Day 36: Confined by the Storm

Still stuck in Iowa City 3 hours after our initial departure, without hopes of the rain and lighting clearing up, we racked up the bikes and headed to Bettendorf, Iowa. The gloomy day forced us off the roads for the first time due to poor weather. After a number of close calls, skidding, sliding, and a wipe out the executive decision was made to call it a day.

Once we got to Bettendorf, the weather cleared up enough to eventually get on the road to go on an exploration ride (although we still got raining on during our tour). We are staying with the Sheehan Family tonight and I am so excited to get to spend time with Matt, a teammate and close friend. He gave us a tour of downtown Davenport, Bettendorf, and the Mississippi River. We almost made it to Credit Island...my favorite cross country course...NOT. It's always like 100 degrees for that race and ends with everyone feeling like death. So weird being in familiar places.

Matt inquired how we keep ourselves occupied on such long days and through the miles and miles on the bike. We pretty much summed up how we keep ourselves entertained with a little stunt by Shane. A plunge into the Mississippi...

Mrs. and Mr. Sheehan had a ton of amazing snacks and treats for us to replenish our calories after our 31 mile day. Then we had a true Iowa style dinner at The Machine Shed. To help digest our full stomachs, we started up some games of HORSE and knock out. After working up another sweat, we headed to Whitey's for some awesome ice cream.

I loved the day and night of friendly familiar faces and awesome conversation. It's good to be back around home!

Day 35: Catch Up

Today was a catch up day for everything. Sleep, work, applications, thank you's...you name it, it got done today. So nice to actually have a rest day not filled to the brim with plans. Most of our rest days have been even more tiring than our biking days because we're running around to all the sites, squeezing everything in one day (not that I'm complaining about that either, but it's exhausting). But since I have been to Iowa City before and we did walk around a bit last night, I felt okay with just relaxing for once and getting some "to do" items out of the way.

Day 34: Heat Rash

Today was quite a long day. It was insanely hot again and my legs freaked out. I have been getting small heat rashes most days, but today, for some reason, it spread and covered both of my legs. Gross. Of course I was cautious, I think I drank literally 8 liters of water today and some Gatorade, plus I threw in a few rest stops. To give you a little context, it was so hot today my bag of chocolate chips melted...in the car...which had AC.

As if 120 miles wasn't long enough for the day, Sanford and I both missed a turn and ended up adding almost 10 miles just for good luck. So I ended the day with the longest distance of the trip yet at 128 miles. WOAH. Also had my 3rd flat tire, but this time there was a culprit other than wear and tear...a staple. Bummer.

I also passed Skydive Iowa and saw someone landing their jump...SO JEALOUS! Otherwise, lots of green still and lots of fields.

We're staying with some of my friends again!!! So happy we have the chance to stop and stay with them. We are all pretty beat after about an 11 hour day on the bike, so tomorrow's newly formed rest day will be spent exploring Iowa City and definitely relaxing (and sleeping in).

Day 33: Halfway Point

Today was another driving day for me, boo. But I was definitely needed today with some more heat issues and popped tires. We stayed with some amazing hosts in Des Moines, Iowa and had a great time BBQing and hanging out on the patio.

I also was lucky to see another friend, Chelsea Webb, who works at the awesome Science Center in downtown Des Moines.

We also checked out the capital building...

Spent lots of time planning the route for tomorrow and came to a general consensus that we did not really need to spend a day in Victor, so we'll combine the next two days and head straight to Iowa City. Ambitious? Definitely. Possible? No doubt. (We'll just be on the bike alllllll day).

Day 32: Goodbye Nebraska, Hello Iowa

Today was "cold" compared to yesterday, but that's not saying much. It was still in the upper 80's, but was actually enjoyable. We also crossed into Iowa this morning, entering our 6th state. I never knew Iowa had so many hills though, today was like a rollercoaster. But at least we got to go downhill after each uphill. I started playing a game to see how far my momentum and speed from the downhill could get me up the next hill just from shifting gears and playing around with my position on the bike. Kept me entertained for the 65 mile ride.

The colors of the fields is much better to look at in Iowa than it had been the past few days in Nebraska. It's pretty weird being in a state I'm somewhat familiar with though. Up until this point, every time we were in a different state it was new, my first visit to that state.

We ended up staying in Atlantic, Iowa just a few miles from Anita. Atlantic's claim to fame is that Atlantic is the Coca-Cola Capital of Iowa, with a bottling factory in town.

Day 31: Heat Advisory

Flat tire #2 today, but this time it was a speedy repair with one practice round under my belt. The wind was actually working in our favor today, and we cruised for the first 30 miles of the 67, which were completely flat. Around mile 30 though, we started to hit lots of roooooolling hills. I think that's what we have to look forward to for the next chunk of the ride. Today we also got to deal with some insane heat and humidity. I believe we passed a sign that read 105 degrees. Apparently today and tomorrow are to be the hottest days of the summer in Nebraska...figures. We also had the chance to experience some of Nebraska's crazy storms, with the tornado sirens and all. Shane even got stuck in the basement of a church for awhile, don't ask me how he got there to begin with.

Before the storm hit though, we had the chance to visit Creighton University, some of Omaha's downtown area, and The Old Market. It's nice to have a city to wander around in after a ride. There were a ton of cool shops and restaurants to look at to occupy our downtime. Tonight we have a new genre of hosts, a group of college girls living around campus for the summer. It's equally as fun to be hosted by peers as it is by alums. We're extremely grateful either way!

Day 30: Welcome to the Humidity

As soon as we walked out of the door in the morning, it hit us. Today was our first day with pretty much any humidity...felt like home. We toughed out another day into the wind, reaching our home-stay 97 miles later in Lincoln, NE.

At least there were flowers today scattered amongst the fields...

I do always love to see the rows in the fields though, they're so perfect.

We had great hosts and after a few days without a family to meet and greet us after our ride, we really, really appreciated their open arms and hospitality. They also treated us with a trip to the country club pool, which was like heaven after the hot, humid ride. We were paraded around like trophies, which gave us the opportunity to meet a number of great people and talk about the ride. After our session at the pool, we had another fabulous meal with one of my favorites...sweet corn on the cob. YUM.