17 June 2011

I woke up to the pitter-patter of rain on the window; a reading of the Weather Channel on TV and <weather.com> on the computer showed a cell centered  on Kansas City that seemed reluctant to move, and the promise of rain pretty much everywhere I was headed wasn't heartening. The local futurecast looked like it would lighten up a bit around 0900, so I projected that as 'pack up' time, and went to breakfast in the lobby.

Despite the horrid looking skies, there wasn't a lot of rain when I went out to uncover the bike, and I was underway before 0930.

As I skirted around KC, the clouds stayed dark and dreary, although the rain never really got hard, and by the time I was headed east again, the rain had pretty much stopped for the day.

Checking my projected arrival time in Dubuque, it appeared that I'd get to my sister's place around 1815; later than I like for a motel stop, but I wouldn't be looking for one there. So of course, I ran into a detour--bridge out ahead.

The detour went south, I wanted to go north, but the Missouri river was right there, and you don't cross that just anywhere. South it is, for four miles or so, before heading east again, and back north. So the arrival time slips 10 minutes.

Shortly thereafter, I headed north off of US36 on SR5, which turned out to be a fun road, with curves up hill and over dale, little traffic, and pretty green farmland all around. And only a sprinkle of rain now and then, to keep my exuberance in check.

Crossed into Iowa around 1400, ran through some familiar names (from The Music Man?): Centerville, Ottumwa, and Iowa City, where I refueled for the second time.

Then it was the home stretch for Dubuque, where I pulled into Bern's driveway just before 1830, not far off what I expected.

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