Is This Heaven?

With an invitation secured to return for the harvest in fall (seriously, I really want to do that), it was time to pack up my gear once again and hit the road. The plan for the day was to cover about 100 km with a BIT of a touristy stop slightly past the midway point. As a bonus, it was a touristy spot I had been before but via my Miata back in 2012. It hasn’t happened a lot but I always find it fun to pedal places that I had previously gone on a (car) road trip.

As was expected, today’s ride included more rolling hills. Some rolled more than others but all in all the first portion of my ride proceeded very well. Admittedly, there was one particular stretch of the highway that wasn’t the most enjoyable due to the cracks in the road – each one determined to jar me out of my mind (or what’s left to it). However, as I cycled beyond the town of Worthington, IA I was greeted by a newly (or somewhat recently) paved road that was a pure joy to glide across. And glide I did all the way to Dyersville, IA. My first destination of the day was on the other side of town and on the outskirts of the city.

I don’t think I was particularly surprised that not much had changed since I had last been in Dyersville. Actually, that’s not true. The city seems to have grown quite a bit in the seven years since my first visit. One thing was for sure though, the corn hadn’t grown nearly as tall for this visit. Fortunately, that didn’t spoil my visit. At all.

I don’t know what I find harder to believe, that the movie Field of Dreams is 30 years old. Or, after all that time, that people still come to the field with a clear feeling of a connection to both the field and the movie. It’s sort of like Iowa’s answer to the Rocky Steps in Philadelphia. I’m sure neither expected their legacy to live on like it has. And yet, live on it has. And I suspect that will continue for quite some time. As the man said, “People will come, Ray. People will most definitely come.”

Despite the somewhat short corn and my lack of a ball glove, I still enjoyed my encore visit to the field. There was a bat and a few balls lying around home plate so I couldn’t resist the opportunity to belt out a couple of fly balls to the gap in left field (only to be nonchalantly fielded by Shoeless Joe … after all, his glove is where triples go to die).

Denied my triples, it was time to move on and finish the rest of the day’s ride to Dubuque. For those not geographically challenged, you may have noticed that the first portion of the day’s ride was very much in a northerly direction. And the second portion was very much in an easterly direction. With the Grand Canyon still very much to the south and west of my current location, it’s safe to say I won’t be getting there very soon. But I’m seeing a lot of states along the way.

The remaining 45 km to Dubuque was reasonably effortless but I did need to do some on the fly navigating as I neared the city. Both Google and Garmin were encouraging me to stay on highway 20 – which I certainly could’ve done. However, highway 20 is a four lane highway with more than a little fast moving traffic and less than a little in the way of a shoulder. Actually, there was no shoulder whatsoever. Now I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve ridden on more than a few roads (and even Interstates) that wouldn’t generally be deemed bicycle-friendly (or even cycling-legal re: Interstates). However, while I was tempted to stay on highway 20 today, I opted for a slightly longer route with significantly less traffic. It was likely the best decision for everyone on the road.

My hosts for the night were Douglas and Martha and they were great. They were very helpful in offering options for my next couple of days on the road (which is about two days further ahead in the planning department than I’ve been for much of this journey so far) plus they have a Miata, so … what else needs to be said?

Today’s totals:
Distance: 98.45 km
Ride time: 4:22:54
Average speed: 22.47 km/h
Maximum speed: 55.48 km/h