Days off

Hey all,

I've been taking the last 2 days off at Pawnee State Park. Just relaxing, finished reading Life of Pi, started You Suck by Christopher Moore (funny book about vampires). I'll probably be done with it tomorrow, lol, so I'll need to make another book store run. I also had my first spoke break, fixed that. Nothing too much else to report! O that's right, I figured out why my knees may have been hurting besides the hills and having a speed. I needed to adjust my saddle forward so that my knees are as close as possible to being directly over the balls of my feet when they're at 3 o'clock on the pedals. My seat was too far back. Driving long distances makes you feel imbalances in your bike posture.

Anyways, the weather is nice, I'm reading and sleeping on the lake, and ready to head out tomorrow:) It's getting a bit boring, so I'm ready to get to San Fran asap! (P.s. the book I'm reading takes place in San Fran)

Miroslav out.


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Sour Knees and Nebraska

I made it to Nebraska this morning!!:D

I'll condense the last 2 days:

2 nights ago while biking to Viking Lake state park, my knees started to hurt from all of the hills in Iowa, and I was lucky enough to run into another park where I stayed the night. I chatted it up with a park ranger for a while. We talked about RAGBRI, which is a huge biking event that takes place annually in Iowa. 20,000 (yes, I had that number confirmed from others) people bike from one end of Iowa to the next. It's basically a big tailgating party that goes from town to town. They dip their rear tire in the missouri river, and then make it to the Mississippi and dip their front tire into it. It sounds like a lot of fun. Maybe I'll come back to Iowa some day to do it... The funny thing is, everyone I would talk to in Iowa would ask me if I'm part of RAGBRI, and then tell me I'm going the wrong way, haha.

When I woke up in the morning and started biking, my knees were still hurting, so I realized this could be a bad situation. Iowa's hills were unplanned for, and having a single speed fixie isn't good for touring through the state that has non-ending rolling hills (as opposed to my plan to have flat land, then rockies, where you actually have a goal of getting over something). The result is that my knees started to wear out towards the end. I decided I would take the day (or a few days off) and biked to a park 20 miles away. When I got there in the afternoon, there was an old couple that immediately invited me to have hot dogs with them. Ron and Mary Ellen were there with their grandkids, and they were extremely nice to me, and even offered for me to set up my tent in their yard in Red Oaks, about 20 mi from there. I chatted about RAGBRI with Ron, and about Obama with Mary Ellen. Mary Ellen made a cringing inquisitive face and asked me if I was an Obama supporter and I kind of cringed inside and said to myself, "alright, this is going to get akward when I say I am". It turns out she's a Democrat! According to her, their county is 95% republican. During the elections Iowa was a swing state so Obama visited 6 times and she went to go see him every time. She also did campaign calling (that must have sucked in a 95% republican county).

Once Ron and Mary Ellen left, I took a nap and decided to take them up on their offer and bike to Red Oaks. When I got to Red Oaks, my knees were still feeling good, so I decided I couldn't imagine staying in Iowa another night, and decided to push my luck and get to Nebraska. I ended up getting to a border town at 10pm, and decided to find a place to sleep there. I got some subway, and then went to a motel to see the prices. It was too expensive, but I noticed a small woody area behind it, and just set up my bivvy behind the hotel, haha. This was one situation, where the bivvy's small size was great for camouflaging. I got up at 4am, did some sketchy major highway riding to get to the bridge to Nebraska, and crossed over. I'm still looking for flatlands though. I should get to them once I leave the library.

I'm excited to be this far! I feel the balance of inertia tipping me towards San Francisco. I'm too far to go back!!!

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Pop is like wine.

