger on a bike again.
Currently it is raining here in Cherokee, Iowa and it isn't worth it.
That's ok though as it gives me time to write and upload pictures. Perhaps documenting this trip won't take me 6 months...
So as Sharon mentioned in the previous post the first night was a doozy. Eddie Dominguez dropped us off and our neighbors seemed really "friendly". They even offered us their hot coals from their grill so we wouldn't have had to start our own fire. From there it all fell apart. Scroll down to check out that story.
Monday morning was tough. I think I got 2 hours of sleep. Nonetheless, we got on the road by 9.
If I disappear, know that it is because I shared this picture with you. I'm probably somewhere along State Highway 3.
Our attempt to get over to South Dakota was thwarted by high water and a sandbag wall. South Dakota is behind us in the picture... we were so close yet so far away.
State Highway 3 is our current home. This was our first highway 3 sign with our campground in the background.
Iowa is incredible. These rolling hills are absolutely fantastic. When we were thinking about the trip and how late it is in the year we knew the corn and soybeans would be brown and were wondering what the impact of all the dead plants would be, but it really has been beautiful.
The weather took its sweet time climbing up to the 70s and didn't get to 80. The wind was from the south when we started but about halfway through changed to be a tailwind. It was amazing.
This is a great shoulder. The white line with rumble strips and some pavement for us to ride. The problem is, the Burley Nomad has a wide wheel base and can't always fit in the gap of pavement between the rumble strip and the gravel.
The road was pretty strait and getting more flat.
A lot of the road had no shoulder. The traffic was super kind to us. I love having the Burley flag!
It is fun to know where you are going well in advance. If only all of life was like this... downhill and straight ahead!
We crossed Highway 75. This is significant to Sharon and I as we used to live one mile from 75 when we were up in Minnesota.
Foster Part was our afternoon break destination. Le Mars, Iowa is a really great town. We learned they make Blue Bunny ice cream and there sure are a lot of ice cream cone statues around. We lit the camp stove, ate some supper and charged up the bike computers.
Back at it with 33 miles left until we get to Cherokee. After taking that longer break Sharon's knee began to hurt and the pain would not subside. While we had GREAT wind support the miles were still much harder than we would have liked for her knee. We rolled into Cherokee after making great time and headed for the campsite.
We were supposed to turn right where the car is up there and the site was less than a mile away. We spoke to the lady in the photo and she said it would be an 8-9 mile detour!!! That wasn't happening. She suggested a green space up the hill and we headed for there. The problem, no water, no showers and really no other campers around. Sharon will tell you that story in the next post. I'll tell you we made it to that campsite... without pedaling too much more. It was a big day.
