I was awake way to early, but managed a little more sleep before getting up and having some hotel waffles. The Keokuk motel waffle maker made four little ones which I had never seen before. Most of the rest of the hotel was still sleeping, so I happily had the breakfast area to myself for 8 mini waffles saturated in syrup.
Once filled up, we hit the road again right at sunrise. Early mornings on vacation are the best. There is nothing like getting pushed down the road on a motorcycle by a sunrise.
The air was dense and cool in the mid-60's with roads that were all but empty. It was wonderful.
There was one fairly unfriendly construction area, but thankfully there was no one else there except the flag dude. That wet asphalt kicks up a lot of noise bits into the fenders.
Since I live in Southwest Ohio, I have known about a city called Cincinnati there. There is one in Iowa too that is much more important. Being so close, it only made sense to stop at the Iowa version.
After that diversion, the adventure continued north and west. Traffic was extremely light for nearly the entire morning. The area we were going through consists of the foothills of the Ozarks and the beginnings of the Loess Hills. Anybody who thinks Iowa is boring has never taken the time to look. It was absolutely stunning scenery to roll through.
I headed north on the interstate for a few miles going into Council Bluffs, Iowa. In 2015, we went to the Rotary Jail in Crawfordsville, Indiana. There is a similar jail in Council Bluffs that is a larger three-story unit. However, it no longer rotates (the Crawfordsville jail still does rotate).
Council Bluffs is much larger than I anticipated, and it was a bit hairy to get around. But the GPS did a good job of routing us to the historic jail. Since it was Saturday, there was gobs of parking, but much of it was marked for official use only, even though nobody was working the weekend. Eventually I just parked on a street and sent SO in for some change for the meter - who carries change anymore? We were told that meters aren't enforced on Saturday so we could just park anywhere. It would have been nice to know that earlier. And to the guy in the Audi wagon - you are kind of an asshole.
The Council Bluffs Squirrel Cage Jail sits in a very neat historic Victorian building.
The staff at the jail was extremely friendly. Entrance was a nominal $7 and well worth the cost. The jail itself was neat to tour through. Since the jail no longer rotates, the cells in the "outside" of the upper levels are no longer usable. Seems some scaffolding would have been put up to make use of all the cells.
There are also many interesting exhibits in the jail. Yes, that is an actual noose used in an execution, although it wasn't done at that jail. Unlike the Rotary Jail in Crawfordsville, no one was ever executed in Council Bluffs.
The top floor holds the "apartment" for the jailer and his wife. There is something about these old Victorian buildings, even if they aren't in the best of shape.
The top of the center of the actual jail can be seen. Below these grates is where the, ahem, waste goes. This is adjacent to the apartment, so it could be unpleasant for the occupants. At some point the venting of this was changed to a cupola to alleviate some of the stank.
Happy that I've never been in jail outside of a tour, we walked a few blocks down to Ellie's Deli for sandwiches. They were good, but it was also quite odd since there was a "Zombie Walk" at the same time. This seems fine for kids or college students - I found the number of adults walking around painted like the undead a bit weird. Maybe that is just me.
With the zombies out in force, it was time to head out again. We worked our way north and west again. Traffic definitely picked up in the afternoon and I couldn't help but wonder if any of it was due to the eclipse?
I had purchased a sun shade for my Garmin Zumo 660 from a German company. In auto-translated English, the ad for it said it was impossible for it to come off. But between the wind in Northern Nebraska and me lightly hitting it, the shade came off for the second time somewhere on US-275 (the first was in Council Bluffs). Thankfully I turned around and was able to find it again. At the next gas stop, a very nice cashier gave me a couple rubber bands which will make it flying away more difficult in the future ... hopefully.
Once into Norfolk, we found our hotel. It is definitely an older place, and I would have much preferred to have been able to have an outside room, but such is life.
Dinner that night was a steak just down the road. I really wanted the rib eye, but couldn't stomach the price. The "branding iron steak" was pretty good though.
The evening finished off with a f'real shake - good, but it was no cookie dough ice cream.
Above all else, it was a fantastic day on the bike with some great sights to take in at the same time.
The eclipse is getting closer; weather forecasts are still all over the place. I hope they converge in a good direction.
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