Kansas City to Sergeant Bluff

Before I get to our major mishap, here's an interesting statistic about the first half of the trip. When I googlemapped the distance from home to St. Louis, the answer I got was 2,194 miles. That was the straight route. Our actual driving distance to St. Louis was 3,331 miles! Here's a general map of our route:


Now to the mishap. I received an automated email alert from the credit card company saying that there was some unusual activity going on. Indeed, it turned out that someone had gotten our credit card number and was testing it to see if it was valid. So, we had to cancel the card and get a new one. Normally this involves a new card being sent out and arriving in a week or so, but that wouldn't work so well on our trip.

Perhaps this isn't a major mishap, just a medium mishap. However, I've found that without a credit card, one feels a bit like a second-class citizen. You can't reserve a hotel room or campsite, gasoline purchases aren't as quick and easy, and you have to track your purchases manually. Also, the mishap is putting a crimp in the free-wheeling nature of our trip.

So, I wanted to get the new cards while ASAP. The problem was discovered on the Friday before Memorial day weekend, adding to the complication. But with some time spent on the cell phone at a rest area, I set up a motel stay at an Econolodge, and arranged for overnight Fedexing (with Saturday delivery) of the new cards. That's why, as I write this, I'm sitting in the lobby of the Econolodge.

Our room was in cellblock A:

Actually, the hotel isn't bad at all. Small, but clean and comfortable. The rooms smell slightly of cigarette and fertilzer, but the advantages of being 20 feet from your car outweigh the lack of cushiness.

We had planned to go a lot further on this first day of our return trip, but it was better to get the card shipment all set up before late afternoon.

We took advantage of our change in plans by going on a bike ride in this super-flat region.

Trains are something we don't have at home, so we didn't mind waiting for this mile-long (?) train of grain cars to pass.
We headed out on the straightest road I've ever ridden on. There wasn't much change in scenery and no turning or climbing, so it felt more like riding a stationary bike than a real bike. However, the weather was great -- it felt a like big thunderstorm or tornado was about to arrive. There were also a lot of interesting smells -- seriously.



We've found that roads are not very bike-friendly here in the Midwest. I found this to be true in St. Louis and Kansas City as well. I had gone on a short ride from Jenny's apartment in KC, but had to just tool around the residential neighborhoods, since the bigger roads didn't have much room for bikes.

Our Iowa route had a concrete road with no paved shoulder. All but one of the cars gave us plenty of space; they were driving around 60 MPH.

We headed into Bronson, Iowa, a community with perhaps 80 residents.



The ride was 23 miles altogether, and we felt that we burned off those BBQ calories we'd accumulated.

We picked up some more healthful sandwiches at Subway, and had a relaxing dinner at the motel.

Did the new credit cards arrive to make us whole again? Find out in tomorrow's post!