clay and cake.

iowa is a tough state. i've been grinding through it painfully slow and i feel every mile of it. it's not a difficult ride, though it has the rolling hills that ohio, indiana and illinois were lacking. they're not hard by any means, but they still slow you down. it's not for a lack of scenery. it truly does look like a grant wood painting and it turns out, he didn't exaggerate all too much. it's not for the people, they have all been very nice, so far as my interactions have gone. it's just a rough ride. i know i have many more ahead of me, but it's still a hard adjustment.

yesterday was one such tough day. after a good chunk of the previous day being spent in iowa city
and not gaining much in terms of mileage i really wanted to put some saddle time in and get somewhere. around 11am i took shelter in a barn just in time for a thunderstorm. rain on a tin roof will knock you out very quickly. after a furious nap it was time to move on... but i was very much not into it.

the past few days i have not been terribly interested in taking photos. even though i've seen plenty of great landscapes i just have not been interested in stopping and getting the camera set up. towards the evening i spotted a sweet dirt road rolling off into the distance with some great highlights from the setting sun through the clouds. i turned around and started down the road. i got about 100 feet before my bike came to a halt stuck in what amounted to clay. the photo was clearly not going to happen now. no, in stead i had to drag my bike back out to the road sideways because the wheels would not turn. the clay had filled my fenders and clogged my brakes and made a general mess out of everything. the clay was building up on my shoes as i slid about dragging my bike. after about fifteen minutes i managed to get back up to the main road and proceeded to remove the wheels to scrape out the clay. my day was now ruined.

after another twenty minutes of clay removal i reluctantly got back in the saddle and started grinding away. i was in a pretty foul mood and was enjoying nothing about my day when a guy in a pickup truck pulled up next to me and shouted, "you want a piece of cake!?" now, if this ever happens to you the correct, and only answer, to that question is, "yes".  he passed me the cake and sped off. and that was that.

i rode for another five miles, tops to the next town where there was a fairly nice looking athletic field. at the prospect of more thunderstorms that night i decided that one of the new dugouts would provide some sweet shelter. i started making dinner on one of the picnic tables while i waited for some softballers to finish up their practice by my dugout. just as the sunset, and as i was packing up my kitchen, i startled a woman that had showed up to get something from the concession stand. i apologized a few times and she said it was quite alright. after my run-in with the 5-0 in mineral, illinois i figured the possibility that she'd call the cops was likely so i decided i'd move off into the shadows of the dugout.

just as i was setting up my mattress a car pulling into the parking lot. i watched from my shadow as 4 people got out and head over to the concession stand that i had just left. "sir?" said a man. "hello, sir?" i didn't say anything because, who knows? maybe they'd tell me to gtfo and it was after dark, i didn't want to ride any more. "hello, sir? we have a care package for you"... okay, now i doubt they're here to bust my stones. i called out to him and met him on the other side of the field. apparently the woman i startled had seen me riding earlier in the day and then recognized me at the concession stand. she rallied the troops and they came back with bottled water, beef jerky, nuts and home-made cookies. wow. we talked for five minutes and they were really concerned that i had everything i needed. i assured them i was alright and i thanked them profusely for the provisions.

cake and cookies. not a bad end to a bad day.