Day 36: Fennimore, WI to Madison, WI

Actual Kms: 116

Overkill: 2 or so going to the church and back to the park so we could travel as a massive group.

Road Things: Dead racoon and small birds.

Money Spent: $0 so far. It's a miracle.

Interesting Person Pick: Julie. She is a 29 year old gal who has done a bit of everything. Wilderness Guide, teacher in Prague and she's going to Japan soon. She has a nice Trek bike, very similar to mine and wasn't supposed to stay on the tour but decided in Denver that she just couldn't leave. We had some good conversation on the bike today and she is really easy going.

Favourite Part of the Day: Having Jess Fox pay for my amazing Raspberry bar and coffee. Mostly that was my favourite part because I knew that my "money spent" column would be $0.

Worst Part of the Day: Realizing I received 12 letters/packages from people and 0 from Tim. This makes you look bad Tim. :)

This is the bike path we (Jess, Julie and I) rode on today. I think it was the first time I have ridden the whole day with girls and it was kind of relaxing. We went at a 25 km/h pace or slower and it was nice.

This was on the wall at the little Norweigen bakery we went to. I had the best raspberry bar (actually 2) and enjoyed some good conversation. Pres. Kennedy had visited this place in 1960.

A very excited Sarah opening her mail when she got to the church. I recieved two packages and ten letters. This one is from my parents.

Finding my very old Powerpuff Girls lunchbox in the package...hopefully there is something inside?

Oh yeah! Red P.E.I hat and empty Tim Hortans cups....

And $20 of Tim Hortons money...score!

Here is the entire group riding together to the church.

Here are some pictures that Tyler took of us on the day we did Bertha's pass. They are pretty cool.

This is when I got to the top.

Day 35: New Hampton, IA to Fennimore, WI

Actual Kms: 168 kms YAH TO THREE CENTURIES IN A ROW! (And hopefully no more).

Overkill: 3 or so to the Post Office, pool for showers and this restaurant that I’m sitting in now.

Road Things: A young deer split open (yuck), small yellow birds and a lot of butterflies again.

Money Spent: Ahh. This is like confession for me. $8 Omelet, toast and coffee at 11, $4 Frappacinno in Praire du Chien (They pronounce it Praire de Sheen…not the French way), $2 ice cream when in camp, and I’m going to buy supper because I need to catch up on blogging, which is a pretty bad excuse but I don’t care (and also I don’t want to have to drive back to town to call Tim), so $10. The good news is I didn’t buy a really cute $50 jersey with flowers on it at a bike store in Praire du Chien.

Most Interesting Person: Eric Stewhower. He is a third year Calvin College student who just changed his major from Engineering to Recreation/Youth Ministry; which is a pretty brave thing to do. He is very outgoing (think Bob), very innocent in a good way (don’t think Bob), and good looking in a young sort of way. When I asked him about finding a girl on this trip, he replied, “I just go with the flow”. J He’s a great rider and we rode for about 80 kms this morning, talking and pulling each other…mostly him pulling me.

Favourite Part of the Day: Breakfast (I absolutely can’t say no to omelet’s) with Eric in some little town (that’s right, I can’t remember and it’s today!). We had a good time and I found a card for Tim and sent it in the mail. Worst Part of the Day: The last 30 kms after Julie’s SAG were difficult because I was mostly by myself and I just wanted to be done. It was the first time that I thought for a brief second “I don’t want to do this right now”. It’s pretty amazing that that is the first time I’ve really thought that. About one minute later I remembered that I get to do this. It’s all a mindset. Also, after three centuries, my knees are starting to hurt.

Today I was going to ride with a larger group, namely Julia, Eric, Jon, Annette, Matt Z, Jenna and some others. We were supposed to leave at 7, but it ended up being 7:30 and the first road of 35 kms was horrible. It was actually a little dangerous to be riding in such a large group because you couldn’t see the six inch deep holes fast enough. So Eric and I broke away and started pacing up and down the hills (yes, we have hills again) at about 30 kms/h.

Eric S and I at breakfast.

My nifty handlebars and a letter on it's way to being delivered. Can you guess for who?

We had some good conversation about college, Grand Rapids, the tour and other stuff and then, we hit a highway with a very narrow shoulder. There were rumble strips to the left of us, a foot and a half of pavement and gravel to the right. Some truck driver slowed down and said someone had fallen up ahead, so we rode ahead and found Don who was dazed and had a some small cuts and bruises. We called Betsy and she helped him. When we kept going, I was a little anxious about the road, so I went a little fast and lost Eric.

