Northern Tier Day #23 Muscatine, IA to Iowa City, IA
Northern Tier Day #23
June 11, 2019
Muscatine, IA to Iowa City, IA 45 Miles
Ride Time 3:54
Tour Total 1832 Miles
I slept so well last night at my Warm Showers host Jeanne’s place last night. I had a middle of the night panic when I needed to use the bathroom and didn’t know where I was, how to turn on the lights, or where the bathroom was. I barely found it in time.
I woke up at around 7am. Bright light was prying itself through the gap in the curtains. I edited and posted yesterday’s report, and then heard Jeanne stirring upstairs. I packed up my things and spent a few minutes with her until it was time to hit the road.
Jeanne is employed in the animal food business. She works with all types of animals, and has a pet bird at home. She’s originally from New Hampshire and would like to return there, as she misses kayaking. She’s an avid cyclist. She and her friends have all done RAGBRAI the big annual ride in Iowa. She's an active Warm Showers host and had all sorts of stories, including an Italian guy named Giacomo who left his bike in her basement because he fell in love with a girl from Colorado. I had the whole basement to myself, which included a refrigerator full of cold beer. We stayed up late plotting my route to Iowa city. Jeanne gave me an Iowa State cycling map.
It was bright outside with cool air, and no wind. There were no services on my way out of Muscatine. I tried to figure out Jeanne’s directions and found myself on Isett Road, which was gravel. Jeanne had warned me about Iowa gravel county roads. She said that Illinois had received a federal grant to pave all of it’s county roads. Iowa hasn’t received a similar grant.
I crossed Mulberry and found myself on County Road F70 and was back on Jeanne’s route. I rode through a wooded area that was flooded. Iowa isn’t as flat as people seem to think it is. Having lived here for four years, I knew what to expect. I crossed over the swollen Cedar River, and passed a truck from Midwest Spraying Company that was spraying the gravel to the side of the road. I wondered what the spray was.
Since I’m now in Iowa I should drop the F-Bomb to dinosaur Charles Grassley. Fuck you old man. While I'm at it, a ginormous FUCK YOU to racist turd Steve King. I hope I didn’t just upset too many readers on Crazy Guy.
It was weird being off route and not having my ACA maps to see where I was, surrounding towns, and service locations. On State Highway 70 coming into West Liberty the rumble strip was in the middle of the shoulder forcing me to the left side of the white line. What kind of idiot road crew puts a rumble strip in the middle of the shoulder? Shame on you Iowa DOT. Fortunately there wasn’t too much traffic.
I stopped at Jeff’s supermarket in West Liberty, where I got myself a Starbucks Frappuccino, a pack of bimbo mini muffins, and a banana. West Liberty had a large Mexican population. There were numerous Mexican products in the supermarket and several Mexican restaurants in town.
I was trying to follow Jeanne’s directions, but a couple of things didn’t seem right, so I trusted Google Maps instead. Big mistake. I ended up on a gravel road for over 10 miles. Numerous vehicles including an 18 wheeler passed me, kicking up a cloud of brown dust that I choked on. It was the brutal gravel road from hell, that went on forever. I couldn’t be clipped into my pedals in case I lost my balance. I couldn’t go fast. I had to keep looking for piles of loose gravel that would take me down. The nerve racking experience rattled the fillings loose from my teeth. I was cursing the whole time. The blue dot on my Google maps didn’t seem to move. It seemed like I was on it forever.
Finally I came to an asphalt road. I didn’t care what Google Maps wanted me to do. I needed to go north and west, and I wasn’t going to ride on any more gravel roads. I’d rather be on a busy highway then gravel. At one point I saw a dear prancing across a corn field.
Coming into Iowa City, all the street names came back to me. I rode down Iowa Avenue towards the Old Capital where I asked someone to take my photo. I visited the house where I used to live, and bought some expensive post cards at Book and Crook. I rode over to World of Bikes, where they recommended a new chain and cassette. It seemed a little early, but I went for it. They also recommended that I swap out my rear tire. My bike and gear was covered with dust from the gravel road. The mechanic was able to adjust my front derailleur so I could more easily shift into my small front chain ring. After the bike shop I rode over to Fin and Feather to get another packet of freeze-dried Macaroni and Cheese.
With all of my errands complete, I rode over to my friends Donna and Tommy’s place where I would be spending two nights. Donna and I went to school together here in Iowa City. I grabbed a quick shower and then we went out for burgers and beer. We were soon joined by my friend Sam, who had driven down from Saint Cloud for the festivities. We went to dozens of places and drank thousands of beers. Of note was the Big Grove Brewery where we all had a can of RAGBRAI Tailwind Golden Ale. We ended the night at the Deadwood, a bar that I spent a lot of time at in college. As is tradition, we squeezed into the photo both for two sets of photos.
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