Saturday, July 25, 2009

Iowa

After sleeping thru the stormy weather in Galena, I got up early to head west. Passed thru Dubuque, Iowa...a pretty little town. I really liked the bridge that crosses the river as you come into town.

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Stopped to take a picture of a neato gothic looking church as well...the sunlight made for an interesting pic.

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Iowa is flat and the roads are straight. The redeeming factor is that it's pretty and the people are really nice. Everywhere I stopped people wanted to talk and were real friendly.


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I ate lunch at an A&W, they give you a cold mug and the root-beer comes from a tap. Passed a town with my last name, had to stop and get a pic of the sign. I was tempted to go visit but I was short on time, trying to make up time from the storm delay from yesterday.

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The wind had been blowing pretty hard all day. I hate riding in the wind...it reminded me of Texas, bleck. And just like Texas, about the time I noticed a really strong crosswind, I found more wind farms. But this time, I was out in the middle of no-where, alone. So I took the bike on the dirt road across a farm to get up close to one.

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They really are massive. The sound of the blades spinning was crazy, it made me nervous that I'd some how get chopped up. It's very evident that there are very large forces at play listening to that thing. The substation is humming and gives the air a very electric quality. I even made video, will have to figure out how to post it.

Shortly afterwards, I crossed the state line into South Dakota. At one point, I realized I had passed a lot of Lewis & Clark signs trying to tell me something. So I pulled over at the next one, in Elk Point. Apparently they had camped here back in the day, on the side of the Missouri River.

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My destination was Yankton..but upon arrival all lodging was booked up. And camping. Apparently there was a high school reunion and a local state park that did it. So after looking at my options, I traveled back east to Vermillion, home of the University of South Dakota. I stopped at a motel with a mini-golf, a pool and a bar. Drank beer with the owner that night, Dave.

Here are some more pics of the midwest that I liked.

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Tomorrow, further into South Dakota and heading for the Badlands.

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