Ken's Bike Ride

Wednesday
independence IA to Maquketa IA
104 miles
Travel Time 10 hours
Saddle Time 7:15 hours

The goal I set on Sunday was to get across Iowa and see where Field of Dreams was filmed. It was 45 miles due east of where I stayed last night before. I didn’t know what to expect, but it is pretty ironic that the film was about building this field and people will come. Well guess what, people come from all over to this small town just to see the field. The weird part is that it was a little emotional riding up to it. You feel like you are part of that long line of spectators arriving at the field as seen in the end of the movie.
One interesting fact about the filming of the movie. The summer it was filmed, around 25 yrs ago, Iowa was having the worst drought in over 50 yrs. There was no corn growing. Universal pictures was able to get the county to allow them to divert a stream to this field and before they knew it, they had corn. But by the time they started filming, the corn had grown too high. They built a platform for Kevin Costner to walk on when he walked thru the fields! You might be able to read the whole story in one of my pics.

At this juncture I now cross with the original Adventure Cycling Northern Tier route, so I pulled out their maps and started following it. 10 miles later I hit a road block. Literally. The road was closed for 15 miles for construction, and no one was there to drive me thru it. The other option was the interstate for 15 miles, which I was not about to do. So I asked around and got directions on some back roads. The problem is, when I start taking back roads, I can’t read them on my iPhone. They are too faded. And they don’t show up on maps. So I wing it and harass a lot of people along the way for directions.
The bad part of this detour is that it took me further east and away from Iowa City. I had hoped to see my friend Dan Poppick. But unfortunately my bike doesn’t go West!

Food is improving as I go further East. I have no complaints about the meals cooked for me at people’s homes, or that one delicious chef salad and that all you can eat spaghetti dinner. But the gas station stops for breakfast and lunch combined with Pizza Hut for dinner is getting really old. Explains why I think I have gained weight on this trip. But now there are restaurants. And tonight I bought at Fareway my favorite meal that I haven’t had in 5 weeks…….rotisserie chicken! I’m almost done with the whole chicken.