Sioux City July 20

7/20, Sioux City, Iowa
We made it to Sioux City! Now Alex and I are officially on break until RAGBRAI (or should I say until August 1...we don't expect RAGBRAI to give us much of a challenge after what we've already done).
We've had a good past couple days. On Sunday we took our first rest day. Our bicycling friend, Rick, was extremely hospitable to us and showed us a really great time in Yankton. After having a relaxing day and taking care of some other business (my bike got a much needed tune-up by Rick's son, who works at the local bike shop in Yankton), Rick and his girlfriend Pam took Alex and I kayaking on the MIssouri River. It was a big ordeal arranging the logistics, such as placing cars at both the drop in and ending locations and getting everyone to the drop in area. We didn't end up getting on the river until about 8:30, but it turns out this was a great time for a kayak trip. We saw the sun set over the river, paddled through dusk, and then the last half of the trip by moonlight. Rick has been kayaking on the river for the past 30 years and knew the river like the back of his hand. He showed us the "shoots/chutes?" (narrow parts of the river where the current is strong and you can really get going in the kayak), some of the sandbars, and other cool parts of the river. At one point the river was over a mile wide! Alex and I really enjoyed ourselves and hope to be able to do some more kayaking in the future! We paddled about 11 miles, and finished our trip down the Missouri at 11:30. This was by far the most fun side adventure we have had yet! Thank you so much to Rick and Pam!
We left Yankton at noon yesterday, managing to avoid most of the rain and thunderstorms that passed through the area. We had the flattest day of biking yet into Sioux City and made decent time, at least compared to other days in the past week. We were disappointed when we arrived in Iowa, however. Iowa was the first state we have biked into that hasn't had a sign to welcome us. We figured we came in on a road that wasn't traveled enough, so when we got to Sioux City we backtracked a little on Hwy 12 back into South Dakota to try to find a sign that we could pose with. No such luck! Alex and I had to drive to a bridge on the interstate today to get a picture with the Iowa sign. I feel like we cheated, but only a little.
Alex's parents greeted us when we arrived (they even had a "welcome" sign on the door!) and we had a delicious pork chop dinner. We have spent today relaxing in the air conditioning and running errands (by car, of course!). It will be strange to not be going on any day long rides this week, but I really think my body needs some time to recover before we start the last 3 weeks of the trip. Alex and I are planning a trip to Ames this week to try to visit some friends. Since there will be no major biking occurring this week, I probably won't be writing any more updates for awhile. Alex and I are trying to get some pictures posted, so I will post some links later for everyone to check out!