Day 5 Muscatine, IA to Bennett, IA

June 8, 2012

I was up at a decent time this morning as I kept most of my bags packed at my riverside camp. I ate my leftovers from the night before (I had access to a fridge to keep them cold,) did my dishes, and packed the final bag. I loaded up and was ready to go by 8:30. Not too bad of a start. I pulled away, shifted, and heard a noise. Oh $@#%. Not sure what the noise was so I kept riding. I came to the elevated railroad crossing and attempted to down shift but that didn’t seem to help as I had to hop off and push my bike up the 5 feet over the railroad (Am I that weak?) I remembered seeing a park by the river when I crossed the river yesterday so I rode down there to examine the issue.

I reached the park and found a nice table to unpack my bags and get a better look. I examined the rear derailleur housing and noticed a bunch of wires coming out. Hmmm. I don’t remember it looking like that. I considered digging through my bags to find some new housing (which bag could it possibly be in?) but realized that there is a bike store in Muscatine and perhaps they could fix it with much greater ease than I could. I busted out my phone’s web browser to see the store hours (they open at 9:00, excellent) and location and tried to figure out the best way there. I waited a bit and soon this man came walking his dog. I walked out and talked to him about the bike store and he confirmed that the bike trail in Muscatine would take me a good portion of the way. After his help, I reloaded my bike and headed down the trail to the store. I zigzagged across a few other streets, turned left on Grandview, and there was the sign for Harper’s Cycling & Fitness.

Ugh, those wires shouldn't be like that (sorry for the out of focus)

I walked in the store and was greeted by Greg. He came out to examine my bike and said it should be a pretty easy fix and that he could get it done today. I unpacked my bags and wheeled it in. Greg and his son dealt with in and out customers, made some additional tweaks to my bike, and in a few hours I was back in business. I checked out and showed Greg my proposed route out of town. He countered with a new map and a way of avoiding not only some traffic but also the construction that I would be riding through on my route. Thanks Greg and have fun with RAGBRAI this year!

Harpers - Oh thank goodness

With a properly shifting bike, I rode through the outskirts of Muscatine and back on my little adventure. On the back roads, two road cyclists caught up to me and rode with me for about a mile. One of the two was curious about the trip but I must have been going to slow for the other for soon they were riding off. They finally became a blur and I continued solo on my detour. I came through the tiny town of Moscow and turned to go thru Wilton. I arrived in Wilton and debated on whether or not to eat lunch. It wasn’t quite noon and I wasn’t really hungry, so I kept riding. I went a mile southeast and turned northeast (I did miss all of the construction), reconnecting with the planned route. A few hills later and a passing over of I-80, I arrived in Bennett, population 395.

Fence row in Iowa

Cows in the shade

I saw a sign for a town park and decided to follow it. I was getting hungry and so I ventured into Butch’s Pub a little after 1. The few souls inside picked up and headed out and I was left with the friendly lady behind the bar. After 15 minutes of nice chitchat, I finally placed my order. I slowly ate my lunch and continued my conversation with her. A little after 3:00, Butch (the namesake of the place) came in and the stories continued. A few more good storytellers came and went as I sat there and I left the place a little before 5. I considered an offer to set up camp behind the bar but didn’t want the potential late night action. Thanks for the offer Butch & Mary. Passing this offer, I found the local camp area, set up camp, ate a bit more and relaxed for the rest of the night. 

FOOD! Butch's Pub - Good company and stories