Sioux City, Iowa

We have left Nebraska behind, and are now in the cornbelt of America, the state of Iowa. After a brutally hot weekend, we were thankful for a slightly cooler day. I mentioned in our last blog that the Lutheran Church across from the YMCA property where we were camped was gracious enough to feed us refreshments all afternoon and evening and allowed us to sleep in their air conditioned facility. I apologize for the poor picture - I didn't take it - but at least you get an idea of our sleeping arrangement. Diane nicely set the tables on end so that we'd have our own space.
Also included is a picture of Denise Bentum, Heidi Bentum, Kaitlyn Kuipers, and Theo Bandstra watching a movie together on a laptop in the same room. There were many others in the same room and scattered throughout their facility. All in all it was a cozy arrangement.


When we left this morning it was already almost 80 F, and although we had been told the wind would be from the south/southeast - a great thing since we traveled north today - the wind decided not to cooperate; it came from the north/northeast instead. So goodbye tailwind, and welcome back headwind! It wasn't terrible, except for the last 40 kms or so, and mostly because you're getting more tired then too, but it was a slower ride than we figured on. It didn't help that I missed a turn, along with many others, and ended up cycling 5 kms longer than necessary.

The first half of the ride - leaving Nebraska - was the most beautiful part of the trip. The rolling hills and trees and lush corn everywhere were gorgeous. I could have taken lots of pictures but I suppose in the end they would all have looked the same. So here's just one sample of the countryside in northwest Nebraska; that's Jason & Gresham Veldhuizen along with Melinda Boot from Saskatchewan ripping down the hill in the distance.

Aoout 85 kms in - in the village of Decatur - we crossed a steel deck toll bridge (no charge for cyclists) into Iowa. A few people walked the bridge because the open steel deck did weird things to their tires and scared them off. A fall on this bridge would have been very painful. The river we crossed was the Missouri, and I took the picture below from mid deck just as Joan Doorenspleet slowly passed by.

No sooner did we enter Iowa than a unique thing happened; it rained, for about 10 minutes. It was refreshing and no one complained. After the rain, however, the north wind really began to kick in and cut in to the average speed for the day.

We had one potentially serious incident today, and again I won't identify the rider yet. One of the young women was hit by a car turning in front of her and thrown from her bike. She appears to be OK, although her front wheel was bent by the collision. When it was suggested that she should get in a SAG wagon for the rest of the ride, she insisted that was not going to happen. She was determined to ride, so they put on a spare wheel one of the SAG vehicles was carrying, and off she went. Again we thank God that something that could have been much more serious turned out so well. As you know, three people have had to leave the tour because of injuries.

We are staying just south of Sioux City tonight, in a place called Bluffs Area Family Centre. There's a beautiful swimming pool again, with water slides, and a church located beside the facility has opened their doors to us. So Diane and I, along with half the gang, are sleeping in the church's gym. The possibility of more rain tonight, and the continued heat, decided the issue for us fairly quickly!

A few quick side notes...Gayla Postma asked about Jake Kuipers, who has had 2 significant falls earlier; but he's been fine ever since and happily chugs along every day. Fred, you're right about the grain elevators - but what can you expect a mere pastor to know about stuff like that? And finally a note to Jesse Vanderveen (I keep forgetting this) about the 10,000 cows or 1700. Ted Miller was currently milking 1700 cows on the particular farm we visited; he had other cattle on this property and other properties with more cattle. Hope that clears up the confusion, and good on you for noticing the apparent discrepancy!

That's it for today. The Friendship Church we're staying at has wireless - hooray. Tomorrow will be a shorter day, as we are scheduled to stay at Dordt College. That means free internet, laundry facilities, and real beds - and lots of corn for supper!

Today's stats:

Distance: 148.46 kms (5.56 more than necessary)
Average speed: 21.9 kph
Maximum speed: 46.6 kph
Time in saddle: 6.46.22
# of flat tires on tour: 6 (and still holding)