Doing something challenging that deprives you of a lot of comforts makes you enjoy the small things. The contrast meter in life adjusts, and the picture becomes more vivid. I was having a gchat conversation with a friend the other day, and I guess what I said to her sums it up:

"Overall i've been enjoying the trip. I have had some really great rides in the mornings that have been beautiful. The majority of the time is either tiring/stressful/uncomfortable during the rides [-read, Iowa's hills suck], but I have patience for that, and knowing the elation I'll feel at the end is worth it. (also elation is one of those things that I feel a lot more these days- getting to the park earlier than you thought after a gruelling day, etc)
12:45 PM and as always, things like this that bring out contrasts in life make you enjoy the small things more, which I appreciate at the moment as a kind of post-graduation recalibration before I get back to the city, start looking for work, etc"

So in light of that, I'd like to tell you about pop. The other day I was craving pop a lot. So in getting to the park, I got a nice cold Pibb Xtra out of a vending machine. Drinking it was amazing, so I remembered what I would write here:

Setting aside all health concerns about pop and judging it in and of itself, pop is an amazing drink. Pop might even rival wine. Yes, blasphemous, isn't it? Pop is cold, and on a hot day, it's like a block of ice waiting to be ingested. The bubbles pinch at your tongue, it's sweet, has sour notes, and depending on the drink (root beer in this case), hints of vanilla, oak, coffee, burnt sugar. It smells sweet (the pop bottle hides how good it smells!).

I was at a wine tasting class once, and the sommelier, who basically goes around tasting wines, advising restaurants, and having/throwing dinners told us a story. She said she was having dinner with wealthy Japanese businessmen once. In order to show off, these men ordered a $20,000 (?) bottle of wine. Since this was such a special wine, the servers paraded it around the restaurant showing it to all of the other patrons before taking it to the businessmens' table. The wine was poured and ready to be tried- then the Japanese businessmen took Coke and mixed it in with the wine. The wine taster said she was shocked.

Well...maybe they weren't so crazy after all?



Anyways, that's my diatribe. Pop shines with a new light on this trip and so do a lot of other things. Coming home is going to be nice. I'm going to be like a kid in a candy store with everything.

The Myth of the Great Plains

Dear readers,

I have a small bone to pick with the geographic United States. I haven't been able to stop at a library the last 3 days, and this has been on my mind the whole time. I have been educated about the Great Plains in grade school. Just to back my impression up, Wikipedia says, "The Great Plains are the broad expanse of prairie, steppe and grassland which lie west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada." I have seen pictures. I have seen movies taking place in the Great Plains. The Great Plains span the entire middle of the US on a map. And when you think the Great Plains, you think flat, flat land, joyous riding. Well, I am here to tell you, that they don't. exist. in. Iowa. I crossed the Mississippi and all I have found have been pointless, torturous, hills.

Now sure, you could say, "Miroslav, just look at a topographic map, and you'll see what the land looks like". But no, not I- I trusted google maps bike directions that take you through the least elevation changes. Then decided to improvise the route using a map, with common sense telling me, "the Great Plains should start sommmmeewheere in Iowa. If it's hilly, I'll just go a bit further and they'll be gone sooner or later". Well let me tell you, a week into riding, less than 100 miles from the border with Nebraska- THE GREAT PLAINS ARE NOT HERE. THE HILLS HAVE ONLY GOTTEN WORSE AND IOWA IS BIKING HELL. I won't go any further into detial, but I'll conclude by saying that I have been cursing the hills, and the word "hill" makes my stomach turn, and the sight of a hill makes my spirit shrivel a bit more.

But, enough of the rant- I should be in Nebraska tomorrow, which locals tell me is flat. Now, they told me Western Iowa was going to be flat too, but this time I believe them. I have internet access and topographic maps at my disposal now. (Also, rhetorical writing aside, I talked to my campground host last night, and he said the catch about Iowa is that the south is all hills, and the north is flat- so, keep that in mind next time you decide to cross the state without a motorized vehicle).

