Country Views: Surprises

It is hard to see here, but this field has corn sprouting up.

 Wednesday I had some errands and chores in the morning, a son to pick up in the afternoon from track practice, and in between a chance to roll some gravel. It was a really great day out up until about 5:00pm when things clouded over and started to get sprinkly. But I was done riding long before that! 

The temperature was about perfect for riding and the variable breeze was no big deal. I could never quite make up my mind which direction it was blowing from. Oh well, like I said, it was not a problem at all.

So, I wanted to ride the Black Mountain Cycles MCD, but the evening before I noted that the rear wheel was loose/wobbly a bit. I didn't have the time to investigate so I looked at it Wednesday morning. I didn't know what to expect since a through axle wheel usually doesn't get this way- unless something was broken- but I thought I'd check the tightness of the through bolt first and it turned about a quarter turn and that was it. Just a slightly loose axle. WooHoo! 

So, I was able to ride the pink MCD after all. The new Pirelli Cinturato tires are on it, and I wanted to get them out on the gravel again. One thing I didn't do was to check the air pressure, because these tires seem to have a good air retention quality. I probably still should check the air, but well.....I didn't and it was just fine.

I found this laying in the middle of the road on Moline Road. I moved it to the side before I left.

Heading up Airline Highway to the East.

I didn't get far before I spotted something bright and rather large laying dead center in the road. As I passed by I saw that it was some bright-work off some Chevrolet or another. I laughed out loud as I was surprised that the car operator didn't stop to pick it up. I decided to stop and move it off the road, lest it cause someone else trouble, or if the owner came by looking for it. I propped it up against a fence post and moved along. 

As I rode East on Big Rock Road it started clouding up.

West Central Iowa has their "Tree In The Road" We've got a "Tree at the T"!

I decided to turn South on Ordaway Road. This is an odd road in that it is broken up into four sections, none of which is longer than two miles. The road runs North-South in Black Hawk County and the section I was on went between Big Rock Road and Airline Highway for one mile. I don't ride it much, so I figured, why not today? Generally, if I do ride it, I go from Airline toward Big Rock, but this may be the first time I have ever ridden it the other way around. 

And I know that because I never noticed that a tree on Airline Highway stands in the South ditch directly across from Ordaway Road's termination there at a "T". If Ordaway continued South from there, the road would either have to go around that tree, or they would have had to have cut it down. At any rate, from the North it looks like the tree is in the road, much like the famous "Tree In The Road" in West Central Iowa. 

Sorry fellas! No hitchhikers allowed on my pink MCD!

This John Deere was pulling this odd contraption made up of long, large diameter rollers.

As I came back on Airline Highway West, I came across a farm where two young boys decided to try to hitch a ride! Now that was surprising, and fun. I decided to snap their picture and they held their pose for me as I did. I waved a friendly 'hello' as I passed by and they returned the favor. You don't see that often on a gravel ride!

Then I had to go North on Crane Creek Road and as I did I saw this John Deere tractor pulling something through an old stubble field that I had never seen before. A contraption with large, shiny rollers, like steel rolling pins. The operator was in what I would call 'road gear', he was going so fast. Anyway, what is this? A way to crush old stubble so you do not have to disc? A form of 'no-till' farming? I have no idea. I am a bicycle mechanic. Not a farmer.

That swirling mass of high-speed dust? That's one of them there "Terra-Gators", that's what it is!

Patterns in the fields and in the skies.....

As I was coming back on the big rollers of Big Rock Road, I noted a strange swirling mass of dust in one of the valleys, and it looked like it was headed my direction. When I saw the squared off cab peek above the horizon line I pulled off to the side. I realized what this machine was straight away. It was a Terra-Gator, a ginormous three wheeled motorized sprayer tank with wheels about six feet wide and eight feet tall. You don't want to tangle with one of those beasts on a gravel road!

I also had a two dog encounter where a medium sized dog came running out of a stubble field (!) barking at me. It is super rare to have a dog do this where there is almost nothing around. Then I noted a greyhound looking dog standing off in the same stubble field the other dog came out of. This whippet looking dog was just standing there, doing nothing, and it looked odd to me. Something was weird here. Maybe the one dog was trying to tell me something? It wasn't aggressive and did not pursue me after I passed it by.  

Well, after that oddity, I made a quick visit to the namesake 'Big Rock', which has been freshly spray painted by vandals again, and then four more miles back to my truck. That was it. A short ride full of surprises. I was definitely not thinking this was going to be anything but another routine gravel grind. Glad that I was wrong about that!