ST. L. MO.

howdy,
the accent is gettin thicker as we move i.o.a. rails to trails were not as
nice as minnesotas, but still pretty.  i fell on a slippery patch and only
got some skin torn off, and went with crooked handlebars for about a
week an a half.

we have meandered from the flood zones of cedar falls and cedar rapids,
where we had awesome sleeps in abandoned backyards with prolific
apple trees.  then we met john, an indescribable character who took us
to a town called west branch where we slept in his haunted house
(seriously!) he's renovating.  his wife beth took us to a barn dance
where i burned about 7000 calories swingin my pardner dosey-doe-ing
all around the floor.

from iowa city, john drove us all over the countryside showing us this
and that, various demolition/reconstruction projects he's working on,
like old churches and brick opera houses.  we ate lunch at "teets and
tobe's" and sheri was asked if she believed in jesus.  john wants a
building in winnipeg (for free) if anyone has any leads....

we made it to fairfield, the big thing there is meditation, and they all
worship maharishi.  we stayed in kate's backyard and she introduced
her roommate, erik, who's job it was to meditate for the greater good of
the world.  erik gets paid 700 bux a month from a texan oil tycoon that
owns 29 rigs in the gulf to meditate(!) and offset the big bad oil karma. 
this place was so fucked up, but we found delicious coffee and saw a
rock an roll show for free where i sat next to the mayor.

then we went to dancing rabbit, an ecovillage near rutledge missouri. 
once we hit missouri we were in misery cause the hills became STEEP. 
i started to walk my bike up some hills, how pathetic.  rutledge is in the
middle of amish country, lots of braids, bonnets, beards and buggies.

from there, some annoying folks trying to be kind crossed our path. 
somehow, we attracted the people that wanted us to stay in their warm
homes (it was getting cold outside) but AT A PRICE: they wanted us to
listen to their life stories as well as the gossip in the neighbourhood as
well as the history of their house as well as their relatives medical history
as well as their dog's habits as well as bla blah blah.  it was a week of
headaches, altho i was thankful for the cushy mattresses and warm sleep.

we jumped into illinois to hit the pretty calhoon county with high white bluffs
and the mississippi beside us.  thru grafton, i ate catfish and drank cider.

now we're in st. louis, couchsurfing and seeing all the free stuff we can.
there is some awesome stuff here: art, farmer's markets, apple harvest,
greenspace, food, but zero bike culture.  i think i've counted 14 bikes on
the road since we've been here (including us).  st. l mo is super friendly,
everyone wants to talk to you, everybody smiles and some ramble on the
streets about jesus.  every building is made of bricks, which surprises me. 
there is a lot of industry by the river, an st. louisians don't really have a
connection to it.  too bad, we just picked up huck finn to kindle the spirit of
the place.

we're thinking about hopping a boat outta here?  that's probably a pipe
dream.  we're waiting to leave after the dias del muertos (nov 2)

ciao, daniela

Missourippi

As soon as we crossed the state line into Missouri, the black-top got blacker, the greenery got greener and the hills got a hell of a lot hillier. There was no doubt we were in a new state and we even had a soaring eagle and horse-drawn Amish woman to usher us in.
>
> By the end I was really enjoying Iowa too though. We experienced a barn dance with square-dancing, line-dancing and circle-dancing. We explored an old opera house and slept in the big, old, haunted "Hoover" house. We learned about the wonders of transcendental meditation and the "flying" that goes on in the domes at the Maharishi University where a Texan oil tycoon pays $1million a month to 500 people to meditate every day. Overall Iowa turned out to be much more diverse than it had appeared at first glance.
>
> Our first stop in Missouri was Memphis where we encountered Twila, our first denial for a yard to sleep in...she even called the cops. Luckily her neighbour was much nicer. Our second stop was Dancing Rabbit, a ten-year-old eco-village with 35 full members and 10 not-yet members. It's quite similar to what's going on at Prairie's Edge but 5 times as populated. Lot's of awesome little structures all built very close together, out of a variety of cob, earthen bag, and straw-bale. Someone even built a home in an old grain bin. They also have a big communal building with a wood-fired boiler and radiant flooring. There are two other intentional communities with slightly different focuses within walking distance. And the local mennonite-run all-purpose store in the nearby town of 150 folks, sells things like vegan burgers, agave nectar and goji berries...go figure. You gotta cater to the customers I guess. We spent a few nights and days that mostly rained so spent our time visiting, hiking around, reading and playing Settlers of Cataan.
>
> From there we headed south-east towards the great Mississippi river and Mark Twain country. We stayed in Hannibal, his historic hometown with Cindy the librarian who took us out for supper and baked us cookies for the road. We travelled south along the Illinois side of the river from there because it was much flatter. We followed a winding road with the river on one side and tall limestone bluffs along the other...so beautiful. We stayed with trucker Jay in Mozier, Il who talked our ears off about his whole town and whole family which were mostly one and the same. In touristy Grafton we had our first taste of river catfish and sampled a few hard ciders at the pub.
>
> Now we're in St. Louis staying with two cool girls we found on couchsurfing.com. We're going to stay for Halloween so we can hit up a party where I'll be Earth to Jess and Zoe's Fire and Water and Danielle will be a mime. We've been spending our time cooking, crafting, checking out free galleries, thrift-store shopping, and just biking around in the sunshine in this pretty bike-unfriendly city. We spent the day yesterday at the water front hoping to find a lift south on a boat of some kind. But it seems that our newly-acquired copy of Huck Finn will have to fulfill those desires for now. We haven't given up all hope yet though. I'll let you know how it all pans out. Hope all is well up north. St. Louis still hasn't had a frost yet.
> Bye for now.
> Love Sheri

