Covid Cross Day #17 Muscatine, IA to Cascade, IA
Covid Cross Day #17
June 18, 2020
Muscatine, IA to Cascade, IA 73.5 Miles
Start 10:45 AM Finish 6:19 PM
Ride Time 6:24
Ascent 1791 Feet
Descent 1589 Feet
Tour Total 1548 Miles
Details at: https://cyclemeter.com/3f1ef27914a4c684/Cycle-20200618-1045-36744I slept like a rock last night at the Comfort Inn in Muscatine. That was, until the hotel room alarm clock went off at 6 AM. Who leaves a hotel alarm clock set for the following guest? I hit every button on the damned thing until it stopped. I was able to get a little more sleep.
I had a slow start. My tent and sleeping gear had been packed before I went to sleep. My clothes were dry in the morning and my devices were fully charged. I finished yesterday's blog post and finally cleaned my chain. The hotel breakfast was kind of crappy. I had dried sugary cereal with barely enough milk, grape yogurt, a banana muffin, a coffee, and an orange juice. I grabbed two bananas for the road.
I got a little turned around trying to leave town. In the middle of the sprawl I spotted a wind turbine blade on the back of an extra long semi-truck bed. I stopped to talk with the rear pilot driver. The blade was 120 feet long, and the pilot driver said that it was a baby. They apparently make 150 yard blades. He showed me his little remote control box for turning the rear part of the truck. It was so long that there needed to be two swivels for turning. They had carefully mapped out their route in advance.
I finally left heavily trafficked State Highway 38 and took a right on County Road G-14. It was nice to be back out on a country road. I rode a few miles and took a left on County Road Y-14, heading north. The sun was strong and it was getting hot. I was lathered up with sunscreen and my water bottles were full.
I talked to Uncle Taco in Portland, who said that the Covid cases in Oregon were spiking. Donna and Tommy had said that last night been their outing since the pandemic began. I’d noticed a lot of chain-link fence plastic cup decorations this year, usually in front of a school. I'd seen hearts drawn as well as 2020, for the graduating class. I’d been passing a lot of goats in people’s front yards. The first ones I saw today were all white. They were handsome animals with goatee beards and long graceful horns. The second group was brown spotted with stubby horns and no goatees.
The first town I came to was Bennett, population 409. I could see the gray golf ball tee water tower from several miles out. I was hot and in need of a cold beverage. The streets were lined with 'Welcome to Bennett' banners hanging from all the telephone poles. I found a CENEX Station not listed on my maps. There was a kitchen and tables for seating. No one was wearing a mask. I was told that I was the first cyclist this year. I had the tenderloin sandwich special with fries and two red Gatorades.
Winds were once again strong out of the south. Luckily today I was traveling north. The sun was bright and it was 90 degrees out. I saw a shady patch of grass and thought about pulling over. I stopped to adjust my ear-pods and was attacked by mosquitoes, so I kept going. I saw a dog wagging its tail behind a farm gate. It was a good-size black and white collie mix. It followed me out onto the roadway and was coming to say hello when his owner called him back. I could tell that he was friendly.
As I was coming into Lowden I spotted the odd AT&T transcontinental microwave repeater tower that had interested me last year. It was to the north, ostensibly off of Highway US-30. The 190' brick and mortar tower had been constructed in 1950 and originally carried network television programming east to west. I stopped at the Cedar Country Store, where I sat inside to drink a red Gatorade and talk with the young girl working the cash register. She was a nursing student at the University of Iowa and was amazed that I had done three of these tours.
It was hot and I was looking for places to take a nap. There was a nice park with shade trees and good grass in Massillon. I pulled over and laid down. The bugs drove me crazy so I sprayed myself. The critters continued to irritate me, so I continued on, west across the Wapsipinicon River. Had the streams around here not been brimming with farm chemicals and animal waste, I would have relished a swim.
I entered Oxford Junction where I spotted two TURD flags and one for Bernie. I stopped at the CENEX which I believe I recalled from last year. Folks were real friendly here in Iowa. I was minding my own business yet the clerk assured me that she wasn’t ignoring me. Afterwards I cycled 7-1/2 miles to Wyoming, where I didn't stop. It was becoming overcast which made things bearable. I still had another eighteen miles to my destination in Cascade.
I saw a small gray mouse trying to cross the road. I would not want to be in it's situation with the hawks and birds of prey around here. Rain was in the forecast for the next two days. We'd see how that would affect things. The bugs had been driving me crazy all afternoon, and I saw in my post from last year that the bugs were bad then too. I don't know how the locals here do it. I was pedaling up a hill it and could only go six or seven miles an hour. The gnats could keep up with me at that speed, and one flew in my mouth. I hate those things.
It was hay harvesting time around here, and farmers are wrapping and storing their hay rolls. I had a nice downhill into the Maquoketa River valley. It smelled like animal waste. The groundwater in Iowa was really polluted from all the animal waste and field chemicals. I remembered the pungent smell of Iowa drinking water from when I lived here.
Riding into Cascade I was confused. There was a little league baseball game going on and I mistook the field for the park where I would be camping. I thought I made the same mistake last year. I stopped at CENEX where I purchased a six pack of Modelo, a bag of Dot's Homestyle Pretzels, and a bag of ice. I rode to the American Legion Park, where I called to get permission to camp. I sat at a picnic table to edit this report, while swatting away the bugs. I met a maintenance worker who said, "This place must be on a map, because this is the third night in a row that a cyclist has stayed here".
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