Much like yesterday morning's ride, motorists were few and far between along US-20. However, a considerable segment of US-20 was under construction and closed to traffic. A marked detour had been placed north of this closed segment of US-20 along county highways. Even here, the traffic was light. My best guess is that this had to do with the fact that it was Sunday. When I had stopped at a gas station in a small town, a gentleman struck up a conversation with me about the trip. He asked if I was training for RAGBRAI, an annual bike ride across Iowa (I've ridden this once before and so badly want to again). He seemed fairly astonished at my reply, and offered some advice for a route that did not require riding on US-20. Was I glad that I followed this advice: what followed was some of the most carefree riding that I've had the entire trip. Paved county highways with little to no traffic. Since I hadn't seen as much corn elsewhere along the trip, riding past acres and acres of corn seemed less repetitious than riding might usually be in Iowa. I arrived in Fort Dodge around 2:00pm which was just in time for a late lunch. The temperature with the heat index was near 98 degrees, so cooling off in an air conditioned restaurant was welcomed. Continuing to cool off afterwards in a hotel was also welcomed. Riding the next day to Waterloo would take me closer to familiar territory, as it is just north of Cedar Rapids.
