There was a big climb heading out of McGregor and then the road leveled off - it was a gorgeous ride thru farms and forests. The only downside was a 10-15 mph headwind. It helped cool us down, but a good headwind always wears you down as you ride into it.
We stopped in Monona Iowa and asked directions to the next town. This really nice old fellow says to head right down this road, and then go up the most "God-awful hill" you've ever seen. He said he could only go 50 mph up this hill in his truck pulling his pontoon boat, and his truck "has balls". Well, it ended up we were wanting directions to Luana Iowa, but he was giving us directions to Rossville Iowa, wrong town! He was a real character, and it ended up being an easy ride to Luana, where we ate lunch.
We were planning to ride to Spillvill, about 20 miles off route to visit a neat clock museum. But the constant 10-15 mph headwind was starting to take its toll on the heavier, fully loaded, out of shape riders ( ME !!! ). We were stopping a lot to rest and cool off, and finally we made the decision to skip the clock museum and head North to Decorah.
In Decorah, we ran into crazy traffic, very scary. It was like riding on a big 4-lane truck route around town, with steep grades thrown in. By the time we pulled into tonight's motel, I was getting light headed. I was exhausted and completely worn out. Then it turned out the motel we made reservations at was a dump !!
So, exhausted, tired, and thirsty, we went next door to the dumpy motel, to the Oaks Steakhouse. The girl working there was great - she gave us ice water and salty snacks, and helped us cancel our reservations at the dumpy motel and make new reservations at the nice motel across the street !! After checking in our motel and cleaning up, we went back to the Oaks and had a nice dinner while watching the Tour de France.
It ended up being a great day, only 53 miles, but it was a tough 53 miles. I'm gonna need a good nights rest to recover for tomorrow !
