We left our Super 8 motel about 7:15 am. This was a great motel - the lady who checked us in was too funny, a real wisenheimer ! She gave Mike her van to drive to the store on a beer run while we were checking in, helped us get our broasted chicken dinner delivered, and kept us laughing with her wisecracks. When I asked her if the three rooms she gave us all had the same beds, she said "No, they each have their own beds - did you all want to sleep in the same beds ?" Ha Ha !
We rode about a mile into downtown Charles City to eat breakfast at the Hi-Vee Grocery Store. This is one of my favorite things to do when riding bicycles in Iowa, their breakfast is always cheap, tasty, and fun. I wish we had Hi-Vee's in Florida.
Downtown Charles City is beautiful and had almost no traffic today. We rode our bicycles down to the Cedar River, which runs right thru the center of town. There we found a nice path along the river, and came upon a beautiful suspension bridge across the river just for bicycles and pedestrians. We stopped in the middle of the bridge for photos and a beer, and we toasted Doc's Dad, Jack Dunn, who passed away a few weeks ago.
Mike and Kendra have chalkboards hanging on the back of their bikes, and each day they write sayings on them. Today, Kendra's sign said "YES", because that is the answer to everyone's question, "Are you people crazy ??".
Mike' sign for today was "Thank You Jack Dunn", because according to Mike, if Jack and Ilene Dunn hadn't gotten married, then they wouldn't have had baby John, and then John wouldn't have grown up and married Barbara, and then Barbara wouldn't have met Mike, and then Mike wouldn't have ever met Kendra.
On the way out of Charles City we stopped at a little garden right on the bike trail, and found a beautiful statue of a little boy and girl riding a bicycle.
It was a real nice rest stop for us.
We headed west on Hwy 14, and as we turned onto road B45 there was a big compound with a John Deere tractor on a pole and a sign advertising an Engine And Thrasher Show on Labor Day. In this compound there was an old gas station/general store with the door open, so we stopped in. We were greeted by Al Koenigsfeld, whose father and mother had originally run the store. He let us look around, and we had a lot of fun checking out all the old fixtures and the old products on the shelves. ( for more info: www.restorerosevillestore.com )
The ride west to Rockford was full of beautiful scenery, and we even had a tailwind - Yippee !! As we passed a giant windmill farm, I tried to count how many windmills there were, but when I got up to 50, I almost ran off the road so I had to stop counting.
We headed north to Nora Springs, hoping to eat lunch there. Unfortunately, their only bar with food wasn't open. We did talk with a fellow who gave us a lesson about the Free Masons, and all their secret symbols on the one dollar bill. We also had a nice visit with Julie Salisbury, a reporter for the local Nora Springs newspaper. Julie interviewed us and took our photo for the paper.
We had to ride 8 more miles into Mason for lunch. We found a bike trail, but it ended and we were in a big residential area with no restaurants. We kept riding, on and on, with no restaurants. We rode into the old downtown, with beautiful old buildings, but again no restaurants.
It was getting pretty hot out, and we didn't see and people hanging around or walking outside to ask directions. Finally Mike went out on a scouting mission and found a beautiful old bar and restaurant called Lorados. During lunch it started to rain and a big storm came by. We hunkered down with our brews and waited out the storm. The rest of the ride was nice and cool, on the Trolly Trail into Clear Lake.
A great day, with great buddies, having a great time.
