Nebraska to Iowa - Week 5, Part 2!

We left off on Wednesday Evening after the Skit-night at Peloton. To continue with the story, we started off Thursday morning with a breakfast from the church that served us ice-cream and pie the night before. I'm not quite sure that I'll ever understand having biscuits and gravy for breakfast, but other folks seemed to really enjoy it... mostly the Americans.

The ride was, as usual, broke up by SAG stops and our daily hour break for coffee/second breakfast. On this day the only option we found was bar in the small town of Grand River, IA. They were very welcoming and laid back. This became evident when some local kids came to hang out in the bar. They had been riding their bikes around and were eager to figure out what we were up to. One boy, named Bo (a common name around those parts apparently) came in with his father for lunch. He was so adorable. We had a good chat before I left and I gave him a Sea to Sea bracelet so he matched the other kids who came in earlier. He was very excited and gave his "tough guy" look for the picture.

 

While talking with Bo's father about our trip, he mentioned the level of poverty in their own town. This was interesting to think over as we passed through the rest of the area and saw some beautiful houses which clearly indicated a certain level of wealth.

 

 

 

It made me think of the ways in which we live in our own cities and areas - very comfortable to live in large houses while those no more than 15 minutes from us are living in poverty. It's wonderful to be on this trip to end poverty by biking across the continent and raising funds/awareness, but what are we doing in our own towns and cities to help those in need? It's given me something to think about.

 

Toward the end of the day, Matt and I rode on together and reached our destination - Chariton, IA just in time to catch some cyclists hanging out at a local Mexican restaurant. After a rehydration layover with some great chips and salsa, we decided to head into camp to set up our tents. However, not a minute after leaving we ran into Jerry and Jake, two cyclists who are very certain to always "rehydrate" after every ride. Standing outside of the Casey General Store/Gas Bar they flagged us down and told us that the store manager was giving a free slice of pizza to all Sea to Sea riders who stopped by! This was an offer we couldn't refuse :)

 

Later that evening a few of us went back to the Mexican restaurant to hang out for a while and chat. Although the restaurant closed at 9pm and we showed up at 8:45pm, they stayed open just for us! We had a great time listening to George's stories of growing up, love, and life. He always has an entertaining tale to tell and keeps us laughing. We just love him!

 

Just like every other day on Sea to Sea, the land we slept on was blessed with rain. However, it was blessed for the entire night. We woke up to very soggy tents and quickly packed up to get on the road. Although it was supposed to be a very short day - only 51 miles - we left early. Laura had to be in Iowa City that afternoon for a drug test for her new job, as well as to look at apartments, so she was going to get a ride in from one of the Sea to Sea volunteers on the condition that she mark the route for the following day. Although leaving that early in the morning is quite foreign to us, we were out by 7am!

 

We were happily surprised when we were stopped by Al - tour organizer - partway through the route for a photo! We had officially reached the halfway mark in distance for the tour (accounting for the missed days in Arizona due to the heat). It was a big moment so we stopped to get our photos taken, one wheel on each side of the tour.

 

Al did a great job getting everyone's photo done :)

 

Later in the short day we were treated to a stop at the Celebration Church in Knoxville, IA. It was very odd to not be some of the last to arrive at a stop, but very pleasant because the church was serving pie and cookies and we got there before most people and therefore had an amazing selection to choose from :)

As we came into Pella, IA we went past this dam. It was pretty cool looking so we stopped to take some pictures.

 

 

For the evening we were to stay at Central College in Pella, IA. Central College is one of the corporate sponsors of the tour and gave us a great welcome. As we came into the registration area, this massive card was there the greet us! Cyclists later signed the card and I marked Regina on the map and put my name beside it. Don't worry Saskatchewan, we are on the map!

