Lost in Spencer, IA
Sunday, Jul-22 @ 07:19 PM
We roll into Spencer, IA, our first night stop, at dusk. We have no idea where the Tall Dogs are camping and we forgot to ask the night before. Also, being the first day, no one knows us on Route nor do we know them to ask.
So we begin asking people on the streets, and other camps that we come across to see if they know where the Tall Dogs are camping; or, do they know anyone in the Tall Dog group. We get one person who says a campmate of his has a girlfriend in Tall Dog. So, he sends us off to find his camp, The Pirates, hoping that this guy (which we don't know the name of) is at camp.
Across town we go; we actually find The Pirates with his directions; and better yet, the guy we're looking for, John, is in camp. He begins to make phone calls to 2 or 3 people but none of them are answering the phone. I'm not hopeful as my phone is not on; why would theirs be? John thinks he has a map of Tall Dog camp sites. He digs through all his stuff but never finds anything. And just when we're about to give up, John gets someone on the phone!
They gave us directions to go back across town. We find where we're going on a Mapsco. I don't have Internet access so I can't look the address up on Google. We're also tasked with delivering a pillow and a lantern to some girl in the Tall Dog group.
Off we go back across town. The whole way we are asking people where "22 Grandview" is and they all point the opposite way we're traveling... But the Mapsco says this direction; the owner of the house where Tall Dog is staying says this direction; so, we continue on this direction until we're completely lost, frustrated, sleepy, and now it's 11:15 pm.
We pull into this bar parking lot where locals immediately begin to help us straighten the whole thing out. The only thing on Serena's mind is a good shower. So, she begins to ask these people to use their bathroom. Come to find out, their mother is taking in riders for the night and she's had a cancellation, thus space on her living room floor. Her other son, who's doing biker errands comes and picks us and our trike up. Takes us back across town to finely find the Tall Dogs. (Which, by the way, is only a couple of blocks from The Pirates.) We get our stuff and he takes us to his mothers house where Serena gets her nice shower.
6 am the next morning, we get taken back to the Tall Dogs camp to return our stuff to the truck carrying our stuff to the next city. When we leave town, we bike all the way across town, find route, and bike back across town following route for the 4th time!
Although the people were really nice to us, I'm glad to be out of that city.
So we begin asking people on the streets, and other camps that we come across to see if they know where the Tall Dogs are camping; or, do they know anyone in the Tall Dog group. We get one person who says a campmate of his has a girlfriend in Tall Dog. So, he sends us off to find his camp, The Pirates, hoping that this guy (which we don't know the name of) is at camp.
Across town we go; we actually find The Pirates with his directions; and better yet, the guy we're looking for, John, is in camp. He begins to make phone calls to 2 or 3 people but none of them are answering the phone. I'm not hopeful as my phone is not on; why would theirs be? John thinks he has a map of Tall Dog camp sites. He digs through all his stuff but never finds anything. And just when we're about to give up, John gets someone on the phone!
They gave us directions to go back across town. We find where we're going on a Mapsco. I don't have Internet access so I can't look the address up on Google. We're also tasked with delivering a pillow and a lantern to some girl in the Tall Dog group.
Off we go back across town. The whole way we are asking people where "22 Grandview" is and they all point the opposite way we're traveling... But the Mapsco says this direction; the owner of the house where Tall Dog is staying says this direction; so, we continue on this direction until we're completely lost, frustrated, sleepy, and now it's 11:15 pm.
We pull into this bar parking lot where locals immediately begin to help us straighten the whole thing out. The only thing on Serena's mind is a good shower. So, she begins to ask these people to use their bathroom. Come to find out, their mother is taking in riders for the night and she's had a cancellation, thus space on her living room floor. Her other son, who's doing biker errands comes and picks us and our trike up. Takes us back across town to finely find the Tall Dogs. (Which, by the way, is only a couple of blocks from The Pirates.) We get our stuff and he takes us to his mothers house where Serena gets her nice shower.
6 am the next morning, we get taken back to the Tall Dogs camp to return our stuff to the truck carrying our stuff to the next city. When we leave town, we bike all the way across town, find route, and bike back across town following route for the 4th time!
Although the people were really nice to us, I'm glad to be out of that city.