So what's been new besides grueling hills? I had an interesting encounter near Oskaloosa, IA the other day while shopping for some food. I was wearing my biking gear and the woman at the cash register asked me if I'm biking, so I told her I'm headed to San Francisco. We had a little chat and I left outside and sat against the building with a snack in the shade. Then pulls up this nice cool blue colored old car (the long boat-like ones, late 70s/early 80s, I don't know the mark) with white leather seats. A Mexican man in his late 50s, a bandana with a cap on top that says "Pride" on it comes out, a t-shirt with the aztec calendar on it, covered in tattoos, a knife scar across his left cheek that had bad stitching and has the dots from the stitches. He looked like the what has now become the image for "mexican gang member" tv shows and movies have created by hiring out of "gang member" acting agencies. He greets me as he comes out of the car, and I tell him that he has a nice car. We start chatting and he says, "my wife told me there's a guy here biking across the country". Now, there were 2 people working at the store, a young girl, and the older woman at the cash register. The older woman looked like what I imagine when I think the stereotypical slightly overweight, white anglo-saxon prodestant quaint midwestern woman that goes to church on sundays. That was his wife. What an odd couple. The guy was from New Mexico (we didn't exchange names) and moved to Iowa because he said it was too cold in the mountainous region he was from. He said he really like living in Iowa. We chatted for a bit longer, and then we said good bye and he left. I think he came out just to talk to me, lol. It was a weird encounter.

The other interesting character I met was before yesterday at my campground. This guy was named Glenn, and he was sharing the camp site across from mine. He saw my bike and came over asking where I was headed. Then he asked if I wanted to accept Jesus into my life. Glenn is a missionary that says he was in the Navy in Italy when he found Jesus. He said he had no meaning to life and was doing the usual things "drugs and drinking", but then found Jesus' love which transformed his life and gave it meaning. So he became a missionary. Since then he has traveled to 51 countries preaching the word of God. Most recently he was working for FEMA on flood relief in Iowa, but he was let go (I wonder if he was coming up to random people and asking them to pray with him and bluntly accept jesus into their hearts on the spot, sponsored by the federal government). I took his little prayer sheet and told him I didn't want to accept Jesus into my heart. He seemed like a lonely guy that was keeping a tally on how many people he has converted. The way the camp was set up was that there was a communal water faucet in the middle of the circle of campsites. So every time he got water, he would randomly say something to me either about biking ("so do you eat beans and rice all the time?") or he would try to set up a conversion ("do you want me to give you a booklet, they're really hard to come by"). He was a nice guy though, though he got annoying with his preaching sometimes. He said if he passed me on the highway some time, he'd pass me a Gatorade. Hallelujah to that.

NEBRASKA TOMORROW!!! FLAT LAND!!!

UPDATE: Sitting at the library, there are about 3 groups of people doing Geneology searches. This library has a big Geneology section. Is it a special day? Or is this a big thing here. This is the biggest town in the vicinity, so it seems to have the collection of newspapers for the area.

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I had a few good titles in mind, but I forgot them.

So after leaving the library in Muscatine (my last update), I realized that my bike pump was missing its outer ring on the nozzle. I must have lost it at my last stop after pumping my tire (the pump requires that you loosen it), or it fell off along the way (it was strapped to my bike frame). I really need to stop loosing things!!! That meant that if I got a flat somewhere, I wouldn't be able to fix it. So I searched out the bike shop in Muscatine and starting walking there to see if I could get a replacement. It was super hot and humid, and Muscatine is all hills. As I was walking past a parking lot, a guy in a truck pulled up and asked if I had mechanical problems. I said yes and no, I'm taking a break from riding, but I need to get to the bike shop to fix my pump. Brent was a really nice guy and offered me a ride. He was on the way to the gym and was stopping to get an energy drink. During the ride he told me he used to bike about 100 miles a week but gave it up a while ago. He said he would love to do a cross-country ride some time. We got to the bike shop, but they didn't have any replacement ring covers, so I had to buy a new pump:/ Being out on the road alone makes you shell out lots of money because you don't want to get stranded somewhere because you didn't. Unfortunately, this new pump is nowhere near as good as the Topeak Road Morph I had before. Hopefully I won't have to use it though (cross my fingers- it's been 3 days and no flats- i think it was my tire liner that was causing the mystery flats, i took it out). Brent gave me a ride back to my bike, and I gave him the address to this blog. However, on walking away, I realized that I didn't exactly write too many nice things about Muscatine a few hours before... Which makes me realize the audience I have been writing for in contrast to the people I am writing about/touring past. Whenever I travel, I really try to avoid the "touristy" aspects of traveling- that is taking tours, showing visible signs of being a tourist (carrying a camera on my neck), I try to stay in a place for longer than a few days, etc. But the nature of bike TOURing means that I can't help but pass through places, just taking quick glances here and there- even though it's slower than a motorcycle, or any other motorized vehicle. Nonetheless, I've fallen into the trap of being a tourist in my essentialization of certain places for the entertainment of my audience of friends and family "elsewhere". I don't know if I can help it much as a bike tourist, but I'll try to be a little less obnoxious and closed-minded just in case I do end up sharing this blog with locals. And so, on that note, sorry if I offended you Brent!

