Getting settled in central Iowa

We've been here for several weeks now and are getting settled in to central Iowa for the summer.  The past week we completed our first week as ride operators at Adventureland Amusement Park, and we got our first day off!!  Our current schedule has us working the afternoon shift 6 days a week, with the shifts lasting 4-5 hours depending on the day.  Later in the summer, we will be working 6 hour shifts, but basically staying at approximately 32 hours per week per person.  The afternoon shift starts at 2 PM, but moves to 3 PM this weekend -- which gives us plenty of time for getting in our RAGBRAI training -- if only the weather would cooperate.  According to everyone here, this has been a very wet spring (lots of the corn is not planted yet as the fields are still too wet) -- and to add to that, its been very windy.  As most of you know, this doesn't contribute much to enjoyable bike riding, but we've been getting in what we can.  We also joined a fitness center here run by the City of Altoona, so we have been able to do some cross-training, but there still is nothing like being on the bike itself.



Earlier this week we had an enjoyable dinner of shrimp etouffe at Mark and Sue's.  Both of them are fantastic Cajun cooks, and we had a great time.




We also did find time on Tuesday to get a reasonably good bike ride in -- and remembered the camera this time.  Here are a few pictures of the trail route which starts about a mile from the park and extends about 12 miles from Altoona to Pleasant Hill and into portions of east Des Moines, near the Iowa State Fairgrounds.  We also saw a historical marker along the trail and one of the creeks which bisects it -- looks like this was a pretty significant wreck!  (click on any picture to enlarge it)



We're trying to find decent roads or paths to the developed bike trails in downtown Des Moines which follow the Iowa river for a number of miles -- as well as connecting into the Raccoon River Trail -- but no luck yet.  Once we have those routes, we should be able to easily get in some 40-60 mile rides, mostly on paved trails.


Thursday was our first day off, and with Mark's planning we made like tourists -- we drove about 85 miles east of Des Moines along I-80 to Iowa's famous Amana Colonies.  This area along the Iowa river was settled in the mid-1800's by German immigrants who formed the country's largest communal society.  They were very successful at farming, furniture making, and other crafts, and the community eventually covered 26,000 acres.  In 1932 they voted to disband, and the area is one of the top tourist attractions in Iowa. 

We visited some shops, had lunch, went to Iowa's first microbrewery, and visited what is left of the woolen mills.  We also found that the furniture factory, which was recommended in one of Marks books has been closed, but we were able to see another furniture factory nearby.  All in all it was a great trip, and gave us the opportunity to be real tourists!



Our friends Vicki and Bob joined us all for dinner at Culver's Butterburgers after we got back to Altoona.



The coming weekend is looking pretty ugly weather-wise -- it rained most of the night, and the wind is blowing at 15-20 mpg -- not a great environment for being outside running rides.  The next couple of days as we head into Memorial Day weekend are projected to be about the same.  Sunday is calling for 80+ temperatures and some rain, and we're hoping that combination doesn't develop into some interesting storms.  From what we've heard, the park doesn't shut down except for very inclement weather -- I guess we'll find out what their definition of that may be.