Day 6 Bennett, IA to Cascade, IA

June 9, 2012

Today’s weather report was for a cloudless upper 80’s degree day and the forecasters were right on. I was on the road by 8:40 (not quite as early as I would have liked) with my sunscreen on and my orange bandana under my helmet, protecting my ears and neck from the open sky. With the cloudless sky, I stopped often to cool down and to take photographs (ok, there was about a 4 mile stretch that took me over an hour to get through because I stopped so much to photograph, but hey, that’s quite alright and sometimes you just have to slow down and smell the roses, or the lilies, or whatever it is.)

The slow growing hills of Iowa

Rolling hay on rolling hills

Iowa farm from a grassy ditch

Farm equipment next to abandoned farmstead

Orange lilies near Massillon

Yes, I stopped to smell it.

The riding all day was of one hill after another but soon was very rewarding. I stopped at Coon’s Corner Company in Oxford Junction and bought three bananas, some deli turkey, and a Powerade to enjoy in their town park. It was a cool little store with narrow aisles of food and a great sense of small town charm (they were all on a first name basis), and I must of been one of their last customers of the day because I went back twenty minutes later and no one was to be found. 

Coon's Corner in Oxford Junction

Oxford Junction City Hall. Wonder if they fill up the city trucks here?

After “lunch” I pedaled another 7 miles to Wyoming and stopped at Bear Creek Cafe. The TV in the corner was playing the Portuguese and German Euro Cup Soccer match, a pleasant reprise from the sun drenched hills of Iowa. A few curious visitors talked with me a bit as I ate/drank my ice cream float (hey, it was hot out and I could use the carbs, right?.) As I was leaving, a motorcycle couple came in for their snack while the owner snuck out the back door. I talked to him for a few minutes and it turns out that he is originally from Greece but immigrated to the States in the late nineties, only picking up English from having to use it daily, and running a few businesses over that time period (and by the look of the walls inside the building, he seems to take pride in supporting some of the local teams of the school as their sponsor.)

Had a root beer and orange float to cool me down.

Farm outside of Wyoming

Cooled down, I hopped back on the bike and rode 20 miles to Cascade. I saw the sign for a campground and hitched a right as soon as I got into town. I followed the country road out, and an older German Shepard and a very old large white dog decided that they should come out to greet me. Luckily they didn’t follow to long and after the next turn, I reached Riverview Ridge Campground. I checked in, found a suitable spot near the rvs up top, set up the tent, and cooked supper. While cooking, a couple from down the row came and talked to me and then invited me down to sit by their fire for the evening. I told them that I would join them after my dinner and shower. So, I finished my dinner, did the dishes, showered up, and meandered down to their fire. It was nice relaxing in front of the fire and talking to the couple from Dubuque. After about 50 minutes there, another trio of campers invited us down to their site, and so we went.

Farmstead on the way to Cascade

The six of us sat around their fire and waited around to see the International Space Station pass over (ok, so I’m not sure if it was really the ISS, but supposedly the local news station said it was supposed to be visible at a certain time at a certain angle of the earth and with solid lights, both of which matched what we saw, so it could just be the ISS.) After this observance and a small snack, I decided it was time for me to hit they hay so, I ventured back up to my site, took a few notes, and went to bed.