After about 20 kms, we went over the great Mississippi River and then we were in Wisconsin. It was a town called Praire du Chien and I found out where the bike shop was and Peter K and Lawrence and I went. I didn’t buy anything on account of buying too much yesterday. But I did find out that Madison has a number of good bike shops where I might be able to find the carrying case I want. Also, I think I want to find a teachers store so that I can start making desk/locker name tags.

Welcome to Wisconsin.

We sat at a coffee shop for a little while and then hit the road. Right out of the town, we found this…the largest hand carved Sturgen with a saddle on it, so I had to take a picture. I rode by myself for a while, through the beautiful countryside. You could see farmland for miles and I passed a house that looked just like Randall and Elizabeth Nieuhof’s.

I rode with Lawrence and Peter K for a while, drafting at 40 km/h and it was the first time that I struggled to keep up, but we were going fast and I wasn’t going to be the one to say that it was too fast. Later when we were having ice cream, Lawrence said he was impressed that a girl could pace with them. J I’m not going to tell him that it tuckered me out.
I thought this sign was funny. We see a lot of interesting signs along the way.

So we got into Fennimore at 4, headed to the pool, showered, got some ice cream and now I’m desperately trying to get the Public Library’s wifi, but it’s not very successful. I’m at a little place called “Our Little Restaurant & Bakery” and the place is full because it’s fish fry night. I got a mushroom and swiss burger and the bun is the softest thing ever. I love small town diners.

The view from the road. Today's ride was beautiful.

Day 34: Algona, IA to New Hampton, IA

These are some pictures from last night. After blogging, I went to a pub, ordered a beer and met some 50 something guys who wanted to know why I was wearing a helmet (sometimes I just forget to take it off). J They bought me a beer and invited me to join them but I choose to have supper first and read. Then I joined them and when I tried to leave I said, “Well I’m off to go find some cheesecake”. They said that I wouldn’t be able to find any cheesecake in this town and proceeded to offer to drive me to a restaurant twenty minutes away to get some cheesecake. I politely said no, but then they said that they would bring me cheesecake at the Elementary school (where we were staying). I thought they would probably forget.

The cheesecake and people enjoying the cheesecake.

Someone sent us a box of lifesavers.

Wrong! Forty-five minutes later, Julie comes up to me and says “There are people in the parking lot looking for you”. Sure enough, there are the guys and they brought me an entire cheesecake, whip cream, chocolate sauce, plates and forks! They said “Thanks again for doing this Sarah” as they left. So we had cheesecake.

Playing Euchre. Art and I won.

Actual Kms: 188 kms

Overkill: 0

Road Things: Honestly can’t remember.

Money Spent: $8 Amazing Beef Philly Sandwich and coffee, $125 batteries, bike lube (the wax kind), two red and black road tires ($60), new chain ($40), and inner tube, $4 ice cream/smoothie.

Interesting Person Pick: Denny O’Flattery…a 66 year old bike mechanic who is short, hard of hearing and a very generous person. He spent 3 hours with me, teaching me about my bike, talking about his biking days, and cleaning my bike with me and didn’t charge me a cent.

Favourite Part of the Day: Cleaning my bike with Denny…see below.

Worst Part of the Day: The middle kms, from 80 to 120 when we were going slow because of Brian’s knees. I wanted to go faster, but I also wanted to wait for Brian. It was just boring…a 40 km road of not a whole lot.

Today I woke up and Brian and I decided to leave around 7…which means 7:30. We booked it, pulling each other for about 80 kms. We did that in about 2.5 hours and it was great. Then we reached Julie’s SAG and Brian said that his knees were starting to hurt, so we decided to take it slow.

There were lots of air turbines in Iowa and Wisconsin.

We both hit the music and rolled onwards at about 23-25 km/h. Then we got to a little town and found the only restaurant open…Zak’s. I had a great sandwich and mashed potatoes, Brian had a burger and iced his knees.

Len, our chaplain in Bill, our motorcycle guy's helmet.

Then we headed out and after about 40 more kms we reached Charles City. We decided to look for the bike shop that the waitress had told us about. It was in a Radio Shack basement and we almost didn’t find it. The bike guy wasn’t there, but I saw some beautiful red and black striped tires that looked decent and matched my bike. I asked the lady at the counter and she said that “Denny” would be back in 10 minutes, so we waited and sure enough, a short Irishman returned and asked how he could help.

