Day 19 – Indiana to Iowa to Nebraska

Today, we were going to stop at the Mississippi River to ride across (Indiana to Iowa), but here too they have experienced a lot of rain lately and the banks of the river were so swollen that the bicycle path was underwater.  Since we already had Indiana covered we stopped at the World’s Largest Truck Stop, in Iowa, as our back up location.

We explored this huge rest area, which is aptly named - there are at least three Big Rigs inside (!), among other things, like restaurants, stores, and anything you need for your 18 Wheeler.

Dave and I set out for what we thought would be a quick Iowa 5k.  The plan was to go “around the block”, but much to our surprise and disappointment, two of the roads were loose gravel (not fun to ride with a skinny-tired road bike) and a third was a grass farm road, barely visible.  We did manage get in our 5k, toughing it out on the gravel (probably not the bets experience for Dave’s already testy tires), but it was better than riding underwater in the Mississippi.

Iowa 5k

After our Modest Rest and Measly Bike Ride, we left the World’s Largest Truck Stop and headed from Iowa to Nebraska. This is to be our stop for the next couple days in order to celebrate the 4^th of July, mid-west style.  And here too, they had decided not to wait for the actual day to start the firework displays.  All around us (and we could see all around us for miles – think: Flat, very Flat) beautiful fireworks were being set off as a precursor to the big day.