65.5 miles cycling, 3019′ of climbing (2901 total) – to read from the beginning, click here.
Another hearty breakfast and thankful good-byes to Scott and Mindy, and Scott’s son Jackson, we headed off in the (continuing) hills of Iowa. Nice quiet roads on Sunday morning though, and we had a nice stop in Reasoner at the Double-D’s bar where we filled up on peanuts in the shell, a couple PBRs, a Corona and the Steelers on TV. Nobody in the bar was the Steelers fan, so I don’t know why that game was on.
We continued on mostly quiet roads until we were about 12 miles away from Montezuma. There, we got on a state road that was much busier and very little shoulder. Adding to that, we passed a farm that was holding dog trials, and about 20 min after going by, we were passed by at least 150 pickups in long lines heading to Montezuma then north on another state highway. I know this because there were signs posted. License plates from all over the country, but the worst were the South Carolinians who didn’t seem to care whether there was traffic coming the other way or how close they were when passing us. Most of the others waited and passed safely, but it was still nerve racking, but the crazy was just starting.
We were headed to the Diamond Lake Campground near Montezuma, but first we went into town and stopped at the Casey’s; a Sheetz equivalent in almost every town we’ve been through. We got a water refresh and some ice and went to find a place for drinks and dinner.
We struck out as everything was closed, but ended up at the library with a outdoor outlet for charging and free Wi-Fi. While there we saw a couple of people in the backyard with the campfire going and thought let’s just go over and ask them if they know a good place to eat. There we met Janine, her son Hayden and her best friend and neighbor Sandy. Sandy and Janine were drinking PBRs and white claw. They welcomed us to sit down and heard our story, and Janine offered her backyard for camping that night. She also welcomed us to use the bathroom and have showers. She worked at the Casey’s but recommended the other convenience store as having better food. We’ll have to go get something to eat and ended up getting something at the local grocery store and then heading to the city park to eat it.
We went back to Janine’s and Dana went in to take a shower while I sat talking with Janine and Sandy. Hayden had left when we saw him bicycling down the road and he said to us we didn’t think you were coming back. After Dana’s shower, Janine went in to the house and came out on a rage screaming at Dana, “You f#&-ing bitch, you stole my shampoo!” Right in her face, and they closing up the day. I could see that she had two different colored eyes. The ranting continued and no amount of reasoning. Like why would we want to carry your shape with us? Do you see how full our packs are? Where would we put? She just kept screaming expletives, telling me to shut the f****** up, and wanted us to empty how Dana’s panniers. Dana was totally nonplussed, and saying that she would never steal anything from her after her offer of hospitality or ever. It didn’t seem to matter what we said. She just kept ranting.
Sandy finally intervened, and went into the house. She came back out and said to Janine, “Janine, you asked son to clean the bathroom like it was a hotel room, and he put the shampoo in the cabinet.” Janine went back in, saw the shampoo in the cabinet and came out crying and apologizing. At that point. I said it was much too late for that after your outburst. “What will you accuse us of next?” and I walked away and asked Dana to come with me. Janine was holding her and apologizing and trying to convince her to stay. Dana told me later that she said, I’m sure some people have stolen from you, and maybe you you projected that on to me but I would never do that.” Eventually. Dana left and we joined up back at the Casey’s and headed to the campground, thankful the drama for the day was over.
Well, not quite. We had our own disagreement about where to set the tent up. I wanted to be under a pavilion so we could pack up early and dry and get out of this place. Dana wanted to sleep under the full moon by the water. So she went with her sleeping bag to lay by the lake and watch the moonrise when I set up the tent in the pavilion. We both got some of what we wanted, but it was still a tense night. Tomorrow we’re planning to ride to Iowa City and hopefully a more civil day.
