Life On A B-I7

Route

• Elkader to Cascade

Metrics

• Miles: 53
• Average Speed: Under 9
• Ride Time: Long

Notes

• i’m going to Dyersville because I have to see the “Field of Dreams.” Maybe I’ll hear voices?

Thought #20

• Show respect to everyone. Smile.

The day started out normally. The first thing I did was roll up my tent and put it in the stuff sack and then realize my eyeglasses were inside of it.

My primary goal for today was to visit the Field of Dreams in Dyersville. That was 30 miles down the road. After yesterday’s 33 excruciating miles, I wasn’t entirely certain if I would make it or not. Fortunately, the roads today were much more conducive to bicycle travel. I even had a short stretch of 6 foot wide shoulder.

When I reached Dyersville, it was about 2 PM. I started hunting around for a campground. The only campground nearby would entail about 5 miles of backtracking. Looking ahead, I could see there was a nice 6 miles long crushed limestone trail from Dyersville to Farley. Even though there was no camping in Farley, I decided that after my visit to the Field of Dreams, I would head down the path and see where that took me. I ended up doing 53 miles and finding a nice campground. I didn’t arrive until after 8 PM, so it was a long day, but worth it.

When I reached Dyersville, I stopped for a beer at the Textile Brewery. I guess you’d say it’s a locally famous brewery. Since I’m into seeing locally famous sites, I had to stop.

After a quick pint, I headed out to the Field of Dreams.

They’ll come to Iowa for reasons they can’t even fathom. They’ll turn up your driveway Ray, not knowing for sure why they are doing it. They’ll arrive at your door as innocent as children, longing for the past. “We won’t mind if you look around,” you’ll say… and so I did.

The first thing I noticed was people on the field taking batting practice and shagging balls. I guess you can pay to do that. I found that a little bit disappointing. For me, this is an iconic place. The very place where such greats as Shoeless Joe Jackson, Buck Weaver and Lefty Williams once gathered for a game.

That didn’t stop me from coming here to see what I wanted to see. I walked down the third base line. I just stood there, about 200 feet from home plate, looking at the stalks of corn out in centerfield. I may have stood there for 5 or 10 minutes, I’m not really sure. I was about to leave when I thought I saw something. I looked more closely… Even though this is why I came here, I was still surprised. A ball player stepped out of the corn and began walking across the field. He walked straight toward me. As he got closer, I could see it was Shoeless Joe Jackson.

He walked right up to me, shook my hand, and said: “i know you’ve come a long way, thank you.” I was speechless. The silence between us was suddenly broken when someone yelled “watch out!” The batter at the plate had hit a sharp line drive over the third baseman’s head. It was coming right at us. I reached around Joe with my left hand and caught the ball on the second hop. I flipped the ball to my right hand and threw it back into the pitcher. Joe just looked at me, patted me on the shoulder and said., “nice catch.” I was dumbfounded. After an awkward pause, Joe looked at me and said: “I gotta go, there’s too many people around here. You come back sometime and I’ll bring some friends, we’ll have a nice game of catch.”

If there is one single place that Baseball can call home, it just might be Dyersville, Iowa…

I remember in junior high my best friend called me “B.” Perhaps his religion prevented him the use of four letter words, or it could’ve been he was just as simple as I am. What I appreciated most was the fact that my Dad heard him saying that and he picked it up. After that my Dad always called me “B.”

Once on a road trip, I took my Dad to see Area 51. I even made him sneak up to the barbed wire fence with me. Now that I look back on that, I would’ve liked to have taken him to the Field of Dreams as well. I thought of him today.

Itinerary / Maps