Day 17: A Day in the Life of a Bike Tourist

Burlington, IA to Muscatine, IA

Stats!
Miles biked today: 60.1
Total miles biked on trip: 612.7
Max speed: 28.0
# of goats that bleated at us in fury or terror: 1
# of new kinds of animals we saw: 1
Dean and I were talking on the road today about all the stuff we mean to include in the blog, but either forget to include or haven't gotten around to including.

For me, I forgot to tell the story of the vulture that divebombed me a few days ago. We were biking along a very lonesome road on a very hot day, and a vulture that had been circling high in the sky swooped down and came flying right at me! I screamed (those things are scary), but it changed direction at the last moment and avoided me. I'm not sure if it was just curious about us or just having some fun or what.

Dean wanted to do a "day in the life" post, where we explain just what it is we do all day, so we'll do that today. But first, a quick couple of notes about what we did and saw today.

We started off in Burlington and immediately got lost. We've been relying on the google maps on Dean's phone pretty heavily these past couple of weeks, but we quickly learned that the maps aren't always the best. For example, if the road has a bridge that crosses above another road, it will show the two intersecting. On the maps, it looks like you just need to make a turn at the corner, when in reality the road you want is 20 feet below you and there's no way to get there.

We eventually found our way and started off for the day. The only stop was 20 miles in at Oakville. Nothing until Oakville and nothing after until Muscatine. It was a hot day, so this was a bit of a challenge. We started off a bit late, as we were feeling lazy this morning, but it turned out to be a blessing.

The main restaurant in Oakville seemed to have burned down, but there was a place called The Piggy Bank Cafe that opened at 11 a.m. Thanks to our late start, we got there at 11:19 a.m. :)

I LOVED this place. I think it may be my favorite restaurant we've been to on the trip. It was really cute, and the food was delicious, plentiful, nutritious, wholesome and cheap. Perfect. On our way out some men at a table started asking us about our trip. It turns out that one of the men's daughters had done an around the world bike trip that took two years! Very impressive. He recognized our touring bikes for what they were right away. They were really nice, and the whole Piggy Bank experience was great.

We then had almost 40 miles with no services of any kind on a hot day. It was a little bit tough. It's amazing how much difference the wind can make. We had a tailwind on our longest day, and it was great. A headwind can really slow you down. It's crazy. It's just air! We had a headwind most of the way today. On the positive side, a headwind can really cool you off on a hot day.

When we were about 10 miles out of Muscatine, we were just about out of water, and I was starting to see things. I saw a tailor shop (turns out it was actually "Taylor's Greenhouse") and thought they might sell Powerade. I was definitely seeing some Powerade mirages. About 5 miles from the hotel, we finally made it to a gas station. Hallelujah! And they were having a 2 for 1 sale on Powerade!

It was so hot that when we finally made it to Muscatine, Dean jumped in a fountain!

I also noticed that they had soft serve ice cream, which sounded really good. Dean and I bought 2, but when we went to go serve ourselves, we couldn't find the ice cream cups. Turns out we were meant to use the 20 oz soda cups. That's a lot of ice cream! We managed it, though. On our way out of the shop, a lady said, "Were you in Oakville today?" We said yes. It was the owner of the Piggy Bank! She was impressed with how far we'd biked since we left. I felt pretty good about that.

We are now staying at the Muskie Motel. It's a bit musky, but much nicer than the El Nville where we stayed last night.

And now, a day in the life of a cross-country bicycle tourist! (or, at least, a day in the life of these two bicycle tourists):

6:30ish a.m. - wake up and start getting ready (this includes all your standard toiletry stuff, plus packing up panniers, applying sunblock, chamois cream (in our case, Bag Balm), and loading up the bikes with all our stuff.

7:30ish a.m. - start out for the day -- We usually bike about 20 miles before we make our first stop, but stops entirely depend on where we can find services we need. On the road, we talk about and think about all kinds of stuff. I think a lot about derby (I miss it!) and sing songs in my head and talk to Dean about all the crazy stuff we're seeing. We actually see a lot of stuff that we'd like to take pictures of, but don't, because we're in a rhythm and don't want to break it. Dean likes looking at birds (we have seen dozens of species so far) and keeps track of all our stats on the bike computer. I am a map fiend and love to check where we are, where we're going, and how many miles to our next Powerade. :)

This morning, a bunch of cows got all lined up to get a good look at us.

10:00ish a.m. - This is when we usually have our first stop. It might just be for Powerade if we had a big breakfast. We might stop for our second breakfast/first lunch of the day. These are my favorite times. You get to see a town, check out a local restaurant, talk to people, etc. Also more time to look at the map!

2:00ish p.m. Our second stop. If we got Powerade at the first stop, we're definitely getting food here. If we got food at the first stop, we'll get Powerade here, and maybe a sustaining snack. We also usually refill our water bottles/hydration packs at this point (really, at every stop if we can). My Camelback can do about 30 miles before I've sucked it dry.

4:30ish p.m. This is about the time we roll into whatever town is our destination. We then have to stop, check the maps for lodging options, decide what we're going to do (camp? motel?), and figure out how to get there. The lodging sites are usually a few miles off course.

5:00ish p.m. Check in wherever we decided to stay. Stand in front of a/c unit. Shower. Call my parents. Lay still awhile.

6:00ish p.m. Figure out what we're going to do with our gross clothing. Is there a laundromat nearby? If we wash our clothes in the sink, can we dry them on a railing or something? Is it hot enough outside to dry the clothes? Should we just bag 'em until the next stop?

6:45ish p.m. - EAT. We are usually pretty famished after a long day of riding, then doing all the other stuff we do. Just as the lodging is often off course, it's also often somewhat far from eating establishments. We need to figure out how to get food, what we want, and how we can get there. We are rarely willing to get back on the bikes to go to a restaurant, so we have to walk or taxi. When we finally get there, we feast!

8:00ish p.m. - Find necessities. We're always running out of stuff! Neosporin, batteries, granola bars, etc. We have to find a grocery store or 7-11 or drugstore or something where we can replace whatever we've run out off. We don't want to stock up too much in advance, since we have to carry everything on us, so supply runs are pretty common.

9:00ish p.m. - Blog!

9:45ish p.m. - Collapse into bed.

That's about it! Tomorrow we might camp... not sure where yet. Wish us luck!