Day 10 - 6/10/06

We are continuing our expedition down a new path. We have shipped our bikes home due to difficulties with Amtrak and the fact that Amber is done riding (she is pooped out). However we still want to see some of the western areas we planned to before, except not by bike. We have gone back to Amtrak to wait for yet another long afternoon......however we are definetly getting on board today!
Today we are leaving Burlington, IA at 5:15pm and our scheduled arrival in Denver, CO is 7:30am on June 11th.
We do not see this as an end to our adventure, we still have funds available to continue some or most all of our planned route, and we are still excited!

Day 9 - 6/9/06

What a Bummer!!

Departed Muscatine, IA 7:30am and Arrived Burlington, IA 12:30pm. Travel Time: 40 miles 3hr and 37min. The wind was all around us today, it made for pretty slow travel due to the incoming storms. When we arrived in Oakville, IA (tired and very thirsty) we went looking for a gas station or a store where we could buy water and pretty much found nothing. We asked a local man who was cutting his lawn where we could get some water and he said nothing was really available and he kindly volunteered to fill our water bottles for us. About 14 miles from Burlington Amber was having a rough time with the wind and wanted to check the air in her tires and when Shawn was filling the back tire with air she suddenly got a flat...due to Human Error. So now we have our first repair on Amber's Bike. While Shawn was working on the flat tire a nice lady pulled over and asked if we needed any help and Shawn the joker that he is says "If your giving us a ride to Burlington" she said "OK" we were so shocked. Thankfully she had a bike rack and room for our trailer, she kindly drove us to the Amtrak station. Once at the Amtrak we discovered no one worked there and it seemed more like a homless shelter with a Bus stop than a train station. We called the 800# and got a reservation for both of us on the Amtrak for today at 5:15pm and when Amber asked the lady about bikes she said "no bikes allowed" but the final decision is up to the conductor. The Amtrak website and what other travelors have told us was very misleading. So we patiently waited for about 6+ hours for the train. One it arrived the conductor was very impatient and you could tell he was feeling rushed due to being off schedule and he simply said "no" and that Amtrak is getting away from checked baggage at small town stations. So after the train left Shawn called Amtrak to see what our options were and the guy told him we need a check baggage upon departure and arrival to get our bikes on and off. The two closest to us are Chicago, IL and Omaha, NE both are 250+ miles away......out of the question. Therefore we are stranded at the Amtrak in Burlington, IA.
Amber found the Best Western Hotel to stay at because they have courtesy transportation for us and our bikes. We stayed for $130 at a very nice hotel except we were woken up at 11:30pm due to the fire alarm....somone burned popcorn in there room. Now are re evaluating our financial, mechanical and physical aspects of this trip. So Stay tuned!!!!
To Be Continued..................

Day 8 - 6/8/06

We stayed in Muscatine, IA for another night due to bike repair, Shawn's rear wheel needed to be totally re-spoked (32 spokes). We talked to the owners of Harper's Cycle and Fitness about our route and the mechanical problems we have been having. He told us of the rough terrain we are about to encounter after Burlington, IA when we enter the Illinois side of the Mississippi River. After long thoughts of the risk of future break downs and not enough bike shops on the route to help us out. We looked at just crossing Iowa in to Nebraska, However the situation would be the same, not enough bike shops. So upon all this we have found ourselves a "New Short-cut" this would be boarding the Amtrak with our bikes in Burlington, IA to Denver, CO. The Amtrak Departs at 5:15pm on June 9th and arrives Denver 7:30am June 10th. Once in Denver we plan to reconnect with the Transamerica Bike route and continue on to Seattle, WA. This gives us plenty of time to bike to Burlinton and get on the Amtrak if we leave in the early AM tormorrow. We are first timers on the Amtrak and are very excited!

P.S. Above is Greg from Harper's Cycle and Fitness re-spoking Shawn's Wheel!

Day 7 - 6/7/06

Departed Dyersville, IA 7:05am and Arrived Muscatine, Ia 5pm. Travel Time: 78 miles, 6hr and 15 min. Today was our best travel day. Today the wind was at our backs so we had great speed. When we got to Onslow we stopped at a small cafe to get lunch and take a little break. When we walked in you could hear a pin drop....all the locals stared at us, we smiled and said "HI". One of the locals said " Oh you must be biking" we said "yes" and everyone went back to their own thing. A lady came over and sat right next to Amber and started asking us details about our trip, She was a hoot. After we told her about our route she ran home and got an Iowa state map to give us detailed short cuts! We like those. her short cut took off 10 miles, However the last 7 miles of it was on extremely loose gravel, to dangerous to ride. We walked our bikes until Shawn waved down a nice man in a pick-up truck who gave us a ride to the nearest town of Wilton. However he dropped us on the wrong side of town from where our route was. We ended up riding 10 miles to Muscatine on the busiest highway with no shoulder. A semi actually pushed us both off the road...that was our very first encounter with a jerk!!
Shawn broke 3 spokes today, that makes a total of 11 spokes since we've started. We went to yet another bike shop, and since it was so late we set up an appointment for tomorrow to get his bike looked at. We stayed at the Super 8 Motel, it was the closest to the bike shop and town. The lady at the front desk gave us such a great rate after hearing our story. We only paid $43 after tax and at this point we are still within our total budget, but spending faster then we had planned. We are starting to re evaluate our route.

