John C. Anderson
Stroke Survivors Tattler
Road to Margaritaville
from
Anacortes, Washington to Key West, Florida
The Cast: Dan, Catherine, Bill, Dana, David
|
| John C. Anderson Stroke Survivors Tattler |
Anacortes, Washington to Key West, Florida
The Cast: Dan, Catherine, Bill, Dana, David
Date | Start ✔︎ = DONE
----------------+------------------------------
Jun 29 Stage 1 | Anacortes, WA; 462 miles ✔︎
Jul 16 Stage 2 | Sandpoint, ID; 342 miles ✔︎
Aug 03 Stage 3 | Cutbank, MT; 544 miles ✔︎
Aug 17 Stage 4 | Dickinson, ND; 413 miles ✔︎
Aug 30 Stage 5 | Pierre, SD; 485 miles - ✔︎
Sep 13 Stage 6 | Council Bluffs, IA; 559 miles - Just starting...
Sep 28 Stage 7 | St. Louis, MO; 570 miles
Oct 12 Stage 8 | Tishomingo, MS; 454 miles
Oct 25 Stage 9 | Mobile, AL; 570 miles
Nov 08 Stage 10 | St. Augustine, FL; 533 miles
Nov 23 Stage 11 | Ft. Lauderdale, FL; 189 miles
Nov 29 End 12 | Key West, FL; End of Ride
Some details from Spokes Fighting Strokes and CrazyGuyonaBike:
DanTrikeMan - Spokes Fighting Strokes:
" Road to Margaritaville" 9/7/14
Attitude is 90% of life, think positive! "Fins Up"
DanTrikeMan
David Babcock - CrazyGuyonaBike:
Day 73: Onawa to Council Bluffs
Tuesday Sep 9, 2014, 36 miles (58 km) - Total so far: 2,287 miles (3,681 km)
What an interesting day. It certainly didn't end the way we thought it would this morning when we headed out. And the day started slightly differently than usual in that we only had three riders to start.
With Dan off to visit home for a few days we launched this morning with Dana, Catherine and myself. It was cool, calm and a bit foggy this morning in the KOA campground. I headed out first with the ladies following just a bit later.
We knew two things about the day to come: we would have a headwind almost all day, and there was rain forecast for later in the afternoon. Possibly very heavy rain. So the plan was to get to our planned camp before it hit. Hopefully we would be done by 2 PM which was when the rain was forecast to begin.
In the beginning the riding was ok. I rolled up into the town of Onawa and then out through the country. Traffic was light and the headwind wasn't too bad. I cruised past the town of Blencoe and just a ways out of town I came upon Bill. He was pulled over and I checked in to let him know I was doing fine and didn't need anything at the moment.
 |
Taking a break on the east side of Mondamin.
|
After a number of miles further I made the turn from south to east and went through Mondamin. There were a couple of businesses but I decided to stop on the far side of town. The fire department had a nice driveway that I used to take a break. While eating a snack I saw the other two riders approaching.
Dana and Catherine stopped for a bit and we talked about the ride so far. We left together and were all checking out the sky which was now getting very dark to the west. It was completely overcast over us and looked pretty threatening.
From Mondamin we rolled east for several miles and then turned south again and entered the edge of the Loess Hills area. The route follows County Road L20 and contours along the hills. It was very pretty and was a nice change of pace from the flat open farmland.
At just under 36 miles for the day I came around a turn and saw the ladies pulling over and Bill in the van coming back towards them. He pulled over and told us that he had been keeping track of the weather radar and there were mulitple warnings issued. There was a tornado watch, a thunderstorm warning, a high wind warning and a flood warning. And it was all coming right at us from the west.
Bill made an executive decision and we agreed to shut down the ride right then and load the bikes in the trailer. It only took a few minutes and as we climbed in the van it began to rain. As we drove south on the route we went through a really heavy downpour with lightning and thunder. It would have been miserable on the bikes. As Bill said, if you were on a self-supported ride you would have had to "shelter in place" as it were.
Because we were in the van and already driving we realized we could just drive on into Council Bluffs instead of camping a ways short and going in tomorrow. So we rolled into town, stopped at a KFC for lunch, and then headed to the south end of town and the Lake Manawa State Park & Campground.
Catherine headed for the shower while we set up the trailer. When she was ready to go, Bill and Dana took her to the airport for her flight to Phoenix this evening. While they were gone I worked on the computer and watched as rain came pouring down. I found out later that Council Bluffs got over 2.2 inches of rain this afternoon. When it quit raining we had a small lake next to our campsite but it was still dry inside.
Plans for the next few days include shopping tomorrow and a guest rider coming in. Thursday may include a trip to the local zoo and a famous local bike ride that evening if the weather cooperates.
No comments:
Post a Comment