Days: 31
Distance: 2462km / 1530 mi
Location: Omaha, NE
We just crossed the state of Iowa, and now we are couchsurfing with Lisa and Brendan in Omaha. Iowa is a beautiful state! Here's some of the sites:
John Deere Pavillion
The visitor center at the John Deere headquarters is full of antique tractors and plows. Plenty of new equipment on display too. Did you know modern farm equipment uses GPS to map fields for yield rates and apply the right amount of fertilizer? It's a new age!
Some of these tractors have some pretty scary warning labels...
Water Ski Stunt Show
Eric took us to a water ski stunt show in Rock island, Il. Some of these stunts are crazy.
Jumps!
Dances
Four person pyramid (could you even do this on land?)
The open road
This is pretty much what we've been seeing for the past few days.
Did I mention John Deere?
Nothing so fun as being overtaken by a huge combine on the road. Sometimes you have to get off the road just to let them pass because they are so huge.
Des Moines
I forgot to take a photo, but we couch surfed with Monkey and Lara. (yes, her name is actually Monkey. How cool is that?) The city has some fantastic bike trails, one of which we followed for about 30 miles out.
Site of the first train robbery in the West
Hailstorms and Tornados
While camping in a state park in Anita, IA, the ranger told us about a tornado warning. Apparently tornados always start with a huge thundestorm, then it turns into hail, and then after it stops and gets really calm a tornado starts to form.
We could see a huge thunderstorm coming, so we dove into the tent. Soon lightning and thunder was roaring all around us and the tent shuddered in the violent wind. And then the sound of the rain changed, and we realized it was hailing.
And then it stopped, And got very calm.
And we were afraid.
But we were also really tired, so we just went to sleep.
Crossing the Missouri River
A pedestrian bridge.
Replete with fountains to cool off after
an 80 mile ride in 90 degree heat.
Beating the Heat
It's become a real problem. Trying to bike in this weather is just miserable. For example, when the temperature reached 94 yesterday with 70 % humidity, we crawled into a Dairy Queen and took refuge for several hours, waiting for things to cool off.
We've got to beat the heat. So, starting tonight, we are implementing a new strategy: biking at night!
We're going to leave at 3 am, when
the traffic is hopefully about as calm as it can get, and bike until noon.
Hopefully we'll adjust to the new schedule quickly.
And yes, we do have bright lights and lots of reflective stuff. We are probably much more visible now than we ever were during the day. Above: Amelia sports her new nighttime gear.
Probably no more updates until Boulder, CO. It should take about 8 days.
PS: Last weeks mystery photo was of inside the Davenport Skybridge:
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