29 June - Day 31: Lincole NE to Waubonse State Park IA - 114.2 km @ 19.7 km/h

I woke up at 7 a.m. but decided to be indulgent so had an extra hour’s sleep. After all, in spite of the hard work I am on holiday! I then wrote up yesterday’s travels over a breakfast of fruit before checking my e-mail and having a shower. It was about 9:30 when I finally left the hotel.

As I was heading out the door Dwayne from Colorado approached me. A typically open and enthusiastic American he was fascinated by my trip. He was in Lincoln on business and proudly showed me his racing bicycle which was on the rack on the back of his Ford Explorer. "I take it with me on all my trips and go for at least 10 miles on it at the end of the day" he proudly said. I thought good on you … too many of us while away our times on business trips eating, drinking or being too idle. He was impressed with how far I’ve travelled and marvelled that I had a wife who was so supportive. "Not mine" he emphatically stated. Pity I thought.

It was then out onto the roads of Lincoln to find the FedEx office where my replacement camera was waiting. The sign posting in Lincoln is pathetic, at least compared with most other cities I’ve been in, but fortunately I have a good sense of direction so I chose a major E-W route hoping that it would get me in the vicinity of N 20th Street. The main roads are a series divided arterials with lots of overpasses and very fast moving traffic. I was glad to be wearing my helmet, although at the speeds some drivers were travelling it wouldn’t help much.

After finding N 19th Street I was quite proud of myself; until I came to the next major road which was N 27th Street. Ho hum. I headed north on 27th street and then found a suitable road running parallel to my original route and this took me to FedEx. I was quite pleased to have found it and once again thanked my sense of direction.

Needless to say things didn’t go smoothly. Yes, the camera had been there but after 5 days they sent it back as not collected! Too bad it took me 7 days to get there. I was a bit put out (to say the least) but there was not much I could do so I got a copy of the list of FedEx offices in Iowa and got back online with HP who have (hopefully) sent it to Burlington. For the record, I did call 2 days ago and confirmed it was there; they just didn’t tell me it was about to be returned!

I decided to head out of town so followed 27th Street south. I had decided to get a new front tyre as this was the last major town I would be in for a while and the Yellow Pages indicated that there were two on my chosen route. Before too long I came to the first and went in to get a tyre. It was a huge place with six bicycle mechanics! I commented on this and they claimed to be the biggest in Iowa. I suppose that it is well patronised by the students from the nearby University of Nebraska.

My front tyre was replaced and I also replaced the tube with one the proper size. I don’t know how it happened but the one I was using was definitely not the right size. I knew it from the way the bike handled, but couldn’t be bothered doing anything about it. Surprisingly, the tread on my rear tyre is fine so only the front needed replacement. I guess 3000 km isn’t too bad a distance, particularly with the load I have, but I must admit that I expected better since these are (supposedly) the top touring tyre you can buy (Continental Top Touring 2000). We will see how my replacement wears. I also got some lubricant for my chain (nice and quiet now) as well as an adapter for filling my tyres from pumps at garages (I have a different valve).

Mike and the guys there were most interested in my trip. They commented that a few weeks ago two women from California came in They had caught a bus to Lincoln and were cycling the rest of the way across the U.S.A. We all agreed that’s cheating. One of the managers had seen me yesterday at Seward where he was checking out a route for a cycle race. "You should wear your helmet" he admonished me. Yes, I know I should, but after 10 hours in the sun it is just too much. What I do is I wear it whenever I’m on busy roads or ones with no shoulders or in cities otherwise I take the risk. Seems to be the best possible compromise.

Having finished with the bike shop I continued south on 27th Street. It was very busy and narrow in places—quite frightening at times with the traffic. However, it passed through some lovely wooded areas with nice houses. After the plains it is great to see trees again. There were also lots of shops, some of which pointed to the fact that Lincoln is quite different to the rest of Nebraska that I’ve been through. Let me explain.

From the time I left Estes Park Colorado until I reached Lincoln Nebraska I would have cycled over 750 km. During that time I only saw Caucasian people except for about 10 Indians. I therefore had the impression that Nebraska was a Caucasian state. However, in Lincoln I saw several Blacks and Orientals and passed shops with names like "Mohammed’s Barber Shop" or "Nguyen Oriental Market". Definitely a break with the rest of Nebraska.

I turned off 27th street and headed East on Highway 2. I wasn’t too far from Union College so decided to stop at a grocery store in the hope that they would have a good selection of health foods. I wasn’t disappointed. Indeed, this was by far the best store in terms of variety and quality of foods that I’ve yet come across. I bought a variety of fresh fruits, some fresh salads, fresh bagels as well as a few tins of Loma Linda products. I then sat under a tree next to the parking lot and had a feast for lunch. Yum. Lis would have been very envious of my cherries and apricots.

By this time it was about 13:30 and I decided it was time to head East on Highway 2. There was a bike path next to the road which I followed part of the way. I met a woman biker with a flat tyre who I stopped and offered to help. Fortunately she declined as the bike shop was only a km away. I say fortunately since it was a tubular tyre which are very difficult to fix. Had she wanted me to I would have given it a go, but it would have taken me quite some time to do.

The bike path ended and I joined the traffic on Highway 2. It was a wide road with a wide shoulder so it wasn’t too bad, but I still prefer the quieter roads. As we left town it was rolling terrain with lots of ups and downs, but it wasn’t too bad. Like the rest of Nebraska there were lots of corn fields, but there were more fields that were fallow and some were running cattle. The most noticeable difference was the humidity: it was much more humid than I’ve experienced since I left California.

