The ghost ships sailed under cover of morn’ to pillage and plunder all that lay in their wake.

Not exactly, but it’s what it felt like when we left this morning in humidity so thick you could see it (much less, slice it).  It also felt like we were sailing on the flat road with a good wind at our back.

 Stopped at an extensive monument to America’s First Coast to Coast Highway,that we had been on and off of for days.  The history lesson was interesting, but we were ready to be off the noisy highway with traffic flying by; this was rectified by a turn on to a country road.  The engine noise was replaced with quiet, the scenery improvedand we still saw a bit of history.  The Hickory Grove School was built in 1889 and continued in service until 1956.

We pedaled through Hometown(s) USA.  It was like going back in time ,when children played on swings and got wagon rides.  We were enjoying this wind assisted, flat road when the pavement seemed to drop away.  Quickly, we remembered seeing this dip to the Des Moines Riveron the map.  The two mile drop and one mile climb was a nice change of pace and scenery, just so long as it did not continue.  We pedaled passed this rock in the middle of a field and into Mamie Eisenhower’s birthplace of Boone, another darling town.

 By noon, we reached the edge of our stop for the night.  Flat road and wind at our back, it is one of those days we would have loved to have gone further, but the weekend Always poses problems for finding a place to stay and this weekend was no exception.  Stopped for lunch, then pedaled past the beautiul campus of Iowa State University to our hotel.  Not only did our stay for the night offer guest laundry, but barely 15 steps away was a Mexican restaurant; time to try our luck at a pitcher of margaritas.  So where is the challenge?  Night, night!