Friday....

Jackal pulls over in the rest area to give me a much needed break....

Top of the world....

1.3 million sandbags in Waterloo and Cedar Falls....
The water was within 2 inches of the top of these sandbags.

Rollin'.... (get it?)

Passed by a crop sprayer....

Free kittens.... No thanks.

Repairing the tracks in New Hartford after the flood....

Downtown New Hartford....

Unbelievable wreckage....

Cemetary Corner on Beaver Valley Road north of town....

What's left of the Deer Run addition....

Just a foundation. The pile at the left is what's left of the house that stood here....

Leaves an empty feeling in your stomach....

Total devestation....

Going to lunch with Fat Albert. Back later. :)

Fat Albert says "Mmmmmmm...... Good! Where are the Fudge Rounds?"

Back from lunch. Thanks, Jeremy! It was good! (especially the Guinness!!!)

We made it back from Branson late Monday evening without incident. It was a good trip and everyone appeared to have fun while we were down there.

The little bit of riding that I was able to do was most excellent. We left the hotel and rode through town on Sunday morning with almost no traffic. (that would soon change...) The climbs start at the edge of town with about a mile or so at 10 to 12%. Jackal was off the front in no time and climbing like a mountain goat while I was just trying to keep him in sight. It was super! The thought going through my mind while I was climbing was "what would the Fat Cat's commentary be if he were along on this ride". I'm sure he would have been brootaly honest. I wonder if he would have been laughing at the flatlander?

We rode along the ridge above Branson then down the "steep hill" that goes back into town. It was an awesome ride with a lot of climbs that vary in length from a measley quarter mile to some that are perhaps a mile and a quarter. They are in the 10 to 15% grade range with a few short bursts of 18 to 20% thrown in every once in awhile just to keep you honest. I survived, which was pretty good, for a flatlander.... Jackal, of course, didn't merely survive, he thrived! (you may want to check his blog for a "doctored up" version of the pic from my previous post. Hillarious!)

I haven't ridden a road bike on climbs like that since Judy and I went to Colorado for Worlds back in the mid 80's. Northeast Iowa and southwest Wisconsin have some serious hills but they aren't quite like the Ozarks or the Rockies! I'm sure all you folks out east have your own stories to tell about the "hills" out there. I have to get out there one of these days!

I rode out to New Hartford yesterday to check out the damage from the May 25th tornado and last week's floods. As soon as you roll into the downtown area you are overcome with the stench of the flood. I think that about 95% of the homes and businesses in town were directly affected with the flood waters. The entire town is in "clean up" mode. I was told that the hardware store and the Kwik Star are not going to re-open. Sad.

As soon as you cross Beaver Creek on the north edge of town you begin to see the damage inflicted by the tornado. The edge of the tornado followed the north bank of the creek and the trees there are knocked over and splintered. That is only a couple hundred yards north of the school and the ball diamond. As you climb out of the valley to Cemetary Corner you realize that all the big trees and most of the homes are gone. There are no trees left in the cemetary and Deer Run Addition, on the north side of Beaver Valley, now consists of a small handful of damaged homes. Most are just foundations. The ditches on Beaver Valley Road are full of the cast off wreckage brought on by the storm, including a couple of cars or trucks that are twisted to the extent that they are hard to identify as vehicles. Unbelievable. Words can't describe what it feels like to go through there. A few miles west in Parkersburg the damage is even greater.

That's it for now. I need to mow the lawn and ride the bike.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!