The travels were much of what I’ve had recently, the only difference being the up and down nature of the terrain. I’m not sure why but I was very ‘flat’ and lacked my usual enthusiasm. After 67 km I came to Syracuse and decided to have a break at the roadside shop. I got a cold grape juice which was great—it was over 30 outside—and then found they had small tables with telephones. I tried my Net2Phone and found it worked so called N.Z. to sort out some business issues and talk with Lis. After procrastinating as much as possible I started off again at 18:00.

I felt better than before and made good time. It was a divided road with two lanes in each direction and the shoulders were newly paved. Indeed, the middle 20 km or so had just been completed. With the concrete surface it was not a cheap road, and with only 300 veh/h (I counted) I don’t know how they justified it, but it was nice cycling nonetheless.

I went around Nebraska City and then found myself at the Missouri River. This is another milestone, although no T shirt, since for many years the Missouri marked the end of ‘civilisation’ and the start of the frontier wilderness. It was a big river and I was surprised at how quickly it was flowing—particularly given the limited rain we have had recently. In fact, this is being called the ‘Drought of 2000’ in Nebraska and many are really suffering.

Across the Missouri and I reached the famous state of Iowa. Not many know what Iowa stands for. Some locals explained to me that it is an acronym for Idiots Out Wandering Around. Now you know…and to think I always assumed it was an Indian word.

There was a dramatic change in the road condition on the Iowa side of the river, and it was not for the better. The road was very rough but even more disconcerting there was a gravel shoulder. For the last 3200 km I’ve enjoyed paved shoulders, but not here. Fortunately traffic was light and they all went into the other lane, but Iowa has me worried …

I stopped at a Conoco near the Interstate junction and had a bean burrito for dinner. They come frozen and you nuke them in a microwave. 1.75 minutes later it is ready to eat. I’m thankful they had them as there was nothing else without meat. One of the ladies working there had used two 100 mm tape holders as decorations in her hair. Strange people these locals, but friendly. The fellow behind the counter directed me up the road 10 km to the Wauwanese State Park where I could camp.

There was a long flat section full of farms, with lots of water, and in the distance hills. When I entered the hills I enjoyed the fact that there were so many mature trees. The smell was very ‘earthy’ and it was wonderful to be in a woods again. I found the Waubonse park and cycled in.

There were a large number of camping sites but only a small number were occupied. There were good facilities with hot showers and surrounded by trees, it was a lovely place. I got a site with a power cord so I could use my computer and pitched my tent. A very friendly ranger came by and we chatted. He indicated that this weekend, being the 4th of July, it would be completely packed. I asked whether or not there were any problems with Lyme’s Disease due to the deer in the area. He said not to worry, although they had regular ticks. Racoons were the biggest ‘threat’ since they come searching for food scraps.

My neighbours had a fire going and they invited me to join them which I did. There was Jenny, Todd, Vic, Sean and Vee. They were a group of Americorp volunteers working in the park for the summer. Americorp is similar to the Peace Corps, but it is focused on volunteer activities in the U.S.A. instead of overseas which is the Peace Corps domain. All were from Iowa except Vee who was a Cambodian refugee, coming here in 1975.

It was very interesting talking with them. Although I’ve been appreciating all the trees since I arrived in Iowa they were adamant that they are not native to the area and that when Lewis and Clark explored here in the early 1800s it was just prairie. Today only 0.1% of the land area in Iowa are prairie, and these are limited to parts of the state which were totally inaccessible or inappropriate for farming—such as this park. They were working on clearing trees and fostering growth of the prairie grass in the park.

It is a fascinating geological feature in that the park is built on a ridge which is made entirely of loess. Only in China is another one of these ridges found. Loess are sediments of silt, clay and very fine clays. Carried by the winds, they were deposited on the east slope of the valley wall. There are no rocks—it was nice and easy to peg my tent—and the soil has unusual properties. Because of its fine texture, deep, steep-sided and very narrow ridgetops have been eroded in the hills. Small, step-like terraces called "cat steps" resulting from repeated slipping of the soil can be seen on many west-facing slopes. Since the soil drains rapidly, nearly vertical cuts can be made in the soil wthoug erosion.

They lamented the complete absence of any development limitations. Apparently, people with property can do almost anything they want. Consequently, a lot of the unique natural beauty of the area has been bulldozed or damaged. It seems that the state is famous for its corn and hog farms, the latter being particularly pernicious when it comes to deleterious to the environment. However, rather than impose stricter environmental standards the State government either ignores it or gives them tiny fines. Why? Because of the amount of money that the businesses donate to the politicians. Ouch. Indeed, they sounded as cynical about American politicians as I do about the developing countries I worked in. They felt that although in the long-term the prospects were good (optimism of youth?) there are a lot of current setbacks. One example was the famous independent governor of Minnesota, Jesse Ventura, who has been repealing a number of environmental laws.

All were students, or graduates, of Iowa State University. Apparently even though it is a State as opposed to a private university it is very highly regarded in a number of areas such as Engineering and Veterinary. They explained about the debt load they all carry, on the order of $40,000 by the time they graduate. Were it a private university they said it would have been twice that. And to think that the N.Z. students complain about having it hard.

It was getting late and I retired and worked on my journal for a while before having a good night’s sleep.

On to the Next Day

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