R17 27 RideOut Day 4: Dead Pig Eulogy

So. Damn. Close.

So, we had to ride a long way north out of Remsen with no turns to cheer us up. I rode a bit with the RM, tried to ignore the stiff breeze out of the east, and looked forward to the landmarks of a perpendicular county road and county line--when we would be in our last county of the RideOut.

I remember this stretch going on, and on, and on as I waited to see Highway 10. I guess it wasn't so bad. The wind kept the heat down, and made the cycling exciting because you'd get the occasional push beneath the bike and worry you were going to topple over. 

So much of the RideOut is just long boring stretches with no that much happening and only your thoughts to keep you company. Later, Steven would relay her adventures with the Mayor, but I will save that for when she chimes in. 

Eventually, I caught up with our merry band and the five of us stopped for a celebratory breakie at the turn on to Highway 10. 

I stopped my bike. Turned off my stories and looked up to see:

Poor little porker

A huge, dead pig on the side of the gravel road. It might have fallen off a truck, or tried to escape and gotten hit by a car, but it was dead, bloated, and massive. RM Bill thought this was hilarious and he did a full on photo shoot with the porker, taking pictures from every angle. It was impressive that a domestic animal could be that big. I couldn't help but be glad it wasn't alive. 

We mounted our bikes and pushed up the last few hills until we got a magical and lovely downhill swoop into Alton. And then, like they do, Steven and the Mayor disappeared. Just as we reached the finish line, they were gone, choosing some alternate route that only they knew about and decided not to tell anyone else about. I had the RM with me, though, and they had been here before, so we rode into town along Highway 10 and climbed the long last hill into Alton. 

We turned on a side street and found our way to a charming, new and well lit bar. The Mayor and Steven had found their way there too, independently. We had done it. Just a short four mile jaunt into Orange City and we would be done with this bad idea. 

Steven discovers local frozen meat sticks

Inside, we bellied up to the bar, ordered tons and tons of beer. I actually dashed behind the bar to see what the options were in the cooler (no-give-a-shit-ness) and we drank and drank and draank. At one point, RM Ruth started talking about this amazing meat locker around the corner with great meat sticks. Steven's ears pricked up. "Meat sticks?" 

In moments, she had gotten money from the Mayor and was off to find this magical meat locker. It wasn't long before she was back with a package of frozen meat sticks. 

Did that stop her? 

Nope. The frozen meat sticks only slowed her down. 

While we ate and drank and enjoyed the wifi and listened to the amazing stories of the RM, the Mayor went and chatted up a couple who had done the RideOut from Iowa City (or somewhere like that). They were fit and lean and had done a lot of camping and didn't look like they ever had fights. Whatever. 

We also got the low down on what would be offered in the town. Apparently, the RAGBRAI funbusters had come through and put the kibosh on bloody marys and beer in the morning, but the bar would offer sandwiches

While we were in the bar, we heard about the bike trail that goes from Alton into Orange City. And we got directions to it. It looked like it would take us near our homestay. Fabulous! 

Finally, we decided it was time to leave. We called our homestay to let them know we would be there shortly and then we got on our bikes and headed up the hill towards the top of the town and found the bike trail. We could see Orange City on the horizon, but getting there would prove to be tricker than we imagined.