From Bloomington, Illinois, we crossed the mighty Mississippi River and drove west to Des Moines, Iowa. We actually stayed in Clive, a western suburb of the Des Moines metro area, as it was an easier cycle over to one of the two trails we wanted to ride in the area. According to Wikipedia, Clive is known for its outstanding Greenbelt Park and trail system running through the entire community. Perfect for us! On our first full day in town, we drove 30 minutes north of the city to ride the High Trestle Trail, a new 25-mile trail completed in 2011 and already winning awards. We parked in the small town of Woodward at the western end of the trail, the trailhead nearest to the High Trestle Bridge, which gives the trail its name. From there, we'd ride east through farms, fields, and tiny towns, eventually turning south to continue to the other end of the trail at Ankeny. It wasn't the nicest of days, overcast and a bit on the cool side, but we only had two full days in the area and needed to take advantage as we had an even longer trail ride planned for the next day. So, for the first time ever in June, I wore arm warmers! Thankfully it wasn't cold enough for tights. The trail was wide, smooth concrete, a real rarity among paved trails. This really helped us fly along and stay comfortable without the bone-jarring cracks and bumps of so many trails. Just a couple of miles into the ride, we reached the highlight of the trail, the High Trestle Bridge. This bridge is a real work of art and engineering. I only wish we'd had a nicer day for better photos. Both the views and the bridge itself were amazing! Here's the view from the bridge looking south... ...and looking north. There's no drought here! Here are some "fun facts" about the High Trestle Bridge: We discovered this cool mural under a bridge near the High Trestle Bridge. Moving on, we pedaled through the small town of Madrid. I liked the name of this lounge...you can tell they cater to cyclists around here. If you are unfortunate enough to get a flat here, might as well stop in for a beverage or something to eat and stay awhile! By now I had ditched the arm warmers as I had warmed up a bit. We continued rolling through flat farmland. The soil is so pretty and black here! We stopped in a park in the small town of Slater, where Barry took a quick look at these locals playing baseball. We finally reached the end of the trail and 25-mile point at Ankeny. Time to turn around and head back, this time with a kickin' tailwind that made for a really fast, fun return trip! On the way back across the bridge, we stopped to look for birds but didn't see anything except swallows. When we returned to Woodward after our ride and started driving away, we saw a mural celebrating the trail spray painted on the side of a building. Yep, this town is all about the trail and bicycles. We loved it! That evening we treated ourselves to dinner at Mi Mexico, an excellent place right across from our hotel. Can you believe we both forgot our cameras? Afterwards, we stopped next door for a slice of pie to go from Baker's Square. These we enjoyed in our hotel room. A great reward for a fun fifty miler!
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The next phase of our journey westward took us from Richmond, Indiana to Bloomington, Illinois to ride another rail-trail. We don't normally choose to ride rail-trails on weekends since they are often clogged with walkers, joggers, kids weaving all over on their tiny bikes, and dogs on flexi-leads. But sometimes that's just the way the timing works out. We cycled the Constitution Trail, a rail-trail along the former Illinois Central Gulf Railroad line, in Bloomington-Normal, IL on a Sunday in early June. While it was a bit busy in a few places, we had a good experience on a very nice day, and people were friendly. In addition to the trail, we pedaled on some of the lightly traveled rural roads in the area, and we also got some of the very best ice cream ever, making the ride completely worthwhile! We started out in a more industrial area near our hotel. It was a short ride over to the trail, and we had this part of it to ourselves. We soon arrived in downtown Normal, which is a fun name for a town -- just think of all the possible jokes! It's also a charming, eclectic downtown area we really enjoyed seeing. On our way north, we got there early enough that town was very quiet -- nice. There were some colorful murals... ...and some fun businesses. We continued through the suburbs of Normal, taking a quick pit stop at the Rosa Parks Commons before heading north into a more rural area. Silos are everywhere in the midwest, especially along old railroad corridors. After the cornfields got a bit too monotonous, we turned around and pedaled back way south to the Normal downtown area for the second time. This time we couldn't resist a stop at Emack & Bolio's ice cream shop, even though it was only 11:30 am, and we were still full from breakfast. But they claim to serve "ice cream for the connoisseur", and I believe we've earned that distinction! It was an incredibly tough choice. Wish we could have stayed in the area longer as much more research was really required. I opted for a small turtle sundae with Peanut Butter Oreo ice cream (to die for), and Barry chose a simple triple scoop dish of Deep Purple Cow, Mud Pie, and Peanut Butter Oreo. WOW! They even have an adorable dog watering station. Too bad we didn't have Paisley along! There was a nice view from the patio while eating our ice cream. We even got to see an Amtrak train rumble by right behind the courtyard. After continuing south back towards our hotel area in Bloomington with VERY full bellies, we still had a lot of calories to burn off. So we continued south on the road to another short section of trail. This part actually ran along the Route 66 trail route -- cool! A few miles south, we reached the southern end of the trail in the tiny hamlet of Shirley, Illinois. There wasn't much there except this little post office, a church, and a few houses. Last but not least, we took a short western portion of the trail to finish up our ride. It was a really pretty section. At the western terminus of the Constitution Trail, we finally spied a "Welcome to Bloomington" sign. A fast ride back to the hotel with a kickin' tailwind, and we finished up our ride on the Constitution Trail. There are a few trail sections we missed, but we cycled the majority of it. I ended up with 60 miles on the day, and Barry, as usual, had a few more. I guess we burned off our ice cream treat!
The photos in this post are a few we snapped while riding through downtown Richmond, which I wish we'd had more time to explore. Our stay was short, and we were always in a bit of a hurry -- either to get to the Cardinal Greenway or back to our hotel (and Paisley!), but it was clear that there were some interesting shops, restaurants, and buildings in town. There are some fine murals as well, so we made sure to capture those. I learned more about Richmond from Wikipedia. The city has a rich history in jazz music and architecture. Here's just a snippet of the information there: [Richmond, IN] is sometimes called the "cradle of recorded jazz" because some early jazz records were made here at the studio of Gennett Records, a division of the Starr Piano Company.[6] This site includes more information about the Railroad Depot Historic District in downtown Richmond. Here's one of the murals downtown referring to the city's jazz roots. Gotta take a closer look... I also learned from Wikipedia that a natural gas explosion and fire in April 1968 destroyed much of Richmond's downtown area, killing 41 people. I am guessing this somewhat startling mural is referring to that event. Fortunately, Richmond has rebuilt and downtown is once again vibrant. I love that the mural below even depicts a cyclist! I wish people didn't feel the need to deface public art with graffiti. Finally, I couldn't resist a quick shot of this business sign -- Burns is my maiden name. Stay tuned as we continue our westward journey across the US!
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Emily & BarryWe're a long-married, early-retired couple who are currently traveling as nomads with no fixed home base. After years of living in North Carolina (Emily's home state), we spent 18 months living oceanfront on Ambergris Caye, Belize, a year road-tripping the US in a Honda CR-V, a year in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, and are now roaming North America in our 32' motorhome, Pearl, following warm weather whenever possible. Archives
July 2019
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