DAY 19 - NORTHERN TIER COMPLETED

After a good night's sleep in a bed, I woke up and was ready to go by 8am.  I didn't see either of my hosts up so I quietly got my stuff together and headed out.  I wish I could have met John, but it was not to be.

As I started to make my way out of Cambridge, I saw a sea of dark clouds directly ahead... thunderstorm incoming!  I turned around and found a park pavillion next to the Cambridge court house.  I decided to hunker down there till it passed which gave me a good excuse to eat some breakfast while I waited, and sure enough, within 10 minutes it started to downpour.

As I waited in this pavillion, a woman talking on a cell phone came over to get out of the rain.  I was then treated to almost an hour of listening to her talk to an abusive ex-boyfriend on how she was going to get a restraining order because of all the crazy stuff he's done... I was sitting about 20 feet behind her just eatting an orange and feeling quite awkward listening to the conversation.  As the rain let up she was still talking and I quietly showed myself out...

I was treated to a slight tailwind thanks to the passing storm which also left the area a little cooler and I made some good time cycling.  I stopped at a small town bar & grill type place where I chatted with the waitress and the one other customer about my trip.  At the end of my meal I found that the lady I talked to paid for my lunch!  She had also tried to see if either of her brothers in Muscatine would let me throw a tent up on their lawns, but that did not pan out.

The afternoon got rather warm again but I was excited about finishing up my northern tier section of my trip so it didn't bother me too bad.  I crossed the Mississippi river into Iowa and found myself in Muscatine.  I had earlier found online a very cheap $35/night motel in Muscatine if I couldn't find anywhere else to go, and since it was right next to a mall / movie theater, I decided to treat myself!  The motel room wasn't nearly as bad as I feared, it was actually pretty decent, and the desk clerks were used to cyclists staying there.  Even so, I decided to sleep on top of my sleeping bag on top of the bed, lord knows what a black light would pick up there!

After a nice long shower, I headed out across the street to the movie theater.  I had wanted to see Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, and here it was, playing in 3D!  The were probably only 10 people in the theater with me, and about half way through the movie the theater lost power due to a strong thunderstorm, what I thought were sounds coming from an adjacent theater was actually thunder, but they got the projector up and running again within 15 minutes and all was good. 

After the movie ended and I walked back outside, I was immediately very thankful I was in a motel tonight versus a tent, as it was pretty windy and down pouring heavily, and I could see myself not having much fun in a tent.  I made a mad dash back to my dry motel room and then spent some time looking over the map of my next "Great Rivers" route section and went to bed.

Start: Cambridge, IL
End: Muscatine, IA
Distance: 60.71 miles