Day 11 – Indian Cave State Park to Pacific Junction

77.6 miles today – 579.9 total miles

We planned to leave camp by 7:30 this morning.  When I went to load my bike I discovered that I had our first flat tire of the trip.  I must hit something late in the day yesterday and it went flat overnight.  We were glad we had it there where we could fix it at the campsite in the cool morning, not at the side of the road in the heat.  I patched the tire then forgot to pump up the tube partially and then deflate it again to set the tub and pinched tube by the valve stem, ruining the tube.  That’s why you always carry a spare tube.  We put the new tube and did it right this time and finally got out of camp about 8:30.

The first 6 miles were rollers getting to the main highway.  Then we had a great downhill with tailwinds.  Hit a maximum speed of about 36 mph.  We had a tailwind of 5-10 mph growing to 10-20 mph in the afternoon.  The wind was from the south and we were heading north.  After the first fifteen miles we left the hills behind and traveled north on the flat Missouri River bottomlands.

We looked for a place to get a second breakfast but there weren’t many options.  We stopped for water in the town of Watson.  No stores in Watson, but a neighborhood dog suck up on us and tried to make is mark on my bike.  Fortunately, he didn’t have good aim.

We made it to Hamburg, Iowa about noon and found a Pizza Hut.  Filled up and headed out.  We originally planned on staying at Waubonsie State Park about 5 miles out of Hamburg, but with the tail wind and our good time in the morning we decided to push on to Pacific Junction and spend the night in a motel.  This would give us a jump that should get us to the far side of Sioux City by Friday evening and let us stop by a bicycle shop for need parts and repairs tomorrow morning.