a sign of things to come

roadside wall

look who sheri found in the outhouse...

us by the Mississippi

proud supporter

roadside lunch

trail riding

"what happened to my bike?!"

!?!

i.o.a.

hope everyone's gobbling up some sort of bird right now....

from when i last corresponded sheri an i had yet to hit iowa. we left mn and dove into the middle of the iowa trying to evade as many rolling hills as we could near the missouri an mississippi rivers and went to the first town in the state: buffalo centre. here we met the mayor and 1/2 the townsfolk as they stared and asked us questions. 1st observation about iowa: people are very curious.

we hit the road on a freekin windy day, raised our fists at our enemy, and noticed all the wind farms around us. 2nd observation about iowa: the middle of the state is a wind corridor.

frustrated, we shifted our travel plans east instead of south, bypassing the town of britt which hosts the international hobo festival every year. we really wanted to see the hobo museum, but instead saw thousands upon thousands of rolling acres of corn. 3rd observation about iowa: this state has 25% of the world's richest topsoil, and it grows an inedible crop that a person, if stranded, would starve in. (i also just read in the newspaper that iowa exports 2/3 of their soybean crop to china)

biking is difficult in this state compared to minnesota. there aren't paved shoulders anywhere, and only narrow passes over bridges, and semi trucks carrying massive wind turbine pieces or grain trucks carrying corn kernels. 4th observation about iowa: everyone waves, but no driver is kind.

we biked to clear lake, near the I-35 and felt dazed and confused biking through this wierd retirement/cottager town when someone yelled "hey you look hungry!". lovely folks ended up feeding us, bedding us and sharing their lives for 2 days. we needed to rejuvination, and we had a mock thanksgiving over a fine meal and hefty discussion with republicans. 5th observation of iowa: there are diamonds in the ruff

sheri an i made it to greene, iowa. we came here because we saw this movie called "king korn." i have a copy for those interested, it is similar to michael pollon's the omnivore's dilemma. we biked in the rain today, except it was cold. this might be the beginning of bad weather for us? we are trying to bike faster. today i took off my 'barack obama' pin i was given. 6th observation about iowa: this is a big, red state.

i am having a great time, reading good books, got no ass sores or aches, eat pretty well and have lots of energy. love you all ~d

Iowa Iowa Iowa Iowa IO IO Iowa

These two songs keep floating through my head as I roll down the roads of this new state. There's the verses of Dar Williams singing that "...the hills of Iowa make me wish that I could." Could what? Well, they sure make me wish I could fly at times. Then there's old Bobbie D with "...this land that I come from, is called the mid-west." Can't figure out quite why this land kind of east of mid is called the mid-west, but...whatever. Long hours of long roads of cornfields upon cornfields and these are some of the thoughts that float through.
One state down. ?? to go. At first, we found Iowa to be full of curious folks that wave and ask questions but don't go much further than that. Yesterday we were coming to our wits end with this state and just wanted to get out. The day before we had hitch-biked on the side of the road for two hours because we just couldn't face the brutal south wind a moment longer. Two hours?? And every other vehicle was a truck.
When the south wind was just as strong yesterday and the dust from the feilds was coating our mouths and eyes we decided to head east instead to Clear Lake. That was our first right turn. On our way out of town we saw a sign for the library and decided to go check our email (our second right turn). We passed the Healing House on the way, an alternative healing studio with a medicine wheel on the lawn...in this part of the country, an unusual sight. So we asked the women on the lawn where to find the library and were invited in for a warm, delicious, local, vegetarian meal and met some great folks involved in promoting local, healthy farming practises and slow cooking. They informed us the word of the day was serendipity and invited us to spend the night in their home and took us out to this beautiful river for a bbq with some friends under the filling moon on a stunningly warm night. Serendipity indeed.
Iowa is more than just farmers, fields, football and fall fairs after all. We've been connected with some organic CSA farms and are learning about "King Korn". These fields that are full of inedible yellow seeds that get processed and are found in most of the food on our shelves...high-fructose corn syrup, "grain-fed" beef, corn oil... For more info check out Michael Pollen's "The Omnivore's Dilema" or this great documentary "King Korn" filmed in Greene, Iowa where we're heading tomorrow.

