The final day! It was a short and relatively flat day too, which was much needed after a long week of riding. My body was feeling every one of those previous 6 days on the bike and in a tent! At this point, I had blisters all over my feet, sore shoulders that just kept getting tighter, and a very sore tushy. I was ready to hit Muscatine and head for home!
Columbus Junction was our first town of the day, and it had a pretty cool swinging bridge (that I didn't go out onto because lines!). I'd had a muffin for first breakfast somewhere along the route, but also grabbed some convenience store breakfast pizza while coming through town.
I pushed hard through the other towns, stopping only briefly for Gatorade here and there. I was on a mission to the river.
After one final long hill, I passed the Air Force team all gathering to ride together to the Mississippi. It was pretty neat to see this team of people who had spent their whole week helping riders gather just behind me and elicit many cheers and yells of thanks from fellow cyclists and locals cheering us on from the sidewalks.
I dipped my tire around 1pm central time, then went in search of the route back to the high school where my car was parked in long term parking. It was, of course, 2.5 miles up some small road back to the car. I was halfway back when I realized my keys were in my baggage, which was still down by the river! I turned around, got my keys, then headed back up the hill to the car.
After driving back down to grab my bag, I had no cell service, but luckily had driven around Muscatine before the trip, so I knew how to get out of town. Cell towers were overloaded with all the cyclists and families there! I tried to grab a quick lunch from Taco Bell on my way out, which turned into a 45 minute wait in line. Thankfully I had already changed out of my disgusting bike clothes, and could sit in relative comfort with the air conditioning on. What a relief. 5 hours later, I was home - yay!
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