July 12 Circuitous route to New Union Iowa

https://ridewithgps.com/trips/96323322
Last night we slept in a pickup camper so had to be careful getting out of bed as the bed was in the space above the cab.  Jim woke up well  before sunrise and noticed a beatiful red moon about ready to descend below the horizon.  Today was a beautiful summer day starting out slightly cool with not a cloud in the sky, then in the afternoon, lots of fluffy white clouds.  The countryside had smaller fields and it became more rolling so we had some beautiful vistas. We had lunch in New Hampton and someone who is going to be riding RAGBRAI (Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa) started chatting with us, then asked where we were heading and  what was our route.  He and the owner of the restaurant spent a bunch of time explaining a new route that would take us on less-busy roads.  We did fine until after we rejoined our original route. A road described as paved turned out to be gravel so we backtracked 1/2 mile or so into St Lucas, and after consultations with some friendly and helpful people had a new route figured out.  They warned us that it would be hilly, and climbing out of the Turkey River valley, we had one section with about 1/2 mile of 6% grade. 
To show how great Warm Shower hosts are, one family member is receiving medical treatment out of town but still wanted us to come, so we went out to dinner with the one at home, and had fun talking about many things, including about Farmall tractors that were made in the late 1940's and early 1950's. 
           Charles City

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