Brad got up EARLY, those of you who know him understand what a notable occurance it was. He was packed and ready to get going by the time I'd put my sleeping bag up. I'd fallen sleep dreaming of breakfast and the only thing that got me moving was the thought of some pancakes, eggs and hash browns.
When we found that the cafe in town was closed I was really annoyed. I just wanted to start riding until we found a place to get some breakfast.
The Corner Bar in Walker, IA delivered. I gave it 4 stars--great food at super cheap prices. Brad's only complaint was that the coffee wasn't very good--but in its favor: it was free.
Down the road a piece we came across a 200 foot streatch of road that can only be described as a racoon killing ground. There were at least twenty pieces of road kill on both the sides of the highway. Brad and I spent two or three minutes staring at one corpse trying to decide if it was a cat or racoon. The long fingers and short tail convinced us that it was a racoon.
A few miles outside of Maquoketa, IA a tractor turned out onto the road. The driver's two sons were hanging on as they bumped down the gravel shoulder. I started to pass them but as I moved along side and waved the driver started asking me about the ride. I really wish I'd taken a picture of them before they said goodbye.
Just down the hill we stopped in Maquoketa, IA at around 19:00. Our intention was to just make a quick stop at the supermarket for some food. 15 minutes later we were ready to leave, but the clouds, which had been thickening all afternoon, looked like they were from The Wizard Of Oz's tornado scenes. As the wind picked up, announcing the front of the storm, we went across the street and hid under the awning of a hardware store and waited for the rain to end. After a half hour of torential downpour, we decided it wasn't worth going out in the rain to find another place to camp and rolled out the ground cloth. Half expecting a cop to show up at any minute, we settled down for an uncomfortable night's sleep.
andrew
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