Author Archives: scottluria

Clear Lake to Ingham Lake, Iowa Sunday , July 11, 2021 Hallelujah! The stars seemed to align on this Sunday morning, and indeed Mars and Venus were in conjunction above. I slept well, my caffeine withdrawal is largely done, and it was perfect weather today, with a fair wind and moderate temperatures. I was ableContinue reading “Longest day yet”

Mason City to Clear Lake, Iowa Saturday, July 10, 2021 Today turned out to be one of my wimpiest days ever, but at least I didn’t take another zero. Continued rain all day, with my head still cloudy from caffeine withdrawal, there was going to be a tailwind so I decided to go for it.Continue reading “The day the Music Man died”

Waverly to Mason City, Iowa. Thursday and Friday, July 8-9, 2021 Yup, I’m one of those Music Man freaks. Hard to explain, my ongoing fascination with a musical released 59 years ago, based on a Broadway play five years earlier, corny, dated, chauvinistic, glorifying a sleazeball con man. Every July my family would gather aroundContinue reading “Trouble in River City”

Oelwein to Waverly, Iowa Wednesday, July 7, 2021 Today was a sad day. My mother died 35 years ago today, of metastatic breast cancer, at the age of 58. Too young, and too soon to lose your mother. Funny to think that she was alive for less than half of my life. Martha Jane ReadingContinue reading “Mom and the rain”

Manchester to Oelwein, Iowa Tuesday, July 6, 2021 Everybody knows the Winkie March, where the armed guards are marching into the wicked witch’s castle in the Wizard of Oz, chanting “oh-we-oh, oh-WE-oh”, but few know it by that name. Winkie just seems like such a cute little name for those fearsome guards. Oelwein (sounds aContinue reading “The Wussy March”

Dyersville to Manchester, Iowa Monday, July 5, 2021 Today I got an unmitigated taste of what a hot summer headwind can be like on the open plains. Followers of this blog know I have dealt with headwinds before, but this was something new. Something new, but nothing I didn’t expect. I knew the wind wouldContinue reading “Reset”

Galena, Illinois to Dyersville, Iowa. Sunday, July 4, 2021 I’m not really that much of a baseball fan. I blame it on my hometown team, the Washington Senators, not the once-good Senators that were sold to Minnesota in 1960, but the expansion Senators that stayed with us for only 11 years, and only once hadContinue reading “If you bike there, it will come”

Apple River to Galena, Illinois. Saturday July 3, 2021 This is one of the candidates for the overall title of my blog. My father, Carlos Luria, died last year under dramatic circumstances, which I will be expanding on in a future post, one of the “elephant in the room” posts that I keep talking about,Continue reading “Travels with Carlos”

Monroe, Wisconsin to Apple River, Illinois. Friday, July 2, 2021 OK, I get it. Enough with the badgers. Last day, I promise. Today, after a total of 23 days, I’m finally leaving Wisconsin for good, if only to cross back into Illinois to do the highpoint. A bike trail was available, but the reviews wereContinue reading “Badger bye bye”

Madison to Monroe, Wisconsin Thursday, July 1, 2021 Another low-key day to follow a busy one. The next destination is Charles Mound in Illinois, but as mentioned above I can’t get there until Saturday, and it’s only about 70 miles, so I can afford to take my time. Which was fine, spending a lazy ThursdayContinue reading “From the 4th to the 5th president”