I decided to stop at a park 10 miles north of Muscatine that day. I set a new rule for myself to not be riding past 8:30 pm (sunset). So I stopped there and had a nice evening relaxing on the river. I built my first successful tarp tent to improve on my bivvy sack. However, when I got to the park there were no mosquitos, so I didn't bother making sure it was completely sealed. Man, was I wrong. The moment the sun set, one mosquito landed on me, and then I hear this droning sound coming from the woods, and I think to myself "O shit, they're coming!!" haha. Though these mosquitos weren't as frenzied as the ones on the I&M Canal, there were lots, and they were hungry. I climbed into my tarp tent, and started trying to seal off all of the holes, improvising with anything that could act as a clip. I spent a few hours laying around and killing mosquitos inside the tarp, then waiting in silence, and hearing a few more coming in from somewhere unknown, trying to plug that place up, and repeat, over and over. Also, closing up all of the air holes meant that the tarp tent got as hot and steamy inside as the bivvy sack, though with more room. Eventually I got tired of my mosquito tarp game, and went outside, set up my bivvy on the river, and just settled. It rained at night, and I slept decently.

In the morning I packed up and left (still trailed by more mosquitos), and biked to Riverside, IA. Still more hills. The highlight of the ride was seeing lightning storms and rain in the distance over farmland far away. You could see clouds rolling in as if they were being sucked in to where the storm was. You don't really see that outside of open lands. Another fact for you all is that there are a decent amount of insects on the highway! Butterflies like to rest on the warm pavement (though they get crushed by cars), I saw a caterpillar trying to cross, and a dragonfly was using the highway, but going UK style in the wrong lane with me, lol. By noon the sun was beating down on everything with a bat. I stopped at a gas station got some orange juice and beef jerky, and found what little shade I could, trying to resuscitate myself. I wished for rain- and I got it. By the time I left the gas station 40 min later, clouds were rolling in. The reason I stopped at Riverside was to go to a library, but there was none (though apparently there's a big star trek community- there was a float, and a star trek cafe). So I decided to get to Kolona 10 miles away. On the way there I could see lightning storms in the distance at the top of hills, and it started raining. Luckily I got to Kolona right as the center of the storm hit. I drove into the city park and waited out the storm under a shelter. It was really nice having a shelter, watching rain, smoking a cigarette. I took a nap, and when I woke up, I decided to stay at the city campsite in the park- it even had a shower (though they charge $18 a night- I didn't pay (too much, I don't even have an RV)- in fact, I haven't been charged for any camp sites yet... lol. I get in too late, or there's no one around/I don't have correct change).

