Day 9, Lake View to Sloan, Iowa: Iowa is a hard nut to crack

Saturday June 6, 2020, 80 miles (129 km) - Total so far: 549 miles (884 km)

Wow, what a day. Starting.at 4:30, I was up early. I'd set my alarm in order to break camp and be on the road by day break. Also because some people out on a boat on the lake partied all night long. At 3 they started drumming.

A quick glance at the weather showed winds from EVERY DIRECTION. They started off from the North at 7, then would shift n/e 7-10. By 3 pm they would come from the south at 30 mph. So my job was to be on the right road in the right direction at the right time. Thank God temps were moderate and started with cloud cover.

I felt sluggish to start. Lots of ups and downs. By 8 a.m .reached Ida Grove, 25 miles. After eating a breakfast sandwich I was ready to go, and just like that the wind was at my back.

Here's the thing: I had to go south even though Sioux city is north and west. The problem is most roads going that direction are gravel and route 20 is dangerous. I want to arrive alive. So I rode south to Danbury just to get on a paved road going west. I asked the kid at the gas station if the Danbury Blacktop was hilly. His eyes got big. Yes.

I'd read about the Loess Hills. I assumed they were rollers, lopping up and downs. Noooooo. These hills were constant, no let up. And so steep. I had to go down to my smallest crank. This was over and over and over. I couldn't believe I was doing it. So there was very few farms, just these incredibly rolling hills all around. At a certain point I must have finished my last hill and I started going down, down, down. I feel like it was at least 2 miles. I descended into a valley where there was Oto a tiny town. It felt like Bavaria..

53 miles so far.

I had no data or bars, but GPS found me. I went to the only thing open, a bar in what looked like an old bank. The bar owner was from Wales via Alaska. I told him I did a JOGLE and had gone through a little slice of Wales, by Tintern Abbey. He told me if I went the direction I'd planned, I'd be going through more hills, out of control hills. And there were no services, nothing up there.

I pivoted, going further south to Smithland and getting on 141. I had 2 serious climbs to get up and over, then descended from the Loess Hills. The wind was with me, and I was ratcheted up. Then: a detour, bridge out. Added 8 more miles. Looping back to the highway the wind was blowing hard from the south. The Welshman had said there was camping in Sloan. About 15 miles south of Sioux City. So I guess tomorrow I'll be there.

Camping is like the owner of a hotel's back yard. My bike is leaning against a cart full of recycling. It is next to the Kum & Go gas station and a Subway that can only do cold sandwiches because the toaster broke 3 weeks ago. It is 3 pm, 80 miles, and the wind is a blast furnace. Temps are in the lower 90s. This place is no Camp Crescent, but it'll do. The owner drove me around the property in his truck and we chatted a bit.

So at Subway because my tent is too hot, also the wind is so strong, I have it totally staked down, but it was hard to set up. Still no data or signal. Must be a T-Mobile dead zone.

Tomorrow the weather report says temps will reach 97.