Day 33 Chariton, IA to Pella, IA

We had a relatively short day of 52 miles today, but the up and down hills made up for the distance. We stayed off highway 14 as much as we could because of heavy traffic. We did need to ride it for about 7 miles and the 2 feet right of the rumble strip was often littered with gravel that we needed to be very concentrated on and not look around and allow some space to react from the biker in front of you. During the day today we passed the halfway point of mileage for the tour from beginning to end and we all had our picture taken at the exact spot. We had a rain shower during the night and all the tents needed to be packed up wet and are now out on the lawn in Pella, drying out.  

We had a great stop at the Celebration Church in Knoxville at 30 some miles. They had coffee, fruit, pastries, and several kinds of pies. The church is almost across the street from the Knoxville Raceway, a big stop on the Sprint Car circuit…..there are races every week through the summer.

We passed the Red Rock Dam on a bike path on the way into Pella. It holds back the large Lake Red Rock. There are not a lot of lakes that we have seen during our tour of Iowa and this one is very large and gets a lot of use by fishermen and boaters. The town of Pella is very neat and the downtown area has a large square area with many Dutch architecture styled buildings in the center part of town. It has many Dutch themed stores and shops. We are staying in the dorms on Central College’s campus. Tonight, the college is hosting us for dinner and there will be a short praise service after that. Pella and Central College remind us a lot of Holland, MI and Hope College.

The annual RAGBRAI bike tour across Iowa went through Pella as a breakfast stop yesterday, so we did not get to see the extravaganza. There are about 20,000 registered bike riders in that tour. I am including some pictures of a giant windmill that is made of various bike parts that is on display in the city square for the RAGBRAI event. Our Pella planning group for our stay had a giant Sea To Sea card out on the city square when the RAGBRAI riders came through and any riders were asked to sign a card for our tour and almost $300 in donations were received for Sea To Sea.  

Julie and several other volunteers were treated to a pedicure this afternoon as a gift from a donor. They had a really relaxing and good time, I am told.

We had the praise service with the Faith CRC of Pella tonight and had a great time and their pastor was very encouraging in his short message. Tomorrow, some of us riders are doing without breakfast for the first 20 miles, as a fast to remember the cause we are biking for. The pastor referenced Isaiah 58 and that we are not to look at just our fasting, but to look for ways to break the chains of injustice in our world, and to release the oppressed. He reminded us that we are doing that in a way by the funds we are raising because of the tour. We also heard from a local board member of Partners Worldwide and the work they have been doing in Honduras the past eight years with helping small businesses get started with loans to individuals. Partners Worldwide is one of our tour sponsors.  

The temperature dropped this afternoon with a stiff breeze. Tomorrow is only supposed to be in the lower 70s and again a NW wind. We have a long mile day and nearly 4800 feet of climb, so we are ending the week with a tough ride.

Only one more week and we will be stopping by our home!! More to come when we get to Iowa City tomorrow.