Kolona, IA is a town with a big Mennonite population. There are plenty of Mennonites on horses and carriages, and the kids where overalls and straw (?) hats. There have been thunderstorms passing through here since last night, so I decided to take my day off today instead of tomorrow. It's strange for me in this small town with Mennonites. It's a bit eerie, especially since I'm just passing by, and don't really talk to anyone. However, I did talk to a guy named Bob, picking up cans at the park as I was packing up. We had a short chat about bikers apparently coming through the park and trashing it (sounds weird to me...), and how people aren't allowed to sleep under the shelters (because they were trashed). Bob is a butcher who lives in Kalona, but was raised in a smaller "hick town" (he said it) not too far from there. He collects cans on weekends (he says he collects 165 per hour- that's 16.50 an hour if deposits here are .10 like in MI). He said there was some unemployed guy that bought 5 Cadillacs picking cans. That sounded a bit off to me. When I told Bob I'm from Chicago, he said he's been there once and won't go back. I asked why, and he said (sorry for the language) "Because of all the niggers" and some more pretty nasty things. He also said he hated the Mennonites because they think they're better than everyone else, and look down on people. He said they look down on him for trying to mow his lawn on Sundays because "they spend all day in Church" and don't work.

Another thing I'm keeping track of is patriotic kitsch. I noticed a woman coming out of a car wearing an American flag shirt. I wonder if the Mennonites are as patriotic.

That's pretty much all for now, though another thing to note is that I've been feeling consistently tired, weak, and light headed. Though I've been eating what I think is normally, I think I need to start eating more. I'll update on that.

Today is my day off, so I'm going to work at the library, do my laundry, and then probably bike down to Darling Lake State Park 20 miles south to change the scenery.


-Miroslav

UPDATE: So I'm sitting at the library and paying attention to the books people are taking out. An old woman walked by with Just As I Am, by Billy Graham and "Persons of Faith" (for someone else she was saying to the librarian, it sounded like it was for someone younger). I looked it up and Billy Graham is a TV Evangelist.

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Jackpot.

The peanut butter blueberry bagel this morning was delicious- I was starving after last night. I ate it with a packet of instant oatmeal mix (I was too lazy to cook it, so you just eat it and chase with water, try it sometime, it's like a dry cookie, lol). And guess where I was? IOWA!!!! But let me back up to after the library yesterday.

I get out, and my tire is flat. Yes, again. Soooo...I gruelingly started fixing it, to no avail. I patched that tire and reinstalled it THREE TIMES, and it finally worked (I didn't give the patch enough time to dry in my impacience). So I went to a Chinese restaurant and spoiled myself with some General Tsao's chicken. I was surprised to find Chinese people running it in rural Illinois, though this was a larger town of 6000 by rural standards. I really wonder about rural America. It's so conservative and patriotic- visibly so (I don't even have to talk to anyone). There are flags, flag shops, army stickers, religious quotes, etc. everywhere. Next door to the Chinese place, the owner of the building posted up a flier on the window quoting "a man famous for knowing historical facts and the bible" on his political views (I took a pic and will post it as soon as I get around to sending each photo individually from my phone). Basically, the flier was a 101 list on conservative values- obama sucks, liberals screwed Bush's amazing agenda over, homosexuals suck, we should stay in Iraq, and get this- "what happened to the good old America?". I think that sums up rural (IL at least)- it reminds me of a snapshot of 50s/60s america. The way the older men dress, the super neat everything, etc. At least that's my humble opinion.

ANYWAYS- i get out of the Chinese restaurant- and guess what- ANOTHER. FLAT. I gave up and walked a mile or two to the nearest bike shop, got new tubes, installed one on the street corner downtown, and went off to get to West Lake, IOWA. (NO FLATS SO FAR!!!:D :D). By the way, Misha, if you're reading this, rural America's girls (I say girls because they looked like they were 17) are desperate for new men in town. Walking to get those tubes, I was given a "hey sexy" smile by a girl talking on the phone, some girl stuck her head out the window waving at me screaming "heeeyyyyyyy"- and this was within an hour of walking. I wonder if they share the parents' values?

I had a GORGEOUS ride at sunset through the country, and I was super energized after Chinese and about 5 hours of rest (between library and the tubes debacle).

I got to Davenport, IA at dusk. Davenport reminds me of Detroit- a "ruined city" feel, but instead of having the auto industry, it has a farming equipment industry (at least from the industrial plants I drove by on their "lake front bike trail"- think Chicago's bike trail, but instead of the Lake you have a river, and instead of Lake Shore Drive on the other side, you have a fence and industrial buildings, lol). Davenport had some cool looking breweries and pubs though. One was a brewery with big vats, and two walls on the street corner open to the street, a band playing, and picnic tables outside with people drinking. It was pretty cool.

