Originally Posted by dannwilliams

The roads were, for the most part, low traffic. But many of the roads lack paved shoulders (even state highways!), not much of a problem since I was given a wide berth by traffic. Some county highways are gravel, and nearly ALL other rural roads are gravel. I have ridden the Driftless Area in WI, scenery is similar, but IA is even more rural! The hills on a loaded touring bike can be quite hard, as they are steep and sometimes go on for over 2 miles! Work! I had a trekking crank (26-36-48) and that worked for me, others may find a MTB crank (22-32-44) to be a better option for the hills. I planned on 60-70 miles per day, and had a one day buffer built in to my schedule, so if weather or harder riding was experienced, I'd be fine. That distance over this terrain meant I was pedaling over 6 hours a day. I stopped for breaks about every 20 miles, and averaged about 10 - 11 mph. Had a Warmshowers host lined up the first night in Decorah. Second night wound up camping under a shelter in the town park in Arlington, after riding all afternoon in the rain. After reaching The Field of Dreams, I continued to New Vienna and camped in the county park, had the place to myself. I stopped in town before reaching the park to find I missed my turn, a local woman gave me directions from town without back tracking, if I didn't mind a little gravel. And what was really cool is she and her husband drove through the park later to make sure I made it there OK! Which I found throughout the trip, very friendly locals! Everyone waved, never was buzzed or had a horn blared at me. As I said, drivers gave a wide berth always, even on the state highways with no shoulder!
From Dyersville, I followed the ACA Northern Tier Section 7 map back to my start. While stopped in Colesburg, a local man familiar with the map, told me he could knock 35 - 40 miles off, that the map hadn't changed in 30 years. He didn't understand that "The journey IS the destination." I continued following the maps and was rewarded with more greast rural scenery and nice small towns.
I had a great ride, I will probably go back at some point in the future!