08.04-05.2023 - cedar rapids and davenport

sometimes the days are a little less scenery and more drudgery; you just have to ride and get through it.  from marshaltown, the gart does some meandering north to cedar falls, then se down river to cedar rapids. i decided to save a little time and skip some cornfields, so from marsalltown i went straight east to grand rapids.  karen arranged for me to stay with her college buddy from ut days, mollie.  the route was mostly on us 30, mostly 4-lane divided highway, partly under construction.  but first i had some backroads and gravel to ride.

then i could enjoy the 4-lane.

up and down, hot, dry and windy (head wind, of course).  the only shade being the overpasses.

this days' road angels were a construction crew, mostly hispanic, packing up for the day.  i was short on water with no stores in the future.  i stopped and asked if they had any extra water, they loaded me down with about 6 bottles.  great guys.

then i got my 4th flat of the trip.  the repair went smooth and fairly quick.

back on the road and 15 miles from grand rapids, the shoulder disappeared.  fortunately, i was close enough to cedar rapids that after a mile two of sharing a lane with high speed vehicles, i was able to slide a mile or so north and pick up some backroads, which turned out to actually be quite pleasant. 

 and it's county fair time in iowa, communities are doing little pop up parties.

and then into grand rapids, through the city, across the cedar river, and through the downtown to mollie's place.

no pictures because i guess i was too tired and hot.  we went to the lion bridge brewing co. for dinner and a polka band.  i had three double ipa's and i slept well.

up early in the morning with roughly 80 miles to do to reach davenport and the mississippi river, where i had another warmshower host lined up.  it was a long haul on tired legs into a damn headwind.  did i mention that the wind had been blowimg out of the east all week long?  that is just wrong.

cedar rapids is a worn and ravaged environment, but they do have a saturday morning market in downtown.

and they do have czech village (south side of river) and new bohemia (north side).

and a nice bike trail heading out of town along the river.

they do have something called 'b' roads.  roads they've decided not tto maintain and just let go back to dirt.  they post warning signs on therm, but i actually liked it better than gravel.

where i met a couple of gravel bikers who guided me back to asphalt and then a nature trail

where i met steve and eden, grandfather and granddaughter, out for a ride.

which  led to west branch, home of the herbert hoover presidential library.  and it was festival time, hoover's hometown days.

adventually making it in to davenport and my warmshower hosts, and to two breweries, conveniently located side by side.

kind of different set up,  dustin owns a large format printing shop downtown.  he and his wife live two blocks away, where i got a shower before retreating to the print shop, where i slept on an air mattress.