I had a somewhat sketchy final push ride in the dark, and I lost my favorite wool base layer because I took it off to put on my bright yellow rain jacket. Bye bye base layer. enjoy Iowa. Guess you won't see California:(

And finally- I got to the park. I wasn't sure if there was going to be a campground, but it ended up being a big park. I skipped the RV parking/campsite, and biked on and found a picnic shelter with no one around. and the best part? THERE WAS A DRINKING FOUNTAIN AND A BATHROOM AND OUTLETS ALL TO MYSELF!!! ON THE LAKE!!! I had an awesome night finishing my chinese food, chatting it up with my sis because I didn't have to worry about my phone battery, bathing, and washing clothes. There were no mosquitos either, so I slept like a king under the stars without the stupid bivvy sack. Woke up at 5 before anybody got there, and that's where this post started. Nothing like biking all day without a home to make you appreciate the small things.

Now I'm making my way to another park in Iowa, but it's taking much longer than I planned. Stupid rural roads that go from being paved to gravel. I'm currently in Muscatine, IA. It smells like bread and sour petroleum in this city. Google maps says "The name Muscatine is unusual in that it is not used by any other city in the United States." No kidding. I was thinking of naming my kid that when I move to Iowa. I don't like this place (or Iowa so far...). It makes me like the midwest less. On the other hand the most pleasant moment of the day today was stumbling upon an old settler cemetary with about 10 graves from 1810 to the 1850s. It was in a nook in the road near the woods, with beautiful trees, and hills across the road. I took a great rest there and tried to nap for a bit; bringing some life and appreciation to a place of the dead (I took a big swig of water for those long dead and forgotten on my way out).

I still have like 50 miles to go to get to the park, so I'm not sure if I'll make it. Maybe a plan B for the night is in store. I miss Chicago and friends and family!!!



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After a weird night, getting in the groove, recharging

So the theme for now is going to be that I'm getting into the groove of doing this trip. I ended up getting another mystery flat last night which stopped me right by a tiny section of woods near the road, so I just gave up there and decided to spend the night after scoping it out. It was a weird night, at first I think an opossum smelled me out and started hissing at me, so I yelled back and scared it away. Then at like 4am (coyotes?) were calling nearby, which kind of got me ready to get out of there asap. I don't like bivvys that much anymore, because they keep you in a vulnerable position and it's against your skin as opposed to a tent, which is more of a structure from the outside. But the bright side is I was ready to go by sunrise, and the ride through the countryside was gorgeous at sunrise. I stopped a few times and picked up some beef jerky, milk, twinkies along the way. Its 11am, and I think I'm more than halfway through my route for the day. I like this waking up at sunrise thing.

I've passed through some pretty small towns, you probably wouldn't even notice them if you were driving through (300-1000 people mostly). My favorites so far have been Peru, IL and Geneseo (where I am right now). They're cute and actually have a little bit of life flowing through them. Everyone has been super nice so far though. People have waved to me through the windows, and someone with bikes on their roof drove past me and honked hello (that gave me second wind). Another cool thing so far today has been the birds!! I'm not sure what type of bird this is, but as you drive by they intentionally fly with you singing for about half a minute or more! I'm not sure if they think I'm a bull that they're scaring away or what, but they're a nice change/addition to the scenery along the way.

I should be in Iowa by nightfall!

