UpperMiss

Day 10

Monday, 7 June 2010
Dyersville, IA to Cedar Rapids, IA
75.1 miles, 5h59m, 12.5 mph
Elapsed Time: 9h31m, Max speed: 27.1mph
Total Climbing: 2148ft, Max elevation: 1131ft
Total mileage: 735.7

Another beautiful riding day, except for the headwinds and the threat of rain. In the end, we stayed mostly dry, and we had a full day of cyclo-tourism.

We started with some unfinished business from yesterday by riding out to the Field of Dreams Movie Site. Since we would have to ride right back through town, we left our bags at the motel. It was weird riding without them. Probably similar to the difference between driving a fully loaded dump truck and driving an empty dump truck.

Until a couple years ago, the field was owned by two separate farmers who didn't get along. There was a Field of Dreams, and a
Left Field of Dreams. Eventually ownership was unified, but the two driveways in the background
are the legacy of the ridiculous old days. Now the Field is for sale again.

If you bring a glove and ball, they let you play.

We settled for walking around the bases. (There's no running on bike tours.)

The same home plate where Ray Liotta tried to play baseball.

Ray Loves Annie. Still carved in those bleachers.

We tore ourselves away from the Field and headed back to Dyersville, where we piled on our gear and started riding toward Cedar Rapids. The countryside was similar to yesterday. Same annoyingly long--but not too steep--grades. A headwind. We stopped in Hopkinton and then pushed on to Coggon.

SSDD.

Coggon is a small town in Iowa where my great-great-great-great uncle, Alonzo B. Clemons, moved his family and established a hotel: "The Clemons House." Now the Clemons House is the home of the Coggon Historical Society.

Main Street, Coggon. Not much going on.

There was no one at the House, but Mr. Balint talked me in to going to the Town Hall and asking about it. So we went in there and explained ourselves to the City Clerk. She called the City Historian, and a few minutes later we were touring the Clemons House.

The House is full of Coggon history, including photos of my relatives. I photographed all the photos, and we took a tour of the place. One disturbing exhibit: one of the town's dentists kept all the teeth he pulled and saved them in a large bottle. It was nearly full.

The Clemons Family of Coggon. The old man is Uncle Alonzo.

And this is what the family looks like now.

After a couple hours in Coggon, we were anxious to hit the road and get to Cedar Rapids before it rained. We stopped by City Hall to thank the Clerk, and she showed us the doppler radar. It did not look encouraging.

We hustled along the backroads to Alburnett, where we stopped for drinks. The sky was threatening, but it was encouraging that the good people of Alburnett were going about their business as if nothing exceptional was going on. Eventually we joined the Cedar Valley Nature Trail, which was unpaved, but still very fast. (Most of the paved roads around here are unpleasantly rough and slow).

Cedar Gateway Nature Trail.

As we got closer to Cedar Rapids the trail became paved, and a light rain began to fall. Still, the people of Cedar Rapids were out on the trail, and they must know something about the local weather...

We found the Days Inn. This was Mr. Balint's last day on the trip, so he rode his (JT's) bike to a local bike shop, where they will pack the bike and have it shipped back to Baltimore. Mr. Balint is flying out tomorrow.

My plan is to ride to Muscatine, IA tomorrow. It looks like the weather will be lousy, so I might take a day off or ride a much shorter distance--perhaps to Iowa City. That will be a game-time decision.

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