Day 24

Managed to get up early and on the (hilly) road by 06:30 ... great! Weather is good for cycling ... cool and overcast with no sign of any wind yet ... a lot of traffic all pushing north to the next open bridge. Just picked up a bit of good news ... a few old guys tell me that the Plattsmouth bridge is open and I could sneak past some construction work and get across into Nebraska ... I'll give it a go as it would save me about 40 miles or so! Yippee!! I'm over the Missouri and into Nebraska ... Oh! I can't believe I'm actually going to be cycling across the western prairie ... whoa! One fault I think the Americans do have is that they over react in a big way ... yes, there are big floods but the road is easily passable ... it's no big deal. The lady on the toll bridge charged me 25 cents ... well worth it.


Some of the farm houses are well under water. There is a stench of rotten vegetation and it is truly a sad sight.


This is the Missouri River in full spate. I think engineers blew open some of the levees to relieve pressure on other parts of the system. I'm on part of the historic Lewis-Clarke trail.





The toll booth, attended by 2 officious ladies.


This is it ... I'll make my way SW down towards Lincoln and that will be me back on track. I'm a lot happier now. Well, in the public library in Plattsmouth ... that's the phone charged up and I'm just reflecting on my time in Iowa ... sad to leave it behind as I met some wonderful people and they have given me good things to remember. Had a pleasant chat with the girls in the Plattsmouth public library. They wanted to ask questions about the trip and write up a report for a local news bulletin. We went outside for a photograph ... must say ... I looked a mess... haven't shaved for a few days! The major highway south is very, very busy with diverted traffic and though the hard shoulder is good the cycling demands too much concentration ... so I took a chance and made my own detour onto a couple of minor roads ... they're a lot quieter, nice surface and don't add anything to the overall distance travelled. The hills are still here ... we're still a bit too close to the Missouri basin, I think. It was getting a bit hot ... siesta time for a couple of hours under a leafy tree and watch a couple of humming birds. The sky is beginning to fill up with big cumulus cloud ... Hmmm? What's coming next? I'm making good progress and while passing into the small settlement of Eagle, about 14 miles east of Limcoln, I spot 2 lady cyclists preparing for an evening's spin.


They are April & Natalie ... setting out on a bit of training for the annual Iowa cross state cycle marathon. Good luck girls ... nice chatting to you. Completed 65 miles ... it's late and I want to stop ... looking for the entrance to a golf course that I understand is up ahead .... no sign of anything so I'll set up the tent on the verge of a small side road ... a big mistake ... and contrary to my rule for stealth camping. How stupid can I be? Later on around 23:30 a small truck passes by with a group of young men shouting obscenities at me ... OK ... we have 'hoods' in Ireland that do the same ... but about half and hour later they come back and fired 5 shots in the air from a handgun .... laughing and yahooing ... bang, bang, bang ... bang .. Bang! I flinched and was getting ready to do something when I heard the laughter and realised it was their stupid idea of fun! It has been a lesson to me ... this is the USA and I've got to be more careful. No more casual camping ... that could have been a lot worse. It starts to rain ... can hear distant thunderstorms and it took me ages to get back to sleep!

Location:Glenwood, IA