Day 44 Council Bluffs, IA to Rock Port, MO

2397.1 miles

Missouri! Missouri! Missouri!!!!!!

Only one more state to cross, and it is probably for the best. We appear to be wearing a bit thin.

We left Clark and Sue's place around 7am, and immediately found ourselves riding alongside the Loess Hills of Iowa again. We spent most of the morning there, sandwiched between the steeply rising hills of dirt and the endless fields of corn like some strange painting of mountains by the sea, in which the mountains are far too small and the sea is undulating waves of stalky grain.

We stopped in Thurman, IA to fill our water bottle, and got lost. Instead of riding out of town along the flat road underneath the hills, we rode directly into them. It should have been abundantly clear that we were off course. The map clearly showed that the route was flat, and here we were staring at the sky, our quads burning. Yet, we persisted. We didn't bother to stop at the base of the hills, no, nor halfway to the summitt. No, not even at the top of the first hill did we bother to consider our mistake. It was not until we had crested a large hill, making the possibility of return unthinkable, that we hesitated.

In unison, "I think we took a wrong turn."

Onward and upward, literally, higher and higher into the hills. I am not, however, all complaints. We'd been in the flat valley between the River and the Hills for the days now. The hills offered a whole new world of possibilities, use of muscles we hadn't engaged lately, and vistas we would never have seen from below.

Most importantly, however, riding into the hills of Iowa led us to the best pie West of the Mississippi. It was getting close to lunch time. Not, the close to lunch time told by the clock, but the close to lunch time you feel deep in your belly, and then shortly after in your head - eat, or fall over, fool. It was then, as my belly commanded me to halt further progress for the morning, that I crested a hill to discover the most beautiful of sights: Cherries, Peaches, Apples...inscribed upon a sign, an orchard.

This was not just an orchard. This was the Hilltop Grounds Cafe and Orchard. The delightful proprietor, Lisa, allowed us to bring in our lunch of avocado, crackers, and bread, while she provided the iced tea. But, there was really only one thing on our mind, and that was pie.

It was delicious. It was everything you want out of pie. The fruit was fresh from the orchard and prepared with marvelous skill to be placed inside the crumbly, buttery crust. This pie melted, trancendently, upon the tongue. We ate four pieces between us, two pieces of very berry (cherries, blueberries, strawberries, and gooseberries), a piece of cherry, and a piece of peach.

The trees at Hilltop Grounds have been producing fruit for 125 years, and each week Lisa turns that fruit into 40 delectable, crusty treats. Go! Go now! I know you want pie. You've been dreaming of pie like this for years. 1 mile north of Hamburg, IA on US-275.

Full of pie, we rode to Hamburg, which I insist on pronouncing in the same manner as one would pronounce the city in Germany. That is not how it is pronounced in Iowa, not at all. The heat descended on us in Hamburg, so we wholed up in the library.

Come 5pm, it was on to Missouri. I am sad to say that the State of Missouri did not deem to place a welcome sign on US 275 at the Iowa/Missouri border. So, we had to make due with a "Wear Your Seat Belt Sign" bearing that all to familiar outline, you know, the one that looks like home.