August 12 - The trusty steeds are loaded up and ready to go.
Today we went south of Highway 20 and followed county road D35 east through miles of farm land. Corn and soybeans? Or was that soybeans and corn?
These county roads were in much better shape than Highway 20. They just went up and down a lot. The other nice thing about these roads is that there was very little traffic most of the time.
This water tower really had us baffled because our maps didn't show any town in ahead of us and till now there water towers always came with a town. Turns out it was strictly for irrigation.
Our first hog farm and the sound and smell of the day. We could hear the squealing and grunting as we rode by. Can't describe the smell for you but you know it if you've ever been around pigs.
This was a welcome change: A nice bike path with shade on a really hot, humid afternoon. It is a rails to trails conversion that we followed from Hudson to Waterloo. It made it possible for us to go quite a bit farther than we thought we would be able to do. We stayed the night in Evansdale, a suburb on the east side of Waterloo.
August 13 - We followed D22 (Dubuque Rd.) today This is an historic grist mill on the Wapsipinicon River in Independence. Donna bought a cucumber from a truck farmer and he told about coming with his father in their wagon to get loads of feed from this mill when he was a little boy.
The mural is right above a tiny public restroom. We had breakfast #2 across the street. The sound of the day happened in Winthrop as we pedaled through at noon. One of the churches played their bells for about 15 minutes. They played several different hymns.
Our lunch spot in Manchester. The proprietor spent a good deal of our time there talking to us about our trip and a similar one that his brother and family took a few years ago.
Coming into Dyersville, a town of about 4,000. Not sure how this basilica came to be here but it was beautiful.
The ceiling.
A side altar.
This place was next to our motel but we were too late to visit it. Did pick up a brochure and this is the place to come if you are into Tonka Toys!
August 14 - Leaving Dyersville via D17 after a very intense early morning thunderstorm.
Our first view of the Field of Dreams Movie Site all newly washed clean by the rain.
It was only 8:15 but there was no gate so we headed down the driveway.
We had the place to ourselves and it was a beautiful, peaceful place to start the day.
Waiting for a game to start.
Sorry Lynn Ellis: We left before the souvenir shop opened so all we have is pictures and a brochure.
Coming into Bankston which had only one other building in "town" and that was an ag supply store. From here on the terrain became alot more hilly.
Limestone cliffs along the river channel.
Looking west over the Unglaciated Region of eastern Iowa. The terrain reminded us of the Oregon Coast Range.
We were a little skeptical that this really existed.
But here it is: 4 lifts, 500 vertical feet and they have a ski patrol house! Since we had just climbed out of the river bottom we were pretty sure they were telling the truth.
Coming into downtown Dubuque. We had stopped for lunch at a Quizmo's in Asbury, just east of here. The owner is a cyclist and would have bought us lunch if she had seen us a bit earlier. She answered a bunch of questions we had about the area and recommended that we stay down by the river, below the cliffs where we could walk to the river, which we did.
This lone tree is on top of the cliffs that line downtown. It was quite the ride down!
This is the National River Museum and Aquarium.
The aquarium had great exhibits of local fish life. This catfish was one of the bigger ones in this tank. They had a whole exhibit on nothing but catfish upstairs. Never knew there were so many different ones!
One of the old river boats on display.
Playing captain.
Just part of a huge casino.
That is the bridge that we will be riding over tomorrow morning.
The view from our motel room window. This is the county court house with the Mississippi River a few blocks behind it.
August 12 - The trusty steeds are loaded up and ready to go.
Today we went south of Highway 20 and followed county road D35 east through miles of farm land. Corn and soybeans? Or was that soybeans and corn?
These county roads were in much better shape than Highway 20. They just went up and down a lot. The other nice thing about these roads is that there was very little traffic most of the time.
This water tower really had us baffled because our maps didn't show any town in ahead of us and till now there water towers always came with a town. Turns out it was strictly for irrigation.
Our first hog farm and the sound and smell of the day. We could hear the squealing and grunting as we rode by. Can't describe the smell for you but you know it if you've ever been around pigs.
This was a welcome change: A nice bike path with shade on a really hot, humid afternoon. It is a rails to trails conversion that we followed from Hudson to Waterloo. It made it possible for us to go quite a bit farther than we thought we would be able to do. We stayed the night in Evansdale, a suburb on the east side of Waterloo.
August 13 - We followed D22 (Dubuque Rd.) today This is an historic grist mill on the Wapsipinicon River in Independence. Donna bought a cucumber from a truck farmer and he told about coming with his father in their wagon to get loads of feed from this mill when he was a little boy.
The mural is right above a tiny public restroom. We had breakfast #2 across the street. The sound of the day happened in Winthrop as we pedaled through at noon. One of the churches played their bells for about 15 minutes. They played several different hymns.
Our lunch spot in Manchester. The proprietor spent a good deal of our time there talking to us about our trip and a similar one that his brother and family took a few years ago.
Coming into Dyersville, a town of about 4,000. Not sure how this basilica came to be here but it was beautiful.
The ceiling.
A side altar.
This place was next to our motel but we were too late to visit it. Did pick up a brochure and this is the place to come if you are into Tonka Toys!
August 14 - Leaving Dyersville via D17 after a very intense early morning thunderstorm.
Our first view of the Field of Dreams Movie Site all newly washed clean by the rain.
It was only 8:15 but there was no gate so we headed down the driveway.
We had the place to ourselves and it was a beautiful, peaceful place to start the day.
Waiting for a game to start.
Sorry Lynn Ellis: We left before the souvenir shop opened so all we have is pictures and a brochure.
Coming into Bankston which had only one other building in "town" and that was an ag supply store. From here on the terrain became alot more hilly.
Limestone cliffs along the river channel.
Looking west over the Unglaciated Region of eastern Iowa. The terrain reminded us of the Oregon Coast Range.
We were a little skeptical that this really existed.
But here it is: 4 lifts, 500 vertical feet and they have a ski patrol house! Since we had just climbed out of the river bottom we were pretty sure they were telling the truth.
Coming into downtown Dubuque. We had stopped for lunch at a Quizmo's in Asbury, just east of here. The owner is a cyclist and would have bought us lunch if she had seen us a bit earlier. She answered a bunch of questions we had about the area and recommended that we stay down by the river, below the cliffs where we could walk to the river, which we did.
This lone tree is on top of the cliffs that line downtown. It was quite the ride down!
This is the National River Museum and Aquarium.
The aquarium had great exhibits of local fish life. This catfish was one of the bigger ones in this tank. They had a whole exhibit on nothing but catfish upstairs. Never knew there were so many different ones!
One of the old river boats on display.
Playing captain.
Just part of a huge casino.
That is the bridge that we will be riding over tomorrow morning.
The view from our motel room window. This is the county court house with the Mississippi River a few blocks behind it.
1 comment:
Hi Donna and Doug. Wishing you the best. Sounds like your trip is going swimmingly!! Diana
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