Bicycle Trip
Somewhere in Iowa
May 15, `72
After Mike trued his wheel, and we got back on the highway, I heard
a ping in my rear wheel. It was another broken spoke. I just kept
riding. By the end of the day I had five more broken spokes. The
repair guy back in Madison had tightened my spokes too tight. As we
passed through a couple small towns I looked (with no luck) for
someone to repair my bike. The only bright spot was when we crossed
the Mississippi River. The scenery, both approaching and leaving the
river, was gorgeous. When we crossed the Mississippi, Mike lost his
favorite blue shirt. The wind blew it off his bike and into the
water. He was not happy. He made me promise to write about his loss
in my journal, so here it is, a documented moment for posterity.
My bike was broken, but we still managed to eke out sixty miles
before we camped. In the morning everybody was up early. With so
many stops, we weren't making very good time. We agreed to ride
longer during the day. But before I could ride at all, I had to get
my bike fixed. Once again, I stuck my thumb out (now with my whole
bicycle by my side), and headed for Mason City, Iowa, approximately
130 miles down the highway. My first ride was with two stoned freaks.
It started raining almost as soon as I got in the car. I couldn't
help but notice that the cat behind the wheel was a bad driver. In
the rain, he had a hell of a time bringing the car to a stop. At
other times, he needed a horn reminder (from the person behind us)
to get started again. I wasn't too surprised then, when he ploughed
into the car in front of us. The collision (both cars were totaled)
occurred at a stop sign. Fortunately, nobody was hurt badly, and
after the pigs released me, I took my bike out of the trunk of the
car, walked across the street, and started hitching all over again.
It took me three more rides before I got to Mason City. I camped in
a park just outside the city.
In the morning, I took my bike to a Schwinn dealer and had six spokes
replaced. The guy showed me how to pack my bearings, also. With my
bike repaired, I went to the store and bought two days worth of
food. I'm now back at the park, boiling eggs, waiting for Denny and
Mike to catch up. I can only boil three eggs at a time since my mess
kit's space is severely limited. I started out on this trip with
$300. and after 10 days I have $235. At this rate I'll be broke in
another month. This is not the kind of budget I can live on. Denny
and Mike, as best I can tell, don't even have a budget.
May 19
Once we were on the road heading west again, I noticed another
noise, a familiar one. It was another broken spoke. We stopped at
Algona, Iowa, and I found an old man who fixed me up for only $1.50.
I gave him $2.00. At that point I threw away everything that wasn't
absolutely necessary, even my lock and chain, and lastly, my books.
We stayed the rest of the day in Algona. We were changing our
strategy. The head wind that had kept us moving at a snail's pace
died down at night, so we thought we would try night riding. We
figured it would be okay because the roads in Iowa were pretty good,
and the traffic was sparse.
We played basketball with some locals in the city park (under the
lights) until 11p.m. and then hit the road. The moon was almost full
and the biking was beautiful, but when the generators for both Mike
and Denny's bicycle lights failed. We had to make camp long before
we were tired.
May 21
After a long day, we arrived in Canton S.D. We camped at the city
park. The days were getting hot. We'd been living on ice cream;
every stop had been a different flavor.
Denny was having money sent to him in some town down the highway. He
had just borrowed another $5. from me and he already owed Mike $15.
Giving out money when I was trying to budget brought out my money
grubbing attitude, especially when there was a good chance that
Denny wouldn't be able to pay me back.
At 7 a.m. I got up and split. We all agreed that we no longer would
try to bike together. It wasn't working. At the end of the day we
would meet at a prearranged destination, that way we could still
stay together as we biked at our own pace. When I left, I didn't
bother to wake Denny because he had made it quite clear (the day
before) that nobody was to disturb him when he was sleeping. He was
very explicit when he said either Mike or I could leave two hours
before him and he could still catch up. Our relations were strained,
to say the least. Mike and Denny can catch up to me if they want
too, but I prefer to ride alone. It's much cheaper that way too.
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