2 Bikes, 5 States, 10 Trails, 14 Days – Part 5

Iowa- High Trestle Trail and Raccoon River Valley Trail

• Day 10- Drove from Wisconsin to Madrid, Iowa
• Day 11- Rode the High Trestle Trail then relocated to Perry, Iowa
• Day 12-Packed the bikes for an overnight. Rode the Raccoon River Valley Trail from Perry to Panora, Iowa
• Day 13-Rode the Raccoon River Valley Trail from Panora to Perry, Iowa
• Day 14-Drove back to Kentucky from Perry, Iowa

We arrived in Madrid, Iowa early enough in the afternoon for a ride to the High Trestle Bridge. The bridge I’d heard so much about! We easily found the lodging we’d reserved at Trailside Rentals. The house is right beside the bike shop in town, and it is very close to the bike trail, so it was an easy hop onto the trail from the house. The house was a large home built in 1902 with 4 guest rooms and a shared living room/kitchen. We were the only guests there that night, so we had the place to ourselves.

After we unloaded, we jumped on the bikes and rode the 2 1/2 miles to the bridge from the guesthouse. The bridge is beautiful and we spent quite some time looking out over the Des Moines River. We then rode the additional 6 miles into Woodward in case we didn’t have time tomorrow to double back and do that section.

There were not many dinner options in the town of Madrid, but what we did find was excellent! We ate at Pancho Villa Mexican Restaurant. The food was authentic Mexican and the portions were huge. It’s hard to tell in these pictures, but the dinner plates were at least 12 inches wide. Highly recommend! Everything was delicious and it was a huge amount of food for a very reasonable price.

After dinner, we went back to the guesthouse and watched a movie, waiting for it to get almost dark so we could see the bridge at night. Once the sun was going down we hopped back on our bikes and rode the trail back down to the High Trestle bridge just as the sun was setting. There were several people walking or riding out to the bridge, all with the same goal to see the bridge at night.

The arches across the center of the bridge are lit at night with blue lights. The entire bridge (1/2 mile) walkway is lit, but just the arches over the river channel are lit at night, thereby marking the channel of the river that runs under that portion of the bridge.

The next morning, we rode back to the bridge to see it in the early morning light, then turned around and headed toward Ankeny, in the opposite direction. The trail was very busy all the way to Ankeny. This was the Saturday of July 4th weekend and there were lots of walkers and bikers out enjoying the trail. Also, many folks in Iowa train for Ragbrai, (the Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa) which is held at the end of July every year. Here are a few photos from the trail, though I did not take as many pictures as usual just because of the number of people.

Our ride to Ankeny took us through the little town of Slater, where the residents were lining up alongside the street for the town’s 4th of July parade. The parade vehicles were lined up in a parking lot, and we spent some time looking at the old tractors, cars, and emergency vehicles. Though we didn’t stay and watch the parade, we actually got to see it all since we rode right past the parade on our way back to the trail.

We continued or way to Ankeny, passing more beautiful Iowa farmland.

Our ride to Ankeny, the end of the High Trestle Trail, was timed just right for lunch! As we pedaled into Ankeny, we came upon a big farmer’s market. We browsed around at all the offerings and ended up getting a lunch of arepas from a Venezualan food truck parked nearby. Delicious!

After lunch, we headed back toward Madrid, passing back through the little towns we’d passed through that morning. When we got back to Slater, they were still celebrating the 4th of July. There was a community horseshoe tournament and volleyball matches going on at the park. We watched the action for a while then asked someone where we might find ice cream. They pointed us in the direction of the other park in town, just a few blocks away. As we pedaled through the small town, we realized that there were no cars on the roads, just us. Literally everyone in town was either sitting in their front yard in lawn chairs, gathered with other friends and family or at one of the two parks. Seemingly the whole town put everything on hold this Saturday, July 3 and celebrated Independence Day together. I’d never seen a whole town gathered like that. Most every house had folks gathered in the front lawn visiting with others. Small towns are special places, and they know how to celebrate holidays!

Soon we arrived back to Madrid, packed the bikes on the car and drove the short drive to Perry, Iowa. In Perry, we had accommodations at the Hotel Patee. The hotel opened in 1913 and it is beautiful and unique. It has 40 guests rooms, each decorated in a different theme. We stayed here two nights, in two different rooms since we’d be on the trail for one overnighter in between the 2 nights. The first night, we were in the Bill Bell room, decorated in honor of a famous tuba player from Iowa. There was even a tuba in our room! lol Many of the rooms are decorated for famous people, but some are just themed, for instance a school house room, Japanese room, etc.

The Bill Bell room contained many artifacts from his life, and I really enjoyed learning about this gifted musician.

Here are a few shots of the first floor of the hotel, as well as the secure bike storage offered inside the hotel, which was a huge plus! The hotel even has a bowling alley in the basement!

Notice the dog asleep near the bikes? That’s a 3 legged dog named Lapso, and he has a sad story with a happy ending.

Lapso arrived in the town of Perry one winter with a homeless man. The town tried to help the man but things did not work out well for him. He ended up leaving the town but left the little dog behind at a bike shelter. I’m assuming it must be the shelter/trailhead directly across the street from the hotel. It was during a snowstorm and the puppy had icicles hanging from his ears. The hotel’s general manager, learning of the abandonment, stepped in and brought the dog into the hotel. She learned from the vet who treated him, that the pup had been shot 3 or 4 times, thus the missing shoulder and leg. Additionally, he’d been kicked so hard in the jaw that it broke it in 3 spots and healed crooked, so he has a difficult time eating. But now the dog is living the life of luxury in this mansion of a hotel. He has his own soft pillow in the rear of the lobby beside the bike storage, and toys and balls are scattered throughout the lobby. He is very gentle and calm, and would hop over to greet us as we came in from our bike rides.

