Brown Season: Unmasked

Escape Route: Just Southeast of Reinbeck, Iowa.

The forecast was almost unbelievable. Two days in a row of 50+ degree temperatures? With "The Quest" nearing the end, and time running out, this was more than I could have hoped for in terms of weather. So, on the first day of 'respite from Winter', I decided that I should tackle a three mile stretch of Tama Road and a bit of Hicks Road that I realized I hadn't done yet. This was in Southwestern Black Hawk County. 

I think this bit of Tama Road escaped me because Tama Road is paved for all but four miles of its western run in Black Hawk County. I have always just written Tama Road off as a paved road, not realizing it had a gravel section at all. Kind of like C-57 up North of here, you'd never guess that it wasn't paved somewhere. That's what I get for assuming! 

Along the way I realized also that the section of Hicks Road from Reinbeck Road South to the county border was another bit I hadn't ridden. So, off to Reinbeck to embark from the South side of the little town and get that taken care of. As I stated, it was a gloriously warm and Sunny day, so temperatures weren't an issue and it was as beautiful as it is going to get in December out in the country in Iowa. There was a little wind, but nothing too terrible. What there was hit me from the Northwest. 

Barns For Jason #'s 1 and 2

 December in Iowa, with no snow at all, is a lesson in what the land is really like. All the crops are stripped away leaving what was once a bucolic scene looking like a vast brownish desert with only the farmsteads showing above the horizon line. Their rickety old outbuildings and vertical silos are the only breaks in the monotony of the prairies. Occasionally a clump of trees will mark a stream or an old farmyard. But besides these man-made interruptions and an occasional natural oasis, Winter's unmasking of the landscape renders the prairies as a foreboding and ominous presence. You feel insignificant against the overwhelming breadth of the land. The height of the heavens above is an infinite blue cap overall. 

Tama Road in Black Hawk County

Barns For Jason #3

Even the sky is devoid of clouds on this day, depriving the eye of any movement or even the imagining of seeing shapes come to life as dragons or other mystical things. Just blue above. Just brown below. The land has been vacated by wildlife for the most part. Song birds have long flown to their Winter havens. Only the birds of prey remain, soaring in the barren skies or sitting patiently on poles and wires. Looking for any creature stupid enough to show themselves outside of their humble holes. 

The intersection of Lincoln Road and Tama Road.

Hicks Road looking South

A Red Tailed hawk soars above me, and although many might consider me stupid for coming out of my humble hole to ride gravel in December, I am too big for the bird to pick on. The hawk sails away Southward on the breeze. Later a Sharp-shinned Hawk flutters and sails along a telephone line on Hicks Road. A passer-through. On its way to Winter in warmer climes. Other than these birds I saw no signs of life, unless you consider farmers staring at their cell phones as they kick up the dust in their pick-up trucks as a sign of life. Sometimes I wonder about that......

Barns For Jason #'s 4 and 5

110th in Tama County.

The land is so empty that even sounds are scarce. The only things to hear are the crunch of your tires on crushed rock and the ever-constant singing white noise in your ears from the winds which never cease. Loneliness and melancholy are the subjects of its songs. It's best not to pay attention to that. So, I just forge ahead, getting Tama Road done and then heading back West and then South on Hicks Road out to Tama County. 

On my way back to the truck....

I figured I would take in a mile of 110th in Tama County which is one section of three of all dirt roads. This would take me West to a "T" intersection and then it was this grinder of a climb into the wind to another Tama Road, only this one was on the border of Tama County and Grundy County. Which reminds me, I rode in three different counties on this day.

Hmm......they still all looked the same though. Borders can be funny that way. The only thing that lets you know you are in a different county is the level  of current gravel road maintenance and perhaps even the gravel itself might be slightly different. Tama County had just dome their maintenance, so there was fresh chunk everywhere. Glad I didn't stay too long! Black Hawk County had the fastest gravel with Grundy a close second. Going back I was obliged to tack against the constant Northwest breezes. It was okay, you just have to be patient and "eat your broccoli" along those stretches. It goes down eventually and then, hopefully, you get something better. 

So, I didn't have to do all four miles of Tama Road's gravel section because I did the Eastern-most one mile section a long time ago coming off Lincoln Road on a ride one Spring. I think Hicks is all off the menu now as well. Next up, a few miles here and there and that's it. 

Stay tuned.....