Day 27, Saturday, July 26.
Marquette, IA to Lowden, IA
Daily Mileage: 97.32 miles
Total Mileage: 2,466.1 miles
Daily Time on Bike: 7:33 hours
Average Speed: 12.8 mph
Maximum Speed: 42.2 mph
Last night was one of the worst night's sleep to date. It was almost impossible for us to get any sleep whatsoever. We packed up our stuff and headed out of town. Starting to bike along the Mississippi River meant only that we had to climb out of the flood plain. It seems almost like being back in the mountains again. Once we were out of the flood plain, we began to battle the heat and intense sun. The heat index hovered around 105 degrees all day and there wasn't much of a breeze to make it any better.
We stopped every now and again to absorb convenience store A/C, but towards the middle of the afternoon the heat really got to David. I was biking in the front position today. (Usually, we ride about thirty to fifty feet apart.) When I looked back I saw David on the ground. He had fallen over and looked horrible. We coasted into the next town and amazingly saw a church right at the edge of the small town. By this point, I could see almost straight through David's eyes and he was looking extremely pale. After the church custodian saw David, he let us go inside to get some water and cool down a bit. When we both felt a little better, we went to find something for dinner.
There was a small pizzeria in the town, which happened to be the only restaurant in town. When we went inside we were greatly surprised to discover that it wasn't air-conditioned, just cooled with a couple of fans. A nice older lady ran it and was helped by a girl in high school. When we finished dinner, we inquired about staying at the church, of which the two happened to be members. We were sent to find the vicar, who in turn sent us to see the pastor. We were very fortunate to talk to the pastor's wife who was extremely hospitable and told us that we were more than welcomed to stay in the church basement for the night. She even let us grab a shower and relax a bit in the parsonage after we unloaded our bikes. We hung out in the air-conditioned church basement for a while before going to sleep—a nice peaceful, comfortable and relaxing sleep.
(Photo: David getting his head shaved by Walt the Barber.)
Daily Mileage: 97.32 miles
Total Mileage: 2,466.1 miles
Daily Time on Bike: 7:33 hours
Average Speed: 12.8 mph
Maximum Speed: 42.2 mph
Last night was one of the worst night's sleep to date. It was almost impossible for us to get any sleep whatsoever. We packed up our stuff and headed out of town. Starting to bike along the Mississippi River meant only that we had to climb out of the flood plain. It seems almost like being back in the mountains again. Once we were out of the flood plain, we began to battle the heat and intense sun. The heat index hovered around 105 degrees all day and there wasn't much of a breeze to make it any better.
We stopped every now and again to absorb convenience store A/C, but towards the middle of the afternoon the heat really got to David. I was biking in the front position today. (Usually, we ride about thirty to fifty feet apart.) When I looked back I saw David on the ground. He had fallen over and looked horrible. We coasted into the next town and amazingly saw a church right at the edge of the small town. By this point, I could see almost straight through David's eyes and he was looking extremely pale. After the church custodian saw David, he let us go inside to get some water and cool down a bit. When we both felt a little better, we went to find something for dinner.
There was a small pizzeria in the town, which happened to be the only restaurant in town. When we went inside we were greatly surprised to discover that it wasn't air-conditioned, just cooled with a couple of fans. A nice older lady ran it and was helped by a girl in high school. When we finished dinner, we inquired about staying at the church, of which the two happened to be members. We were sent to find the vicar, who in turn sent us to see the pastor. We were very fortunate to talk to the pastor's wife who was extremely hospitable and told us that we were more than welcomed to stay in the church basement for the night. She even let us grab a shower and relax a bit in the parsonage after we unloaded our bikes. We hung out in the air-conditioned church basement for a while before going to sleep—a nice peaceful, comfortable and relaxing sleep.
(Photo: David getting his head shaved by Walt the Barber.)
