Tipton, Iowa

It's about 5:00PM here. I'm gonna get out and suffer through (ha ha ha) one more festival. (I love festivals and street fairs!)

I'm in Tipton, Iowa. Today was a 65 mile ride from wherever the hell I was last night. (North Lberty?)

This morning when I woke up I looked at the skies, dreading the worst. At 5:00AM the wind was already picking up, the skies were completely overcast, and I figured, "Whew, it's gonna be another tough one."

The route guide called for us to climb even more hills than the day before. Yeesh.

But I have to tell you: it was the best day of them all. At least as far as riding conditions. The skies lightened up, but remained completely overcast. So the temperature stayed very moderate, say, high 70s instead of 90s.

Rain never materialized and, miracle of all miracles, the wind shifted direction. It either wasn't blowing or it was at our backs most of the ride.

Remember I said my goal was to make it to the 50 mile point by noon each day? I did the entire ride by noon today! Even after stopping and eating breakfast at Gwen's and chowing down a pork chop at Mr. Pork Chop.

I'm going to go out and take some more pictures. If I get a chance, I'll post 'em tonight. If not, I'll take care of 'em sometime over the weekend.

Tomorrow's the day we've all been looking for. (Kinda.) It's the last ride day. It's an easy ride. Pretty much downhill as we get closer to the Mississippi River valley. I haven't checked the weather, but, if you think about it, what difference does it make what the weather does? It's not like we're not going to not ride it if the weather's bad.

It's also the shortest distance, too. 55 miles. If I am able to duplicate the speed I did today's ride, I'll be at the finish line around 11:15 or so.

Thanks for hanging out with me. More later if I can. One more day to go!