In Keokuk Iowa

We traveled across the Mississippi twice today. Once leaving Hannibal and into Illinois, the second leaving Illinois and into Keokuk, Iowa. We are only 1/2 mile into Iowa and will turn around tomorrow and go back into Illinois.

I have had a recurring dream since I retired that I go back to work for the State of Colorado and can never leave. The nightmare of the dream is that I lose a portion of my pension benefits. I had the dream again last night and I finally was able to escape working for the state. Maybe I will never have this dream again. My synopsis of the dream is that I also wanted badly to escape the hotel we stayed in. I am usually the last one to have my gear to the lobby in the morning. Today I was 25 minutes early.

When we arrived in the outskirts of Quincy after 22 miles, there was a large opening to a cave with very frigid air pouring from it. It was an underground warehouseing storage place. Trucks were coming and going. It was carved from the limestone bluffs and covered nearly 11 acres inside. The year-round ambient temperature is 55 degrees and the warehouse contains refrigerator and freezer units. The air temp seemed much cooler to us as we passed by and seemed to linger for another quarter mile. We did not go into Quincy at all; I was hoping to see the mansions there.

We had a vicious hill after a turn at 44 miles. We were warned to gear down in advance because the grade rose to 14 percent. It seemed almost immediate. On an earlier tour, one rider fell over for lack of preparation for the hill. It was the most difficult hill yet.

Keokuk has a lock and dam system near the hotel. The original lock was constructed nearly 100 years ago. The current one was built from 1952 to 1957. It is 1200 feet long and 110 feet wide. It has a rise of 38 feet. As Rosy, Jordan, and I were having lunch at a restaurant with a river overlook, we saw a tug pushing several barges toward the lock. We walked to the lock after lunch. The river vehicles were in the lock and the water was rising quickly. It takes 20 minutes for the lock to fill and the tug/barges to proceed from there.

There are two unusual bikes on the tour. John owns a Moulton touring bike. It is quite small and has a dual suspension to it. Everyone crowded around his bike when we were in New Orleans. He uses it to commute to the University of Hawaii. The wheels are 20 inches versus the 27 that most ride. Keith owns an ICE Trice QNT trike. He can really move on it and can overtake most of us on the steep uphill climbs. One rider remarked that he was officially old when Keith passed him on our long hill on the way into St Louis.

Day's stats: 64.6 miles, 15.9 mph, 1679 feet climbing.