Denny helped a lot. First, we decided to put the new tires on my bike. Then we measured my chain and Denny showed me that it was quite stretched, so we put a new one on. We took off the cassette, sprockets and cleaned them furiously. We cleaned the clip on pedals with air pressure and I wiped the entire bike down. Denny was quite excited that I was cleaning my bike because he gets so many bikes into the shop that are so dirty. We spent three hours talking about his racing days, what kind of rides he does now, his bike, our trip and how he is helping some people ein the area with bikes of their own. One gentleman came in to get his inner tube replaced and because Denny was working on my bike, I did that for him. The whole experience was great. When he brought me to the cash register to pay, he said, “And it’s nothing for the labour, thanks for a wonderful afternoon.”

Denny and the other guy (the one whose inner tube I fixed).

So after the cheesecake incident and the bike mechanic blessing, I have to either admit to strangers generousity or my ability to get anything I want from older men. Maybe a little bit of both?

My clean bike. Notice the handle bar tape.

After that, I still had a 30 km bike ride into camp so I booked it and hoped to catch up with the Sweep team. I saw Josh and Gayle in the distance about 10 kms from camp and talked and joked with them until we got into camp at 6:30. Then I got to brag to the entire camp over my very clean, beautiful bike. After eating, showering, setting up the tent and phoning Tim, I went to bed.

Day 33: Sioux Center, IA (it's IA instead of IW...sorry) to Algona, IA

Actual Kms: 187 kms

Overkill: 0...although we were thinking about doing an extra 13 kms just so we could say that we had biked 200 kms in one day.

Road Things: A disgusting squirrel with brains coming out of it's eye, a skunk with it's innards all over the road and a black cat that was very decomposed. Overall, not a good day...just picture me going "Ewh...yuck, blah!" and shaking my head when I saw them on the road.

Quote: "Are you peeing out of the side of your shorts Josh?" -Me after seeing Josh from Alberta pee out of the side of his shorts about 5 metres away from me. Apparently bib shorts aren't exactly easy to pee in.

Money Spent: $6 inner tubes and I know I will spend $10 on a beer and some kind of food in a few minutes.

Interesting Person Pick: Nathan Beach who is 25, from Ann Arbor, MI and is going to work at Google in September. He is moving to San Francisco (one of my favourite "I want to see it someday" cities) and is a great biker. We had a good talk on the bikes today and he said "Wow, for the amount of biking you've done Sarah, your a really good biker". Smile.

Favourite Part of the Day: Joining the group of bikers (7 of us) around the 6o km mark after I had my tire fixed. The road was very quiet so we rode two abreast and talked. When we finished talking with one person, we would ride up to the next person we wanted to talk to and talk to them. We kept a pretty good pace (30 km + with our tailwind) and had some good conversation too. It was very nice.

Worst Part of the Day: Waking up at 6:45 and thinking I was late.

Today I woke up and my clock said 6:45. I almost hit my head on the Dordt College bunkbed above me. I got my stuff together VERY quickly, headed downstairs and hopped on my bike. Then I realized it was still dark outside. Then I realized it was raining. So I asked someone what time it was. They said, "Almost 6 am, I think breakfest is being served". Alas, I realize that after setting the alarm for Corinne at 5:15 this morning, I must have pushed the hour button on the time setting while trying to reset the alarm. So, unlike the white rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, I wasn't late.

After breakfast, Matt and I left around 7 am. I was supposed to say hi to Chad Postmus who was working on campus and is an old friend from college, but totally forgot in the excitement of biking in the rain. We headed out and decided to try to name all 50 United States alphabetically. First we started on the large groups-namely the M's and the N's (there are 8 each). For a long time we could get seven of each but then asked Randy for the 8th N-New Mexico. And a van drove by with Massacheusetts plates, so we got that one.

A road sign that reminded me of Kelly O'Brien. :)

Then we tried for all 50 states and we got 49. It took us about 40 kms, over an hour, and then I blurted out "I got the last state-it's Vermont!" Ahh, satisfaction. We stopped at a church stop where we had gatorade, coffee and a power bar. A lady there told me I looked familiar and when I told her my name, she said "I read your blog! I really like it." So there you have it, Iowians like my blog. :)

Soon after, I punctured my tire and at Cory's SAG-about 60 kms out, Matt told me to check my tires, and sure enough, my back tire was flat. Rick Gritters (a recumbant biker) helped me change the inner tube. Matt went on and I left with a larger group-Steph W, Josh, Helena, Eritia, Katrina and Nathan. We had a great time talking and riding along. About 3o kms in though, I noticed my back tire was soft. So we pumped it up and hoped to get to the next SAG so that I could call Betsy's SAG wagon (she had my extra tires in her van). About 10 kms on my saggy tire, Betsy passed us in a small town, and I flagged her down. Here is a picture of Jono-the photographer and Art- a cyclist who can't ride right now, fixing my tire. I always say, if someone wants to fix my tire for me, have at it.

