hello all! writing from the heart of America, our midwest of farms and factories, sitting in a little Mennonite church office in Cedar Falls using the pastor's computer to do email. great to have a rest day and catch up on napping, eating, writing. and so to the daily diary:
9/2, day 14: morning prayer and mass, then breakfast with the friars. took our time chatting with them, then packing, so by time we ready to leave it was raining. stayed a little longer to wait out the rain, started riding in the afternoon. picked our way south and west on whatever county roads we could find--out here flat land where most roads run with the points of the compass. with no traffic, rode beside each other and chatted about our cross-confessional experiences with the franciscans. Glen drove off the road looking at a flower garden. I nearly ran over a weiner dog. stopped at a man's house and asked if we could camp in back yard. he not quite sure he wanted us there, hemmed and hawed, asked to see ID and if we had any firearms with us. he wanted to help us, so finally sent us away with a big bag of food, two hot sloppy joe sandwiches, and guided us to an empty lot where we camped quite happily for the night.
9/3, day 15: woke up around 2am to lightning, but got no rain. in morning chatted with farmer who stopped by about the death of the small-time dairy farmer. crossed into Illinois in afternoon, fought some headwinds (our first real day of headwinds, praise God!). in evening quit pedaling for a bit to watch some eighth grade girls softball, a local culture stop. Glen rode off the road looking at a statue of St. Francis. got a yes from first place we stopped to ask if we could camp. that always feels good. saw a V of geese heading south. "think we should be taking the hint?" i asked Glen.
9/4, day 16: in morning rode through small industrial complex typical of small manufacturing that is large part of midwestern economy. experienced the flat-land sensation of seeing a tower in the distance but not actually getting to it for another 15 or 20 minutes. went through Starved Rock State Park, sanctuary of beautiful lakes and hills close to Illinois River. in afternoon stopped for burgers at McDonalds and later for ice cream, a birthday treat for me. felt like a kid again, relishing such simple pleasures. on the road met a guy with a bike on his car who flagged us down and told us about a bike/canal trail nearby, gave us maps, offered to ride with us in morning. we planned to meet him later to camp together. rode canal trail to campground he suggested, cooked dinner, but he did not show up.
9/5, day 17: Bruce did show up in the morning, with his bike all ready to ride with us. even paid for our campground--just one of the many, many generous things we have received from strangers along the way. he took us around hills instead of over, through difficult-to-navigate cities, then dropped us off at the Mississippi River. I ran off the trail avoiding a frog. wonderful to come up over a levee and see the Mississippi spread out before us, big brown river in all its middle-of-America glory. crossing it a milestone of our trip. tailwinds in afternoon helped us push it to Iowa City, where Glen's friends Ken and Elaine waiting for us. went out for pizza with them; great to be doing something social off the bike. began to discuss our trip as vocation, our job to be on the bike eight hours a day. a job we enjoy.
9/6, day 18: took a rest day with our friends in Iowa City. caught up with writing, laundry, phone calls. lounged and ate. did some work on our bikes. enjoyed grilled veggies and bratwurst in evening. decided that the next step of our journey should be to head for cousins in Winnipeg, Canada. even though this will set us back in our goal of crossing the Rocky Mountains before the snows close the passes, it feels like the right thing to do. we don't want to always be driven by externals beyond our control; we want to be free to pick our way based on a balance between freedom and responsibility. so we're going to head off to see family, up through Minnesota and into Canada. foolhardy perhaps, with fall then winter coming on, but a good decision, we think.
9/7, day 19: said goodbye to friends in Iowa City and rode to friends in Cedar Rapids. most of the way on a great bike trail. saw birds circling together in a spiral--white wings then dark brown underbellies as they circled like tinsel floating in the wind. like nothing i've ever seen before, almost a spiritual experience. and since we on bikes, able to savor such sights much more. turned out to be a hard day, over 100 miles and neither of us feeling in great shape. was excellent to see Glen's friend Kent coming down the trail to meet us and guide us to his apartment. ate a wonderful meal of pasta with veggies and basil, deviled eggs, cooked squash. watched movie in evening, great to be doing a normal social sort of thing. fun to get to know Glen's friends Kent and Jennifer, and to hang out with two of Jennifer's siblings and a very baby niece.
9/8, day 20: another rest day, to give our bodies a break and to spend time with friends. i am having some trouble with allergies, so nice to recuperate for a day. went to small Mennonite church in morning, which Jennifer pastors. out for lunch then an afternoon of napping and watching tennis--just the lazy sort of day we crave. so wonderful to be so well taken care of by so many friends and strangers along the way. a true blessing to experience the great people that live in this country, the wonderful hospitality that is becoming almost normal to us. to all those out there who have given so much to us--thank you, thank you, thank you!
Keep in touch - Joe (lappjoe@yahoo.com) and Glen (glapp@juno.com)!