Day 6 - 6/6/06

We are at the public library in Dyersville, IA. Still here due to thunderstorms and heavy rain. The weather is suppose to be bad til 6pm tonight, so we have decided to stay put (at the Comfort Inn) til the storm is over. The weather is suppose to clear up for the next 3 to 4 days.....hot and sunny!

Last night Lyle from Della Crema Bike Shop brought Shawn's bike to us at the Hotel all fixed up. He fixed the broken spoke and replaced some of the ones that were a little too short that we had put in earlier this week. He gave us 8 extra spokes and provided recomendations on how to prevent future breakdowns. He also told us of a short-cut to Cascade, IA which will take off quite a few extra miles....which sounds good to us!

Due to Technical Difficulties

Please see our photo album on the right side of page for our updated pictures. We tried to post them but the computer we are on wasn't working correctly. Thanks!

Day 5 - 6/5/06

Departed Elkader, IA at 7:30m and arrived Dyersville, IA 12:30pm. Travel time- 43 miles and 4hr 13 min.
Today was Amber's roughest day so far....
Because of the strong head wind (about 10+ mph) it made riding difficult and especially with the rolling hills we encountered today. Amber had her first of probably many tears.......the wind pretty much sucked! Shawn took on extra weight from Amber's Bike due to the wind, however he broke a spoke just before Dyersville. Lucky for us Shawn had set up an appt. with the Lyle at Della Crema Bike Shop to have his back wheel looked at and tuned up. Fortunatly we made an appt. because the bike shop is in the process of closing down and no one works there full time, Lyle is taking his personal time tonight to look at Shawn's bike and fix it up. We are staying at the Comfort Inn (it has a pool and a hot tub.....two of which sounded very nice). We needed some TLC, especially Amber.

Day 3 - 6/3/06

Departed Marquette, IA 12pm and arrived Elkader, IA 5:30pm. Travel time- 36.6 Miles and 3hr and 50min. This was a short day, since we were sore and tired from yesterday. The 1st 3 miles were straight up the bluffs, very exhausting. Once at the top it was very enjoyable we had a flat route with some rolling hills that were quite fun going down, in fact Shawns max speed downhill was 38.5 mph. Didn't quite beat his max speed of 43mph yesterday. However Shawn broke 1 spoke 20 miles into our ride but actually about 50 miles since he broke one last. It only took 40 min to fix this time. Once we got into town (Elkader) Shawn got a flat tire (Rear Wheel) and we discovered we had 3/4 of a mile to the campsite so we walked the rest of the way to the campsite, but in reality it was about 2 miles away......uphill none the less. We camped at the city park it was only $10 a night for a tent, it had a free showerhouse in the restroom area and a city pool ($3.50 per person)......very nice area. We even stayed an extra night.

P.S. -- Shawn also had his first fall off his bike.....so all you know guys fall too!


Day 4- 6/4/06 -
Today was a rest day.
We placed a few calls to family and just relaxed a bit.

Day 2 - 6/2/06

Departed Brownsville, MN at 7:30am and arrived Marquette, IA 5:30pm. Travel Time- 54.5 Miles and 4 hr 49 min. Today was a rough day. Shawn broke 1 spoke 20 miles into our ride today and it took an hour to fix it. The hardest part of our ride was the distance from Lansing, IA to Harper's Ferry, IA it was 14 miles of Bluff's (inclining hills that never end), we walked our bike's with all our gear uphill about 6 miles. Of the 14 miles we only rode about 8 miles if it. When we arrived at Harper's Ferry we were so fatigued that Amber fell off her bike twice while just standing with one foot locked in. Very exhausting today. Also getting from Harper's Ferry to Marquette, IA was uphill but not as bad. This route was very scenic but I wouldn't recomend this road for a casual bike ride. But on a higher note: We met our first group of other bicyclists, it was a group of 8 men and women, They were very friendly. Due to lack of facilities (restrooms) at the campsites on our route from MN to IA we treated ourselves to a night in a hotel. We stayed at The Isle of Capri Hotel in Marquette, IA. However this put us over our budget about $90, but it was totally worth it. The staff here was great, they let us use there laundry facilities even though they are not for public use. We also took part in a little gambling at the Isle of Capri Casino, even came out $5 ahead. The casino was an actual Riverboat on the Mississippi River. This place was definetly top notch and just across the river from Prairie Du Chein, WI.

Day 1 - 6/1/06

First of all sorry for the delay in our updates, we sent our laptop home on the first day due to weight. We will try to update twice a week if possible, however this was the first we had public internet use.

So on 6/1/06 we started in Sparta, WI at 6:45am and arrived 3:00pm in Brownsville, MN. Our Travel time: 44 miles and 3hr 47 min. Lots of problems today:
Shawn broke 4 rear wheel spokes, about 1 every 10 miles. He made all repairs however we stopped at Buzz's Bike Shop in La Crosse, WI to fine tune his wheel and buy extra spokes. We went $40 over our budget today. We shipped the laptop home to cut down on weight and tossed a few items we didn't really need. The weather was perfect and our campsite (Wild Cats Campground) in Brownsville, MN is very nice, it's clean and even has hot showers and you can buy snacks. It only cost us a $1 for both of us to shower and $18 for the campsite. As for us we feel pretty good, our back and shoulders are a little sore and we're definelty tired. The scenary along the Mississippi River is just Beautiful.