The larger group left, but I zoomed with the wonderful tailwind, passing people at around 45 kms/h and found them at Walter's SAG. The waited for me to use the jon and then we headed off again, contented with the promise of a few good downhills. We zipped along for the last 20 kms and talked about doing an extra 15 or so kms so we could say that we biked 200 kms in one day but then we decided it wasn't worth it because it was just bragging rights...or we tuckered out. :) You can decide.

Eritia, Josh, Steph, Katrina, Me and Bill's motorcycle. He took the picture just before my camera died.

Overall, even though the first 2-3 hours of the day was in rain, I wasn't cold or miserable. It was actually a nice to change to be biking in cool weather and it was nice to spend so much time talking on the roads. They were so deserted and in fairly good shape. The weather girl's (Katrina) promise of a tailwind turned true and it was a much easier day that most of us expected. We are camping at an elementary school, showering at a YMCA and I think most people will go to bed early tonight. That's all for now.

Day 32: Sioux City, IW to Sioux Center, IW (Dordt College)

Some pictures from the weekend that I didn't get uploaded. This is the courtyard area of the Lutheran Church who randomly met us, gave us food and drink and let us sleep in their building.
Renita (from Fredericton) and I.

Actual Kms: 100 km...yes!

Overkill: 2 to the Bike store and to the Dutch store.

Road Things: Not really anything today of note. Oh, a huge man that was made out of tires.

Money Spent: $13 White and Black Handlebar tape (By bike now looks like a Holstein which I thought Wisconsin people would enjoy), $3 Fat Tire beer at pub (and free cheeseburger and onion rings from the owners because we are on Sea to Sea...yes!, $3 tip), $6 Willimena peppermints, fruitella and Stroopie, payed back Matt, $7 stamps and mailing letter to mom.

Interesting Person Pick: Barb Mellema. She is an administrative person at Dordt who is on the tour. She's a great biker, a masher (likes to use the harder gears even on hills..like me) and a great blogger (check out her blog via the website). She organized our stay and all the perks (great food, people to greet us) at Dordt. Everyone's a fan of Barb.

Favourite Part of the Day: Taking a nap today in the room I am sharing with Corinne at Dordt. Then having a bath in a real tub. Ahh.

Worst Part of the Day: Realizing my heat rash isn't gone yet. Yah...that's the best I could do.

Today Team Sweet reunited and rode through Sioux City together. We skipped the first SAG and rode through a slight headwind. The day was nice and a few of the boys drafted behind the Betsy's SAG for a little bit.

Team Sweet in Sioux City, taking up the empty road.

Then we got to the second SAG and Alex (19 year old Redeemer student) and I kept going. I felt like riding without stopping. I kept going until Ireton (I said Hello Craig :) and then stopped for delicious strawberry slushies and rootbeer floats. I talked to some of the locals and then moved onto the 25 km finish. We were welcomed well at Dordt, given maps, a room and I sent out some mail after being shown where the ATM was by a student there.

Then I headed out to the Bike store (which was small indeed) and got some nifty tape for my handlebars. Hans, Matt and Brian met me there and we headed to the Dutch store, where I bought some sweets.

Then we headed to a pub, I had a delicious bacon cheeseburger and onion rings on the house and we enjoyed our Fat Tire beer. Notice the label. :)

After I took a nap, had a real bath and ate some amazing supper (including delicious strawberry cream pie...you could go on this tour just for the food), we had a Celebration Rally where about 400 people applauded for us as we came in. I felt like a celebrity....well, except there were 150 of us and we were wearing yellow.

The eager faces of the cyclists after about an hour and a half of singing, speakers, and a dang good slide presentation.

After blogging, bed time. 180 kms tomorrow. Blah.

Day 31: York, NE to Sioux City, IO

Actual Kms: 152 kms

Overkill: 8-Matt and I missed our first left turn by 4 kms. Opps.

Road Things: Lots of beautiful butterflies (especially monarchs...wait they are called Viceroy butterflies), a lot of dead racoons, and some other squished somethings.

Money Spent: $5 For a delicious meal with mashed potatoes, corn, homemade noodles, chicken and gravy and a coffee and $1.50 for the pool (I.O Matt Z). Oh, and, I confess $4.50 for a delicious sundae at DQ.

Quote: "Well, we're in Iowa." -Matt. "Yup. We're here." -Me. Burst out laughing at unexcitement.

