I found a bike trail that went from Clive to Jefferson, northwest of the city. After Dan took his mother to the airport, we loaded the bikes on the van and headed for where we thought the trail started. It was Jeff’s first day as the driver and he missed the first turn we needed to take. I joyfully let him know about the error. He got better and made three out the first five turns correctly. It could be a long week.

Once we got to the trail, it reminded us of the great bike path we rode in Sacramento. This one is 57 miles long and is a converted railroad bed that has been turned into a paved bike trail. The start of the trail has just been repaved and is really smooth. The trail runs through several counties, it is amazing all the different entities that had to come together to create it. It is good to see communities put such an effort into outdoor activities.

We enjoyed the smooth ride without worrying about traffic, hills or wind. The trail went through wooded areas, corn fields and small towns. We stopped for lunch at a nice trail-side café/ice cream parlor. Dan and I got a grilled chicken and Nicole, our team vegetarian, got the veggie burger. After her first bite, she realized veggie burger meant a hamburger with some veggies on it. That didn’t sit well with her.

We decided to make it an easy day and just went the 57 miles to the end of the trail in Jefferson. We met Jeff there and headed back to the motel.

We finished the day in front of the Milligan Bros. grainery.

Dan walks across a gravel road. We had many roads crossing our path that we couldn't ride through the deep gravel.