October 9, Monday, Day 5

Shady Creek ACE (Army Corps of Engineers) Park, Muscatine, Iowa              on the Mississippi River

158 mile jump

Finally, we are on the road away from the responsibilities of home ownership, enjoying each other’s company, finding solace in our tiny, tiny house and looking forward to exciting new explorations. The weather at Shady Creek was rather inclement, but we had things we could do indoors (like this blog!).

We enjoyed the hundreds of white pelicans that were feeding in the Big Muddy as well as the huge barges moving up and down the river. Time is slowing down from the hectic routines in Grand Rapids. “We have to slow down and rest to let our souls catch up with our bodies”, according to our First Nation brothers and sisters.

We only left the campsite once with the truck to check out a bike route that would not require much travel on the highway right out front. There are no shoulders and it’s a 55MPH zone. We discovered a road about 1/2 mile down the highway. But, it was a long hill formed by the Mississippi River valley that led to a state park. I rode it Thursday and found Wildcat Den State Park at the top of that long climb. It was beautifully treed, but after a quarter mile, the road plummeted down swiftly to a creek on the opposite boundary of the park. I surmised that rather than riding back up that huge hill, I might find a trail to get me back to the road I rode up to the park. That worked out excellently; it was a beautiful hike/ride!