The Gravel Promenade Re-cap

 

Post #22:  8am sharp we turned the pedals out of Dinosaur Park.  The band of three gravel riders took the start of the inaugural Gravel Promenade.  Believe me when I say this was a Galactic Premier Gravel Event.  If you did not attend, you missed out on being on the ground floor of a fabulous and well organized event.  Seriously, it was just a bike ride, and it was nothing special.      

    We had a bit of rain the night before, so we avoided Petrie Level B road with the thought that soil retains moisture and it would not be good to get the bikes all muddied up at the beginning of the ride.  With that said, we went east towards LaPorte City.

    Before we got into LaPorte City we took a jaunt south of town and explored a B-Road called 13th road.  It looked like it recently had grader work done on it.  As we rode we realized the roads were extremely dusty and were confident that B roads would be rideable.  And shockingly it was bone dry and in need of rain to settle the freshly graded dirt.  

    As we closed in on LaPorte City, I asked if we wanted a doughnut stop? It was decided we needed a Casey's stop instead.  So we cut through and old hotel parking lot to avoid HWY 218.  We went through the parking lot, it became clear the hotel has seen better days.  It is in needed of being leveled.  As we sat outside of Casey's, I asked a rider if they had even been in Dewar.  His response was no.  So I decided to cut the route short after Jesup to get this man a Busch Latte at Dewar Tap.  Off to 

    Off to Jesup wen went.  We came across some surprise chip and seal roads.  These roads are on the county map as gravel, but they are now chip and seal.  The road becomes gravel after a county park and a intersection.  We turned north to Jesup and found a section of Taramac that was relatively new.  We pedaled into Jesup's Casey's.

    After the Casey's stop in Jesup, we went north a few miles then went due west in to the thriving metropolis of Dewar.  Not much in Dewar, other than a grain bin, community center and the Dewar Tap.  It has been a few years since my last visit.  It was the type of place you swore had saw dust on the floor and the bathroom toilets always ran, in order to keep the smell down in the urnial they always had ice in it.  Since that time, it has been gutted and dressed up.  It felt weird not seeing the bras strewn across the bar and the $1 had been removed from the ceiling.  All things change, and this time, i think it was for the better.  But the old way it was had a petinia to it, that was desirable.  

    We had two beers and left to finish the ride at Anton's in Waterloo.  We came in on Newell street from the east.  We took it to 4th street.  4th Street may of be torn up, but we road the gravel over the tracks and left the construction area.  We finished out the ride at Anton's.  It was a good abbreviated ride.  A lot of new roads to me were ridden.  

Cheers and Godspeed