At long last...

Well, lots to update since my last post. We haven't had much Internet, so forgive me.

As expected, things got much better after the disappointment out of Clinton last week. One thing that I forgot to mention about Mount Vernon, IA: it was the site where Barack Obama, as a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president, announced his national service plan in December of '07 before the Iowa Caucuses the next month. It was pretty cool to walk around the place where he did that.

On that topic, a woman in Carroll, IA saw my book and started talking about her experiences with the caucuses. The church we stayed at in Carroll was one of four caucus sites that night and she said it was packed to the gills with over 200 people in their fellowship hall. After staying there, I have no idea how they fit that many people in there. She was an Obama precinct captain so she talked about how exciting it was that night when they won. I was curious if I'd come across any Iowa electoral politics as we passed through the state.

My narrative is going to be scattershot and out of order, so bear with me. Yesterday, we had a monster 110 miler from Carroll to Sioux City, IA. Behind Gambier, I felt it was the second most challening ride of the trip thus far. We experienced oodles throughout the day, from a 2 mile stretch of sandy gravel that wore all of us out right away to a beautiful bike path that ran alongside a nature preserve to first lunch on Blackhawk Lake in Lake View, IA (all before 9:30 AM). We had a major headwind coming across IA-175 for the entire 30 miles we were on the road, and only pacelining got most of us through the endeavor. I had a great time riding with Ashley, Erika, Beth, Eileen, and Isabel on that stretch.

After our second lunch, I attacked a very hilly (but incredibly scenic) stretch on my own before I caught up with Trevor. Western Iowa is incredible (but exhausting on a bike). Trevor and I would converse on the downhills but neither of us had any breath while we climbed. The day ended when I caught up with Shawn, Tino, and Jake, and the four of us trucked into Sioux City. Those guys are pretty fast, so I had a great time trying to keep up with them. Of course, I was paying for it later...

Today's ride had more of the same: headwinds, headwinds, headwinds. As I write this now (about 7:40 PM), half our group isn't into the host site yet (Yankton, SD). We had a brutal 20 mile stretch on Hwy 50 where the wind was blowing a good 20 mph right in our face, making for a very difficult ride. We also had a 15 mile detour due to road construction that made a 67 mile day an 85 mile day. I struggled more today because I don't do well with wind; it was one of the more mentally exhausting rides we've had. However, we did cross into another state today and crossed the halfway mark in mileage for the entire trip (hard to believe that happened in South Dakota). I rode the entire afternoon alone, which was very therapeutic (not sure why I've been wanting to do that so much lately). The rest of the group stopped for donated pizza along the route, and I'd had too much lunch, so I just kept moving and ended up getting to the host site first. These folks in Yankton are very friendly, so I've enjoyed my conversation with them thus far.

Otherwise, nothing too major to report. Natalie broke her wrist the other day when a dog darted out in front of her on the bike and caused her to crash. (Sidenote: I liked dogs before this trip, but man, they can really wreak havoc on cyclists; I almost had to kick one the other day because he was about to bite me. The only thing that stopped me were two little kids that were watching the whole thing.)

The build day in Carroll was okay, we put up siding on part of the house and constructed the frame of a shed. A few people helped lay concrete for the garage floor as well. We didn't get much done with 32 people, however, because they didn't have enough work to go around. Kind of frustrating standing around most of the day, but I suppose that happens.

The team was really excited about a scavenger hunt we did on the Ames day. With only 40 miles to bike, a few people put together a list of 54 things to see/experience/do on the route that day. Pictures would document the lists. Some of the groups got really into it (Erika, Ariela, Beth, and Suzanne were especially impressive in their finds). Examples of things we needed to do/find: ride a lawnmoor, dance for 1 minute with a random stranger, play tic-tac-toe with a stranger, collect 36 business cards, build a bike out of nontraditional bike materials, take a creative picture with you and your bike in the cornfields, play a prank on another team, see a scarecrow, power your bike with something other than your legs, place a star on top of an evergreen tree, play a hole of golf, and many others. My team of Maggie, Scott, and Saskia had a good time for much of the day trying to get some of these things done, but a few groups just blew us out of the water. I imagine my lack of creativity had something to do with that. I enjoyed riding with them though.

The parents are coming to Chadron, NE next week, so I'm really looking forward to spending some time with them. Can't wait to see you guys!

And finally, thanks for all the kind comments that you guys have been leaving. I love reading them. I really appreciated your support after the EFI day.

Talk to you soon!