Thunder clapped as we left our room for breakfast at the truck stop across the parking lot.  It had been raining and rumbling since the wee hours of the morning and we kept waiting for it to give up.  The thunder stopped, but the rain did not; headed out into the rain, anyway and immediately had a one mile climb.  The rain sputtered to a stop after about an hour, but the hills were one after another after another.  Despite the non-stop roller coaster on a shoulder-less road, it was a beautiful day to ride.  Birds were singing and the crickets chirping in the overcast, low sixty degree temperatures.  The rolling hills on either side of the road were more enjoyable than the rolling road in front of us.  The fly-downs were fun, but each and every time we would have an excruciatingly slow climb to the top of the next hill.  At mile 37, we finally found a place to rest our tired legs and get a bite to eat.  We would have liked to stay a while, but the fireplace was not going and they had the air-conditioning down to 65°.  The girls in the restaurant promised it was a flat ride to the town we were staying, after we climbed the metal bridge over the Missouri River.  The bridge was narrow with no shoulder and it was all we could do to keep our bikes steady on the grated track, so no pictures of the river.  Our drop into Iowa was like a different planet from the lush crop filled hills just one mile behind us.  It was indeed flat, but the wind had kicked up to 15 mph and was blowing directly in our face.  We struggled to keep an 8 mph pace as we pushed past the pretty Lewis & Clark State Park.  Arriving too early to check-in, we collapsed in the lobby chairs and rested for an hour.

We keep thinking we are getting closer to civilization, until we start searching for a restaurant that serves real food, beer and wine.  Not there yet, but the fried pickles were good and one of us stocked up on energy for tomorrow.While I held out for a peanut butter and chocolate Blizzard; if you can’t have wine have ice cream (preferably both)!!