1517 Miles Day 1

We left Indiana around 10am. Thanks to Mom for a great dinner at the Olive Garden the night before we left; however, the heavy dinner made it impossible to do any late night packing. Once on the road we remembered what we forgot, which included the tent rain cover in SC, the bike pump, laundry detergent, and my rain jacket. NICE! The miles went fast and we decided to try to hit a group ride in Iowa City, the home of the University of Iowa. It was a typical group ride with about 30 guys, no girls, and a lot of testosterone. We started the ride with dark clouds looming above. The group rode away from the storm in an attempt to stay dry, but to no avail. We turned out of town on a country road straight into a head wind with sheets of rain drenching us. Unfortunately, I got dropped and Sean had to come back and drag me in. We met a guy who had lived in Carbondale during the 1908s and was friendly enough to direct us back to our car. I find cyclist in the back of the pack to be the friendliest and most helpful, a scenario Sean has never had to experience. Needless to say it was a rough ride! Iowa City is very progressive with sidewalks and bike paths laced throughout the city. Iowa is a smoke free state and has wireless at all rest stops. Beautiful country with progressive ideas…a nice surprise! We stopped at a Lowe’s to pick up a tarp in case another storm rolled in overnight. We camped at a roadside RV park, happy to have a shower and laundry area considering we were covered in road dirt and looked like salt licks. We head to the Badlands in South Dakota next. It will be a long day of driving, but the good news is gas is around $3.78 for super unleaded due to higher ethanol content. The money we save on gas will wash out considering the drag of 4 bikes on the roof.