Anyway, we had a really great time in Minneapolis by the way. It's a vibrant city with really cool folks. Especially D's friend Jack's folks who let us stay at their beautiful, artsy home for four days and made us feel like part of the family. In Minni we hung out at bike co-ops (got my derailer fixed), dumpstered at food co-ops, ate at Hard Times cafe co-op, watched a free film about Argentinian worker co-ops. I think if there was one, co-ops might have been our Minni theme. And has inspired me to work on our bylaws to become a land co-op when I get home.
We also went to this cool sculpture garden and this awesome show of mostly female performers and musicians, including these two beautiful and inspiring poets from Brookyln...wow!
The city was fun, but I was glad to be on the road again. We had our first rain day which turned out to be stunningly beautiful with all the autumn colors shrouded in a mist of rain. Danielle and I also had our first fight and have come through more chilled and happy because of it...phew.
I'm constantly reminded to be thankful for the small joys in life and appreciate every single moment as it happens...after all, that's all we have. Wishing you all a healthy dose of serendipity.

Until next time....
-love Sheri

Clear Lake, Iowa

summoning the wind goddess to push us south

loaded up, ready to go

st. peter and st. christopher

hi mom and everyone...
uhhh, where did i last write?
brainerd maybe? anyway we stayed with some nice folks in brainerd, drooled in the health food stores there and slept on nice couches with cats and nice folks who GAVE US A RIDE IN A JEEP with our bikes to the twin cities and saved us 2-3 days ride through the highways of middle minnesota and saved us from a dreaded entrance to the city. on bikes, we were wondering how exactly one enters a big city not on a freeway? still, we don't know.
in minni we stayed with jack's folks and had a key to their house! wow, we came and went as we pleased to all the hip happenin things to do there. thanks for suggestions! we were overwhelmed at the eye candy on bikes, and everything bike related: shops, trails, art, etc.
we left on a bike trail going south west and it felt like forever to get out of the city, so many suburbs popping up surrounding old farm yards and silage towers. now we see lots of corn again, elk farms, emu farms, chickens and ducks, soy beans, horses, corn, soy beans, corn, cows, corn....
we hit our first day of riding in the rain today and although i was in a shitty mood this morning pedaling through it i realized just how beautiful the rain can be as it drenched the autumn leaves and patterned the minnesota river in tears. the roadside audience changed from grasshoppers and crickets to frogs and earthworms. and i stayed warm (except for socks.... socks did not stay dry...). semis trucks etc give us lots of room generally... it could be the hilarious construction safety vest we were given, or my st. christopher's medallion in my pocket.
we are in st peter (pop 10 000) staying in a backyard of folks we met at the grocery store, steve and jen and their kids. they are super kind, got a nice backyard with blackberries and grapes and ground cherries.

on the shoulder: a lot of banana peels. and shreds of 18 wheeler tires, mostly.

lotsa love, d

paul bunyon monuments

howdy~

so we're in Nisswa right now, after many pictures of us and paul bunyon, us and paul bunyon's wife lucette, us and paul bunyon's shoes, us and babe the blue ox. we're somewhere on the Paul Bunyon trail going south to Brainerd. we almost made it today but couldn't pass up the opportunity to sleep in jim and mary's log cabin with their two dogs who we met on the road just seconds ago. we've met some really hospitable folks who've let us sleep in their backyards or homes, given us cake, 5 lbs of trail mix with lots of chocolate and cashews (!), beef jerky, they've bought us beer, breakfast lunch and dinner, mapped out beautiful routes for us and acted as comic relief.

if anything, i need more comic relief - some days are really hard, and the wind breaks me. some nights are really cold and /or boring it's easier to crawl into sleeping bags and try try try to sleep. body tired, mind running on adrenaline.

we haven't gone very far yet (maybe 350 - 400 miles? i dunno, my odometer doesn't work). it is hard converting km to miles, and C to F. what the hell is 51 degrees F anyway?

sheri has had some minor bike repairs, i've had the horseshoe stuck. hope it stays there.

there is an open road ahead. we are heading to the twin cities soon, and anybody who knows anything cool about the 'apolis should email back suggestions! thanks

i love you

thanks to those who keep my morale boosted by writing, XO

~d