DAY 18 - COLLEGE DINING

We woke up and got on the road early this morning wearing almost all of our layers. The "polar votex" we are hearing about on the weather channel is in full effect. Our first stop was in Fertile, IA - just 11 miles from camp. At Downtown Cafe, we had a huge and amazing Amish style breakfast with pancakes, eggs, bacon, and coffee. All was fresh and amazingly delicious. The owner only charged us $5 each and even threw in a free (delicious) loaf of homemade banana bread for the road. Amazing. 

We biked fast to stay warm, but the wind today was whipping from the northwest and kept us cold. We dove into a convenience store for warm coffee. 

 And stopped again to warm up at one of the many Casey's Convenience stores. We typically just hang out in the middle and chat it up with some locals. 

Kept on biking, passing heavy farm machinery and foul smelling pig farms. Eventually, we were excited to find a bike path that got us off the busy road with semi-trucks. 

But then it led us astray and we ended up on another crap gravel road. :(

At the end of the day, we arrived in Decorah, IA where we tuned up our bikes in the awesome Oneota Bike Shop. Richard, the owner charged us nothing. 

We biked to Luther College around the corner from the bike shop to attack their dining hall. The charge was $9.95 a person for amazing all-you-can-eat food. There were salad bars with locally grown greens, BBQ chicken, made to order pastas, and a huge dessert bar! We ate like kings. 

Now off to the local campground, Pulpit Rock State Park, for a good nights sleep. It will be in the low 50s tonight, so we will have to bundle up.

 

Here's Don chatting on the phone and Justin texting before bed.