Perry is a cute little town with a population of just over 7000. It is located directly on the Raccoon River Valley Trail, and the trailhead was directly across the street from our hotel. I took several pictures of the downtown area.

We ate dinner that night in the hotel restaurant, which was very convenient and very good!

The next morning, we packed our bike bags with items for an overnight stay on the trail. The Raccoon River Valley Trail forms a big loop. We planned to ride a portion of the loop, from Perry to Panora for a distance of 51 miles. It would have been an additional 35 miles to continue around the loop and come back to Perry. That was more distance than we were willing to ride. Jimmy found a small 22-room lakeside hotel ,The Port, so he made reservations there for our overnight stay. He is an expert at planning trips! I don’t do any of the searching for accommodations or restaurants. He does it all! He also plots out our riding route each day and makes reservations before we leave home, so everything is set when we get out on the trail!

The route out of Perry was well marked as we navigated our way out of town.

The ride toward Panora was beautiful. We passed more farmland and other little towns, which are spaced out about 6 miles apart along the trail. These were stops for the train back in the day. Now they make great stops for bikers looking for a restroom, water, or ice cream. And they are helping to bring business back to these little towns that have been abandoned by the railroad. Bike trails are a real shot in the arm to former railroad towns. Our ride this particular day was on the 4th of July. The first town we came to was having a town-wide celebration. As we approached the town, we saw the parade lined up ready to begin. A volunteer fire fighter pointed us in the direction of the park pavilion where they were serving breakfast, having a gospel singing and waiting for the start of the parade. We had a great time celebrating with the little town of Minburn!

After the parade, we continued our ride toward Panora, feeling very patriotic having celebrated with the fine folks of Minburn.

We continued on, exploring more beautiful countryside, and finding lunch at a trailside burger restaurant called the Brickyard. It’s easy to spot since it is directly across from an actual brickyard, lol.

We finished our mileage mid-afternoon and arrived in Panora. The resort area was on Lake Panorama, and was near the trail but not directly on it. We had to ride off the trail for about a mile to reach the resort, but it was all on very low-volume roads through quiet neighborhoods. The last quarter mile was on a dusty gravel road, but that was the only rough stretch of road.

Dinner was easy because the hotel had a restaurant that served the hotel guests as well as those staying in other parts of the resort area as well as the public. We had dinner with a view of the lake.

The next morning, the ride back to Perry was the shortest ride of the trip at 35 miles. We didn’t mind that though, because it was also one of the hottest days, with temperatures reaching 95 degrees by mid-day. We got an early start to beat the heat and breakfast was protein bars that we had with us.

This was a beautiful ride as well, and the wildflowers were plentiful! The approach to every town on this trail (and the trails we rode in the other farming states) are marked by the presence of grain elevators and silos. Since these trails follow the old railroad path, these giants are one of the first things to greet us as we roll into town. Most still seem to be in use. I always take pictures of them. In the first little town we approached, Yale, there were also beautiful cherry trees trailside! I love the picture of the cherries with the old town water tower in the background.

When we arrived back to Perry, where we’d left our car. It was early in the day, but we were able to check in to the Hotel Pattee early since the room was vacant. This time, we were in the George Soumas room (also known as the Greek room), named for the most decorated World War II hero in Iowa.

Captain Soumas was one of the men instrumental in capturing the Ludendorff Bridge and one of the first to cross it. He was the commander of Company A of the 14th Tank Battalion. On March 7, 1945, the bridge was seized by American tank troops, allowing the U.S. to establish a strong foothold on the East Bank of the Rhine River. This pivotal event helped to turn the tide of the war, and soon the Allied forces were advancing to bring the war to an end.

Mr. Soumas had immigrated to Perry with his family from Greece when he was just 4 years old. Early on, he helped his father in his shoe-shine business. He went on to attend law school and marry his sweetheart, Agnes. But he never stopped giving back to the community that opened its arms to his family when he was a boy. He was a 3-time mayor of Perry and served his community in many other ways by serving on boards and committees.

For dinner, we tried a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant called La Ventura. It is a Salvadoran restaurant and our first time to eat Salvadoran food. It was a tiny place with only a few tables. The menu was all in Spanish, but the young man that seated us kindly explained/translated the whole menu for us. We asked him what their signature dish was, and he said pupasas. He also said their tacos were really good too. So we took his recommendation and ordered both. They were delicious!

In the back of the restaurant, was a small market with freshly baked breads and pastries.

With that meal, our bike trip was over and we started the drive home the next day. It’s been a wonderful trip, and we have soaked in the beautiful countryside and small town charm in each state we’ve biked. We’re always encouraged after a trip like this because it really is true that there are still good people everywhere. We met several!

Our goal with this trip was not to rack up a bunch of mileage, but to ride and explore states we’d not ridden in before. We ended up with a total of 444 miles on our bikes. With the exception of Wisconsin, we hadn’t ridden in these states before. Now, time to look at the map and find other states with Rail Trails we’ve not explored…