Our first few days in our fifth state….
May 19, 2019- Lewis and Clark State Park, Onawa, IA
Everybody is up and about around 7 am. The plan today is that Ron will tow Fonyx and Juanita will ride a short distance with him to start the day off. Since Juanita and Harold have joined our Adventure, Ron is more confident in letting Meghan sit “behind” a little longer. Meghan will pack up camp and keep an eye on the dogs while Ron heads out of town. Ron and Juanita start pedaling at 8:30 am. Meghan will leave around 11 to catch up to Ron and see how far he has gotten. The state line is only about 40 miles away. After about an hour or so, Juanita returned to our camp spot. Meghan, Juanita and Harold discussed their route and destination. Juanita and Harold would hang out in Laurel for a few more hours and then would catch up with Meghan and Ron at the truck stop in Sioux City, Iowa later in the day. Meghan leaves around 11:15 am to go and find out how far Ron has rode. He calls her when he reached the town of Jackson to let her know where he is and to warn her that there is construction. Meghan tells him she is on her way and should be there in a little while and that she was 14 miles East of Laurel. As she is talking to Ron she sees a sign for Jackson that said it was 16 miles away. He had already made it 30 miles in 2.5 hours. Meghan was impressed, she continued driving till she met up with Ron just as he reached the point where 20E intersects with I129 where he can’t legally ride. Ron had pedaled 37.3 miles. They drive 3.2 miles to cross the Iowa state line and another 1.5 miles to get to the Pilot Truck stop in Sioux City. It is cold out and the truck stop is crowded with semi-trucks. Meghan suggests that she and Ron go a few blocks down the road to Walmart to pick up a few necessities and they have decided they want to purchase a portable air conditioner for our tiny home. After they went to Walmart, they return to the truck stop to wait for Juanita and Harold. Meghan decides to look at their next destination and work on the blog. They want to go south to Route 30 East since 20E intercepts with Interstates along their route through Iowa and Illinois. She finds a campground in Onawa, IA and has an idea to turn in the miles they were planning on driving the next today so they can camp in a campground rather than a truck stop parking lot. She mentions her idea to Ron and he thinks it’s a good idea so they contact Juanita and Harold to see where they are and if they want to do the same. The group decides to drive the 35 miles down to the Lewis and Clark State Park in Onawa, IA to camp for the night. They drive down I29 South to Onawa and find their spots at the state park. It’s beautiful and peaceful with tall trees and a large lake of water. The bathhouse is a little bit of a walk but it’s clean and very clean. This is a much better camping spot than a crowded truck stop. That evening, Ron and Meghan built a fire in the included fire pit and Ron cooked the very best steaks for everybody to enjoy. There are severe storm warnings so the four decide they will make the decision to move East or stay put in the morning.
May 20, 2019– Lewis and Clark State Park, Onawa, IA
It’s very windy and overcast today, so we all decide to stay another night at the Lewis and Clark State Park, Ron and Juanita are going to ride laps around the Park so Ron can bank up some miles. Meghan works on the clerical stuff and cleaning up our tiny home. Today is a pretty laid back day. Meghan and Harold spend some time looking at potential routes and campgrounds along the way. They know Memorial Day weekend is going to be a challenge to get camping spots, so they are working on trying to make arrangements for the weekend by estimating how far Ron will pedal throughout the week. Meghan makes reservations in Boone, IA for Thursday night and they start looking into Friday and the weekend but they are having difficulty finding camping spots that will allow them to make one night reservations. Meghan, Ron, Phoenix and Onyx go out and explore the woods by their campground. That evening, we all discuss staying just one more day so we can celebrate Ron’s birthday, and get some laundry and grocery shopping done.
May 21, 2019- Lewis and Clark State Park, Onawa, IA
Happy Birthday Ron!!!! Meghan spreads the word that it’s Ron’s birthday and their updated fundraising total. So far Team Ronyx, with the help of all of their followers and donors, has raised $7,579.00 for Canine Partners for Life. Ron gets to take the whole day off and relax. Meghan and Juanita make plans to pick up an Ice Cream cake for Ron at the Dairy Queen in town when they go to do laundry. Harold unhooks their truck from the camper so Juanita and Meghan can go into Onawa. Ron decides he wants to go as well and grab a burger in town. Harold stays behind with the dogs. First stop, Laundromat, then grocery store, burger for Ron and then Dairy Queen. That afternoon, after Meghan, Ron and Jaunita return from town, they plan their next camping spot in Denison, IA at Yellow Smoke Campground. Meghan shares all of the birthday wishes from Facebook with Ron and then she works on contacting the Denison Newspaper and a few other media outlets to share their story. Since they sat an extra day, Ron will have to make up a lot of miles to make it to their reserved spot on Thursday. He will have to ride over 50 miles one day and 70 the next to make it to Boone. We gave Ron his birthday gifts, sang Happy Birthday and shared his ice cream cake.
May 22, 2019- Yellow Smoke Campground, Denison, IA
Ron heads out around 8:40 this morning with Fonyx. Juanita is riding too. She will ride a few miles out with Ron and then return to the campground to help Harold pack up camp. Meghan spends the morning, packing and finalizing plans with Harold. When Juanita returns, Meghan will head out to find out how far Ron has gotten. She has been contacted by a reporter from Denison who wants to meet up with Team Ronyx along their journey today to do a story on them. Meghan catches up to Ron just outside of Onawa. The temperature outside is nice but there are gusts of wind that make Ron work pretty hard occasionally. When they were about 25 miles into today’s journey they decide to meet up with Dan the reporter in the town of Ute around noon. Meghan pulls in first and waits for Ron to arrive. Ron pulls in about 10 minutes after Meghan. They do their interview, and wait for Harold and Juanita to arrive since they are close. Ron isn’t very hungry so he decides to continue East while Meghan and the Carey’s (Juanita and Harold) order their lunch. After leap-frogging out highway’s 59S and 141, Meghan, Ron and Fonyx finally make it to the town of Denison. Juanita and Harold went ahead and secured a camp spot for them for the night at Yellow Smoke. Ron ended up towing Fonyx 50.5 miles to Yellow Smoke Road in Denison where he and Meghan loaded up the gear and drove the remainder of the way to the campground. That evening, we built a fire and had steaks for dinner again.
The Daily Tail; Onyx's Great Adventure 