When you're out there and it's just you and your bike, things are happening within you.

Change is happening.

Things are going on.

My big takeaway that I want riders to have and to experience is really thinking about not only the people that helped those freedom seekers along, but really what did those individuals look like?

Those folks that were coming, what plantation did they come from?

What food were they carrying?

How many miles were they traveling?

Who did they have with them were they alone or were they a family?

I want people to take their stories because we haven't really put a lot of time on who they were as people, not so much as being enslaved people, but people.

In the fall of 2023, on an idyllic weekend in southwest Iowa, a group of bikers set out on the inaugural Iowa Underground Railroad ride, a bike ride honoring the journey to freedom enslaved people took in the mid 1800s and Iowa's place along that route.

It's a two day ride, and we ride from Tabor, Iowa, out to Lewis.

We picked Tabor as one of the destination because of the Todd House, and that was a point of entry for some of the freedom seekers that came through there and stayed at Reverend Todd's house and they helped move them through.

In Lewis, where we ended up, they have the Hitchcock house there, and it was one of the other homes that helped those freedom seekers find their way to safety.

It is a fun ride.

There is an element in there that we want you thinking and we want to build on what you already know and maybe offer some things that you did not.

It's difficult to get an accurate picture of the underground railroad's history.

With freedom on the line, it was too dangerous for escaped slaves and those helping them to document the journey.

The ride is bookended by two homes that are well known for having been outposts for those seeking freedom.

The Todd House and the City of Tabor may have been one of the first stops in the state for freedom seekers traveling north from Missouri.

One of the town's founders, Reverend John Todd, was adamantly opposed to slavery.

George Hitchcock was a stonemason and abolitionist.

When he built his home in 1856, he included a secret room in the basement.

From the Hitchcock House in Lewis, escaped slaves would travel north and east toward free states beyond the Mississippi River.

Both homes had hiding places built within their walls, but most often, freedom seekers would find refuge in outbuildings, barns and the abundant prairie grass.

There was no actual train on the Underground Railroad.

Escape slaves would travel by foot in the cover of night.

I was sitting there thinking about the fact that you had these people who were enslaved were seeking freedom just to live their lives following a path that they might have taken granted.

The roads weren't paved, but being able to just to see the land and the places where they resided, where they moved, and thinking about how they would move through darkness, they would have to deal with the terrain and that they were willing to risk their lives to be able to live their lives.

It really gave me a perspective as I'm riding, I'm thinking, all right, what do I think about when I'm riding?

They're thinking about their safety, all right?

I'm thinking about my safety as these cars are passing by.

They're thinking about just making sure that they are aware of the environment around them, checking for potholes or making sure I don't go off the road.

It's definitely not the same in comparison to what they went through, but you get a better feeling for what it might have been like having to traverse the terrain.

Talk about people being brave and having courage, and that's the epitome of it.

To be able to see a place where, you know, people were fighting this fight was really, really impressive.

It's not a history that's really talked about or highlighted or celebrated enough.

The 68 mile bike ride gives riders the opportunity to connect with an important piece of Iowa's history.

History is instrumental in knowing who you are and having the identity that grounds you.

The reason for the ride is because riding is fun.

It's something I love to do.

So what better way than engage people in something that they already love and immerse them in history in a way that they may not have experienced before.