 

We had arrived at 11am to the destination for the day, which was a great feeling. Laura, Sara, and Zach left pretty quickly for Iowa City to get Laura to her appointment and mark the route for the next day, but I stayed behind. A friend from my Au Sable days in Seattle, WA lived just outside of Pella and we had arranged to meet for the day! Lydia was coming around noon, so it gave me plenty of time to settle into my dorm room for the night, set up and dry out my tent, as well as shower. The facilities at the college were amazing. It felt like the biggest blessing to have a quiet bed to sleep in with AC and private washrooms.

 

When Lydia arrived she surprised me with some gifts! Pella is a very Dutch CRC community and so she picked me up a treat from one of the bakeries in town. It tasted amazing. I didn't realize how much I missed baking whose main ingredients were butter and sugar :P. She also got me some lip chap - a very important item to have, and one that she knows I constantly lose track of :)

 

Lydia treated me to lunch at a local coffee shop (food was amazing!) and then toured me around the town. She had attended school there so she had lots of information to share. We later got a drink at Applebee's and then, when the afternoon was coming to a close, said goodbye. It was so great to see her, even if the time together was short. Hopefully another 2 years doesn't go by again before we see one another!

 

With the time left in the afternoon I was able to do laundry (FOR FREE!) at the college, blog, and relax for the afternoon. Central College also provided us with dinner, which was an amazing variety of foods from their dining hall. Supper was closely followed by a Celebration service and peloton.

Some people must have been tired from the week, or less than interested in the Peloton meeting... either way, sleep came easily in their camping chair :)

 

We all knew that Saturday would likely be a long day. 100 miles were on the schedule for our last day of week 5. However, knowing this made getting out of the comfortable bed all the more difficult... and who would have ever thought a dorm bed would be called comfortable? This is what 5 weeks of camping will do to a person....

 

Anyways, breakfast was not served this morning at camp because 18 miles down the road a church was putting on breakfast for us! Pancakes, hardboiled eggs, bacon, fruit and juice were on the menu and they tasted amazing.

 

 

One of the cooks, Alice, was there with her family. Her daughter and grand-daughters had made monster cookies to share with all of the cyclists, so we took ours for the road :) They tasted amazing!

 Plus, the matching t-shirts the kids were wearing were adorable. Cute craft idea to do with the kids!

 

As I mentioned before, my riding buddies had marked the route for the day on their way to Iowa City, and I was pleasantly surprised to find this as I turned a corner! It made my day :)

 

Whoever said Iowa was flat lied. Lets get that straight now. The hills are pretty endless. However, the day didn't seem difficult, which was a blessing. The hills were manageable and although we climbed over 4000ft that day, we didn't feel worn down. Rather, we felt that it was the easiest 100 miles we had ever done! Especially because the last SAG stop had the surprise of homemade Boterkoek (compliments of Carrie Kooy) waiting for us. It tasted amazing! I think we are getting a bit spoiled :P

 

For the weekend we are staying in the city park, right next to a swimming pool/rec center. It has a beautiful pond in the middle which is inhabited by many ducks. They are all so cute and like to follow you around, hoping for some food :)

 

 

Since Saturday night was going to be leftovers, Sara, Zach and I decided to go out for dinner to celebrate the end of week 5, the halfway point in the trip, another 100 miles down, and also to avoid eating broccoli salad and spaghetti again :P

 

We head down town, completely unaware of where everything was, and found an Outback Steakhouse. Dinner was great, but didn't live up to our previous ideas of American sized portions, so we decided to grab dessert at the next-door Coldstone Creamery. The ice-cream was delicious :D

 

 

When we returned to camp all of the other young folk had gone out for drinks and dancing, and since we were feeling old and tired we watched a movie in the tents. It was a great way to end the weekend and relax.

 

Today, Sunday, will be another day to relax. Church will be held in the evening so we all were happy with the opportunity to sleep in a bit and spend the morning blogging, cleaning bikes, or doing whatever we felt like! Speaking of which, I should clean my bike!

 

I hope you are all doing well and that life is adventurous and fulfilling. Continue to pray for us on the road as we finish out these last few weeks. Pray for safety, fun, and raised awareness for poverty relief! Hopefully you'll hear from me again in the next few days :)

 

Blessings!