Day 43 - Monday, July 30, 2001
Webster City to Grundy Center, IA
63 miles

I hate it when I forget to mention something in a previous report! Yesterday, I got my first horn honk in Iowa. At that point the road had a straight through and right turn only lane, and apparently the driver behind me didn't like my presence in the straight through lane. After he passed, I took a look - I had expected him to be young and impatient, but it was an older man driving.

Anyway, back to today's report.

The weather for the past couple of days was really nice, with high temperatures in the high 70s/low 80s. Today the higher temperatures began. I should have topped off my water bottles when I left Webster City - there were no towns in the first 40 miles to Eldora. Luckily I had enough water, but I was close to running out.

When reaching the city of Grundy Center went looking for a pay phone, so that I could look up the listings for hotels/campgrounds. My search led me to the area with the city offices - the chamber of commerce was closed, but there were still some city employees around. I found out that there were two hotels in town, but that I might be able to camp at the county fairgrounds. (After 3 out of the last 4 nights spent in hotels, I was ready to camp again.) So I checked with the police station and they said no problem - if the restrooms were locked up just walk over to the city park and use those.

As I was walking out of the building, the lady from the city offices (who helped me find the right people in the building to ask the questions) invited me over to her place, since they had an extra bedroom and it would be a lot easier than the fairgrounds camping. (Only in Iowa!) I gladly accepted, and it was a short ride back to the house.

Dinner was hamburgers and Iowa sweet corn - no complaints there. Her husband even drove me out to show me where I could pick up the bike path going out of town (and I also got a driving tour of the town).

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