Monday Day 2 - McGregor to Decorah, 53 miles

We started the day off with a great breakfast at the Bluegill Cafe in downtown McGregor.

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 !

Sunday Day 1 - Dubuque to McGregor 60 miles

We had a fantastic first day on the road, cycling from Dubuque, heading North up to McGregor Iowa. Man oh Man, there was some real climbing today !! Up an up we went, climbing the bluffs along the Mississippi River. We ended up riding 60 miles today.

We said goodbye to Bev in the morning and rode about a mile to a Church, where Mike went in to talk to the priest. Mike had a bottle of Holy Water given to him by a little old Greek lady in Tarpon Springs. He wanted to ask a priest to perform an impromptu "Blessing of the Bikes". So this super nice Priest lady came out with about a dozen parishioners and they blessed our travels, bikes and souls. It was a great little sermon, and ended with the Church Bells ringing loudly halfway thru our recital of the Lords Prayer. It was a very cool experience !

We made our way about 35 miles to Doug's Tavern & Grill for lunch in Guttenburg. We also took a "puppy break", stopping to pet the Guttenburg Police Officer's German Shepard Puppy.

After lunch it got pretty hot, up into the 90's, so we had to stop to rest and cool down often. The climbing was awesome, the biggest Kendra had ever ridden, and she beat us all to the top of the hardest climb !! She earned the polka-dot jersey for today.

We got to McGregor about 6:30 and ate at a nice brewery/restaurant, the Old Man River. Mike bought a growler of brew for us to take back to the motel, where we enjoyed it while sitting by the Mississippi River watching the sunset.

Tomorrow we are off to Decorah Iowa, with a fun stop at a clock museum along the way !

Aloha !!

Today was kind of an ALOHA day. It was a day to say HELLO to good friends Barbara, Doc, Kendra and Mike, who I'll be riding across Iowa with the next week. It was also a day to say GOODBYE to my sweetheart Bev, who I won't see for about a month ... Aloha !!

The first photo is Bev and I having lunch at an official "Maid-Rite" cafe. A Maid-Rite sandwich is hard to describe, it's crumbled ground beef with pickles and mustard served steaming hot. A very tasty Mid-West treat !!

Bev and I went to the movies after lunch and watched TED, which I thought was pretty funny. A nice touch was getting a large popcorn, large soda, and large butterfinger candy for under $10. It would have cost close to $20 back home. After the movie we drove down to a park on the Mississippi River, where we took picture #2.

The third picture is Bev showing off her winnings at the Mystic Casino down by the Mississippi River. She's a lucky girl ! I lost about $8, but overall we still came out ahead.

The fourth photo is a group shot of Bev, Kendra, Mike, Bob, Barbara, Doc and Danny. This was shot at the hotel after we all met up this afternoon. Bob and Danny were taking Mike and Doc's cars back to Clinton, so they'll be waiting for them at the end of RAGBRAI.

The last shot is of Kendra and Mike at the Bank bar in Dubuque, taken after we all ate a nice Pizza Dinner. Now it's off to bed, tomorrow we ride to McGregor Iowa, our first day of about 70 miles. Aloha !!

MC Museum Photos #5

These last photos are shots of famous people and famous bikes. I forgot to take a photo of the Evil Kinevil display - it was the biggest there.

Here I have pictures of Steve McQueen's Indian bobber, claimed to be his favorite bike, Peter Fonda's Captain America chopper from "Easy Rider" movie, the "Rat Fink" and Von Dutch display, and the legendary Gelbke "Roadhog", a gigantic home-made motorcycle with a diesel truck engine ...

MC Museum Photos #4

Here are some sweet old antique motorcycles, including the legendary Vincent "Black Prince", a 1906 Curtiss V-Twin, and a 1912 Henderson 4.

The 1912 Henderson 4 (in the case behind me) is completely original, and even has its original 100 year old tires.

MC Museum Photos #3

The old Board Track Racers from the early teens are some of my favorites.

Notice the big motorcycle "Pacer" in front of the bicycle in the display ? This is how motorcycle racing got started, first the motors paced the bicycle racers, then the motor pacers started racing themselves after the bicycle races, and soon motorcycle races we're the headline.