1 0 Posts with the tag: Iowa
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Rest in Sioux Center, Iowa

Posted by on July 16th, 2011 3 Comments
July 06 2011 DSC 2697 548x355 Rest in Sioux Center, Iowa

In front of The Fruited Plain in Sioux Center, Iowa

Sioux Center, a small town in Northwest Iowa (pop: 7000) claims a special part in both of our lives. Reuben spent a fair amount of his childhood here, and we both attended college in town (were we met). Since we hadn’t been back since our graduation, it was a must that we put it on our route.

For previous rest stops so far on our journey we’ve enjoyed the hospitality of friends and family in the area. We have many friends who still live in Sioux Center but as we didn’t know when we would arrive or for how long we would stay, we decided to book a local hotel. Thankfully the Econolodge is centrally located and provided a very clean and comfortable stay for the 4 nights we were there.

IMG 0119 300x293 Rest in Sioux Center, Iowa

A fortune cookie with great advice.

Our first stop in town? The Bamboo Garden Chinese Café. I worked here for the 6 years that I lived in Sioux Center. I even lived with the owners and their daughter for 8 months when I needed a place to stay one summer. I hadn’t seen them since we were last in town 8 years ago, and both Reuben and I missed their food so much! It was great to catch up with them and enjoy our old favourite dishes!

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Split rim, hotels and Iowa heat

Posted by on July 4th, 2011 11 Comments

We’re hanging out for a couple of days in Sioux Center, Iowa – the town where I spent a fair amount of my youth and where both Heidi and I went to college. With a number of days off we finally have a moment to reflect on our push from Madison, Wisconsin to this point. It has been an event-filled few weeks and we have really enjoyed watching the landscape evolve from the hilly glaciated terrain of Wisconsin’s driftless area to the rolling flats of Iowa farmland.

1000km 548x390 Split rim, hotels and Iowa heat

We hit 1,000km outside of Madison and are well on our way to 2,000 now.

Iowa farms 548x362 Split rim, hotels and Iowa heat

Iowa!

Before departing Madison, Wisconsin, we took a little side trip to Des Moines, Iowa for a quick weekend with my family. While hopping in a car for the five hour drive was a bit of a surreal experience after a month on bikes, we were grateful to have this additional time with brothers, sisters, parents, grand-parents and great-grandparents.

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