Day 14 - Wapello, IA to Fort Madison, IA (74 Miles)

Another warm, windy day, but the mind, body and bike were in pretty good harmony and I was able to log quite a few miles. Stopped to see some burial mounds of the Hopewell tribe (400 B.C. to 200 A.D.) and to have an excellent breakfast at the Piggy Bank Cafe in Oakville, IA. Oakville, a town of fewer than 200 residents, lies between the Iowa River and the River. The town was completely flooded in 2008 by both rivers. Volunteers from throughout the country came in bus loads for almost three years to completely rebuild the town. The Piggy Bank Cafe is the only restaurant in town and it is housed in a building that was once a bank that failed in the Great Depression.

This is a big agricultural area and from what I can tell there is a good mellon crop just south of Wapello and, of course, corn and soybeans. There appear to be a lot of prosperous family farms and farmers are busy with the start of harvest season.

Late in the day I ran into Craig, an avid cyclist from Fort Madison, who was commuting the 24 miles from his office in Burlington, IA to his home in Fort Madison. Craig was riding an interesting contraption that he constructed himself that seemed to be both comfortable and fast (or maybe it was just his youthful legs!). Craig was a veteran of Iowa's famous RAGBRAI (annual bicycle ride across Iowa attracting thousands of people from all over the U.S.) and filled me in on what that ride is like. It sounds like an unbelievable cycle phenomenon and I have added it to the bucket list. Craig often took recreational rides on a tandem bicycle with his wife, Heather. He left me with the interesting thought that, "No matter where your relationship is going, you will get there faster on a tandem."

Today is largely a sightseeing day. There is a lot to see and do here in beautiful Fort Madison and across the River in Nauvoo.