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Will vs Hills

So I tried posting last night using my phone, but it seems to not have worked. I'll try to work on that. Yesterday the weather was awesome, and the trip was generally good. There were a few times when I had to take major roads for a short length (read no shoulder, other scary situation) because there was no other way to get past either water or major highways. So when I reached the I&M trail I was happy, because it was a sign I was leaving Chicago. It was cool having a bike trail, but it was all gravel. What that meant was that I got 2 flats... The whole time I was debating whether a gravel bike trail or roads are better (flats vs. cars) and after today, I think the consensus is country roads with a little bit of traffic. Generally the scenery for yesterday was corn,steel, and petroleum refineries and lots of trains and train tracks (we're near chicago and in the midwest after all, right?) I got to Gabhard State park at 5:30pm, no officials, so camped for free. Another catch though, it's located on I&M canal, which no one tells you is a standing cesspool of mosquitos. I have never been in a place where 5 mosquitos land on you at once, like team attacks (the ones with the tiger pattern that jab at your skin in a frenzy!!!). At one point I was so bitten I decided I would just ignore them. The 99% deet "jungle juice" didn't work on them, haha. After about 50 bites, and my body buzzing from bites, I decided to go hide in my bivy despite it being hot and humid. For future reference, I would have preferred a one person tent to a bivvy- there's more room to move around in situations like this. Luckily it got chilly at night and I got decent sleep. I set my alarm for 5am, but let myself sleep in until about 9.

So today I woke up late, and it took a while to get ready considering all of the frenzied mosquitos (I swear... avoid canals, even if there's a trail). I got a flat 1 mile into my ride, and decided I'm done with the I&M canal trail (even though it was supposed to take me to my destination today). Instead, I got off on a tiny country road next to it and decided to wing it (by the way, my phone stopped working, and since I decided to get off the trail, my google maps were pretty irrelevant, so I began to rely on my trusty compass, some luck, and my broad road atlas map). I ended up getting to a town after a bit and went into a store to buy a more detailed Illinois road map, and in the process, a worker came up to me and asked where I was headed. I said sheffield (my destination for today), and that I'm avoiding the I&M- which he suggested. I asked about Highway 6, and he said it would get me there (turns out my broad atlas has it, so I didn't bother buying another map). Highway 6 will take me to Sheffield, and it's been a beautiful ride through country and corn. Now the catch for today- I optimistically decided I would do 77 miles to my next location today after a warm up of 63 yesterday, what I didn't realize is that the Rocky Mountains pass through western Illinois. Wow. And when they'd get bad, I'd tell myself something I read on a bike touring site- for every hill there's a downhill. Guess what- in western illinois that doesn't work. You only get 1 downhill for every 2-3 uphills. Fun fun. So I had to stop 2 times today exhausted, and on the second time I debated just sleeping there (across the street from the cornfield, near the highway, and out of view of the farm owners on my side). Then I realized I hadn't eaten for a while, and downed a pb bagel and water and decided I'm getting to a park tonight. So I just made it 10 more miles to Princeton, and I have about another 9-10 before I get to a park. I decided to stop at the library for a bit to take a break again.

So that's the long winded recap of today and yesterday. Total flats (3 repairs, 1 mystery flat- i'm learning my lessons: avoid gravel, avoid shoulders, avoid the major gaps when you get to bridges). Total liters of water I'm drinking per day- surprisingly like 6-8??

Iowa soon!!! Once I get my phone working and start stopping at libraries to do work, I'll have more photos up.

Chao!
-Miroslav

BlurbBits for this Entry w/Location

Just a few more hours!

So my room is unpacked, I've got a subletter moving in on Tuesday, and my bags are pretty much packed. All I have to do is review some of the maps and make some final checks here and there, and I'm set to go. One downside... the weather forecast the other day from here to Lincoln, NE was thunderstorms until next Monday... haha. I checked today, and it looks more favorable. I hope the storms are spotty and clear up. 6am rise. I'm ready to go!!!

T minus 4

Final shopping, preliminary packing day! With 2 rear panniers (at 47L total) and a top-rack rear pannier, I think I have too much pannierage for my things. That's really promising (and a little annoying knowing I have too much trunk space, ie potential loose baggage). Packing photos to come. For now, here's the current packing list (and a taste of Iowa)-

T Minus 5 Days, Testing Blog

I hope to have geotagged and mapable photos and blog updates. This is a test!

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