Interesting Person Pick: Len our Chaplain. Today in Peleton he had to remind our group about watching our behaviour in public, especially when it comes to our witness in public establishments. He did it very tactfully and respectfully and firmly. It is difficult to say something tough and do it that well. I admire him.

Favourite Part of the Day: Dinner was really good today. Spaghetti, Ceasar Salad, Garlic Toast and Peach Cobbler with Ice Cream. Love it.

Worst Part of the Day: Matt and I left this morning and we had some good conversation, but after about 30 kms I got antsy and went hard by myself for about 60 kms. During this time, I thought a lot about Tim and I missed him. I kept having to remind myself "16 more days until I see him". I don't think I've ever biked so fast, especially in a head wind. It's hard to enjoy the ride when your thinking about the future. But something I read in "The Shack" (which I decided I didn't really like) is true. You can't live in the present when you are constantly thinking about the future. So I think the next few days will be about praciticing peace in the present in the midst of a strong desire to see him.

And sorry people, the pictures would not upload for some reason.

Day 30: York, NE to Fremont, NE (Saturday)

Actual Kms: 150 some. I was losing count because once again my speedometer wasn’t working and I was on sweep, so I tried not to pay attention to how slow we were going.

Overkill Kms: 0. I got in at 7:15 pm. I wasn’t going anywhere.

Road Stuff: Small birds, snake, and we had lots of corn and wind.

Money Spent: $5 Chicken Corn Chowder and coffee, $0 for an ice cream…a lady bought me some because she thought what we were doing was great.

Wipeouts: 0

Quote: “What you doing over there, open heart surgery?” –Reuben in response to my effort to fix my flat inner tube today.

Interesting Person Pick: Lynn, Matt’s fiance. She drove 24 hours to see Matt today and waited for 3 hours to see him. She looked so incredibly happy when he rode in, all sweaty and cranky after a long days ride. I smiled.

Favourite Part of the Day: Eating at the “Café on the Square” where they had some great décor and we had good conversation. Also, riding in the last 10 kms hard and fast at the end of the day.
Worst Part of the Day: Getting to the ice cream store in Wahoo 35 kms from camp and it being 5 pm. It wasn’t “wahoo!” in any sense of the word. People were hot, cranky and just wanted to get to camp by that time. We had a nice road after that though.

Today I was on sweep, so I woke up late, did some blogging in the AC living room at York University, ate my pancakes and bacon slowly and drank my coffee with relish. Then I packed up stuff and helped clean up breakfast. We very slowly loaded the gear truck with everyone’s bag and then we very slowly headed out.

The sweep team taking our time. Jason's amazing invention: taping his ipod and speakers to his bike.

We looked for a coffee shop close to town but didn’t find one, so we biked to the next town, around 30 kms away. There was a headwind and we went slowly, but when we got there we were rewarded with a cute café called “Café on the Square”.

The awesome decor...an old tandem bike!

The desserts...I wanted to eat them all. However, I controlled myself and had none. A rare feat!

Later on we stopped at Julie's SAG wagon. She is so awesome that she let me and Brian clean our sunglasses on her cotton shirt. When your shirt is all sweaty, all you can think of is finding cotton.

This is Gayle. Who reminded us with a smily face balloon to "be happy" when we were on sweep. Some people didn't get it today because (as you can see), we were sweaty and hot.

Here I am, taking off to do a fast 20 kms to Wahoo by myself to find some ice cream and wait for the rest of team sweep.

The ice cream place was great. A lady bought me and Brian an ice cream because she thought what we were doing was so amazing. The place was decorated in 1950's decor, and this is an engine I am lifting. :)

When Matt Zantingh, Reuben and I finally got into camp (7:00), who should be there but Lynn, Matt's finace! Matt was hot, sweaty and dazed with excitement. Lynn had been waiting for about 3 minutes. She looks like she is about to play peek-a-boo, but she's really just blocking the hot sun. It was good to see them together at the end of a long day.

After supper, a bunch of people went to a bar across the street and we played "I want to ride my bicycle".

On Sunday, we had a great rally in Omaha with a CRC there and a fantastic potluck with pizza. It was a really hot day so everyone was glad we weren't riding. When we got back to camp, I took a nap, read a book in the hockey arena (very chilly but refreshing) and then watched Batman. It was a good rest day. (Money spent: $1 coffee...the coffee pot wasn't working on account of a breaker...not too uncommon. $30 new breaks that John VanderSteen bought me and helped me install, $7 movie, $4 frappaccino from Starbucks. Ahh).