A Midwest "Kinda" Weekend

What an incredible beginning to this trip!  We’ve been blessed with beautiful weather (even the rain we drove through in Illinois and Iowa), safety (spending several minutes at a railroad crossing to check the underside of Chad’s tires), and fellowship with great people (Thank you so much Justin for hosting us and showing us around Chicago)!

Putting our rain gear on in Illinois

Friday night found us in Iowa puttering along the mighty Mississippi river in a rain storm headed for the home of Tim Groff, Chad and Dwayne’s cousin.  He graciously put a roof over our heads and food in our bellies (rib-eye never tasted so good)!   Saturday morning, Tim’s neighbor buddy, Scott, took us to Coralville Lake to go wake boarding and tubing.  What a blast!  We had two people on tubes just “leisurely” ridding when “king of the tube” broke out. It was a great workout after sitting on motorcycles for hours. Good times!

Just before I wreck...

Tim and Dwayne battling it out

Dwayne: 1, Tim: 0

Tim, Chad, Dwayne and I ended up in Lone Tree, IA for their fall festival. Tim is the editor for the Lone Tree Reporter, so he ran around taking pictures of the car show, lawn mower pulls, etc. We ate some food, waited over half an hour for a funnel cake (excellent eats after boating), and watched the “Ag Challenge” (see pics).

"Ag Challenge" Co-ed teams competing in various events including: peeling and eating a raw potato,  eating a whip cream pie, driving fence posts and pushing a wheel-barrow through it blind folded, and finding bolts in wet feed.

Grand finale: carrying a greased watermelon through an obstacle course.

Went to New Life Community Church (Tim helped plant the church) Sunday morning for spiritual refreshment.  Afterwards, we grabbed a quick lunch, packed the bikes, and headed for Minneapolis.  It was another beautiful afternoon cruising through miles of cornfields.  Something about the open road and clear skies that’s music to the soul. Did I mention the cornfields?

Grain elevator in Iowa... a very common site in the midwest.

Sunday night was our first night camping. That post is coming later.

Just want to say THANK YOU!! and give credit to Hannah Carlson, for her encouragement, ideas and work in enhancing the blog. She has been a great part of this trip! 

~ Nate