wednesday July 25 day 4

                                                           WEDNESDAY, JULY 25

                                               WEBSTER CITY to MARSHALLTOWN

                                                   77.1 miles • 1,997 feet of climb

                                             Towns Miles Feet of Climb Population

                                                     Webster City 0.0 0 8,070

                                                       Kamrar  11.8 259 199

                                                       Jewell 10.4 161 1,215

                                                         Ellsworth 3.0 30 531

                                               Story City (Meeting) 8.0 61 3,431

                                                        Roland 6.0 165 1,284

                                                    McCallsburg 6.0 152 333

                                                        Zearing 4.6 105 554

                                                 Saint Anthony 8.2 257 102

                                                        Clemons 2.6 50 148

                                                 Marshalltown 16.5 757 27,552

I will write purposefully in red type because it is friggin' HOT here today.  I rode 40 miles..once again, my trusty captain Ann met me at a midway point and on we traveled.  Before I go into details about the ride, let me just say that Iowans are as nice as they come.  Our midway pickup point was at Jay's sister-in-law Brenda's childhood home in Roland.  And it was there that I met Judy, Brenda's mom who had coffee, homemade lemonade, cinnamon rolls, watermelon and....pie ready for us. 

Fresh rhubarb pie...at 8:30 AM!

So, off we went...into the heat, wind and hills. Our first stop was Mccallsburg where we found fellow PFP'ers John & Phil and I was introduced to the Mayor.

Honored at being in a photo with such an infamous Iowan, Ann had to pull me away in order to motor on. The best stop of this hot hilly day was a road side stop where a few kids were selling freeze pops.  I have never tasted such a yummy treat! COLD and SWEET...boy did they hit the spot.


And were the perfect anecdote to the hills that our tired quads were having to face.

And others as well...

But my favorite guy...button down shirt, lycra leggings and soft hat.  Bless his heart!

 We pulled into Marshalltown around 12:30....the bank on the corner said it was 98 degrees.  We rode over to the Grandview Heights Residential Center and found that our overnight accommodations would be an open field with no shade.  So I set up my tent and then hung out in one of the big trailers just so I could be out of the sun.  I wonderful massage by Susie under a shady willow tree put me in paradise for an hour...only to be greeted by one of the GVH employees who not only invited me inside to use their wifi but let me know that dinner would be offered...hamburgers, hotdogs, potato salad. So I am all set for the rest of the day. Perhaps I will check back in later.

my tent