So 20 miles after leaving Sioux Falls I entered Iowa. Ahh home - well not home but when riding my bike it just feels so nice to enter the bike friendly state of Iowa, expecially in July. Stopped in Lockwood to mail some postcards and saw everyone coming and going from the bar next to the post office. Must be the place to go. So a few beers later and an awesome salad with vegies. Salad in the west and mid-west seems to usually mean lettuce. And many conversations about RAGBRAI... I took off for the next town. Was told it was flat from Lockwood to Rock Rapids. I have learned thank goodness to not listen to people driving cars! There was no epic mountain range but it was not flat. Let me state again, Iowa is not flat.
Rock Rapids is a great little town - well not so little. They have two stoplights, two grocery stores, a Subway, restaurants, and various businesses. They also have a very active community. Five years ago they hosted RAGBRAI. Their community project at that time was to paint a mural on the side of one of the buildings. Their goal was to continue adding murals thee a year. They are ahead of schedule. Some of the murals are small, maybe someone looking out a window, some take up the whole side fo a building. It seems a great start to a tourist town. They also have great city parks to camp in and a city pool. Well, now that I seem to be an official member of the Rock Rapids advertising team....
The next day rode the 45 miles to LeMars. It was hot, to be hotter the next day and the next. Figured I might as well get there. Rode into town and quickly headed for the Fairgrounds to set up camp and find airconditioning, maybe the pool, or a pool hall. The fairground was locked up tight. I quickly spy people setting out the porta potties (also refered to as Kybos, Spot-a-pot, Honey Bucket)" Now these people are people of power, this IS the most important job in all of RAGBRAI. I rode over to the beautiful lady in charge and asked, "Would you happen to know a place where I could camp? The Fairgrounds seem to be locked up." Her reply, "My house is good." Ahh again, does life get any better? Well perhaps it does. Chris looked down the road to tell me her husband was in the truck coming our way. We loaded the bike and the BOB in the bed of the truck ran a few errands and headed home. Upon walking into the house Gene led me to the bathroom to show me the shower, pointed out the laundry room, and took me to MY fridg. Yes my fridg. Loaded with beer, Gatorade, water, and various brands of soda. They would be hosting Team Bastard on Saturday night and had stocked up for them. Little did they know the Donner Party was about to invade. So, a shower, a beer, and a load of laundry later and we were off for dinner. By the time the evening came to a close I was forced to sleep in the spare bedroom, and swear that I would take the car and go joy riding in the morning. Have I said yet that I meet the nicest people! of course intelligent, good looking, and excellent judges of character.
So, the next day saw me cruising around town in a Mazda Miata running errands and just waiting to get pulled over for car theft. Now Chris and Gene had mentioned that if I had any friends coming in to town on Friday to invite them over. As it happend Andy, Dave, Dawn, Josh, and Rita rode into town Friday afternoon. I left the message, "If perhaps you are interested, I have a house to stay at with a shower, laundry, a fully stocked fridge, and a car. Just in case you might be looking for a place to stay." Ten minutes later their personal sag wagon was at the door depositing all their belongings. Might I say these people unloaded more stuff for one week than I had for the last month, they may have more for one week than I have in my entire wardrobe. Maybe I should go shopping.
Showers around, much talking and story telling and we were off to find food and beverage and meet the town. Awoke to Saturday and 100 and way-to-hot-to-do-anything heat. Chris took the Miata so we could have the SUV to drive everyone around. I said it already didn't I? I meet the nicest people. The boys got their annual pedicure and toenail painting (they say it's a RAGBRAI thing but who knows what their feet look like in the winter). After holding court in the Beauty School we all dove back in the air-conditioned car. Eventually got all our stuff moved to the fairgrounds, handed off the hosts to Team Bastard and hid inside the bar until the weather cooled. Somehow the rest of the Donner Party all ended up in the same bar - I guess we all seem to think alike after awhile.
RAGBRAI as always was a great experience. It was fun to have a friend, Jolene, from home. Even though it seemed like I hardly ever saw her. Sunday was supposed to be frightfully hot, it was not, but that night a terrific storm came in. Tents blew down, tree branches broke, and people were flooded out of their camping spots. One person died when a branch hit his tent, one guy I met never did find his tent the next morning. It had blown away. Our camping area was evacuated for the nearby chuch where we found padded pews in the sanctuary. A great reason to have padded pews for emergency shelter - beds! And the next day the ride continued on. A bit overcast, then sun, then drizzle, then some sun, and finally a tornado watch. Got into town, Esterville, around 6:00 as the clouds opened up. Dove inside the back of the Ryder truck to escape the rain - oh and the cooler was in there. Eventually the rain stopped, I grabbed a few things out of my bag, refusing to set up my tent - "I will find a house for the night." And I did thanks to Mark who grew up in the area and had contacts. We stayed with the In-laws of one of his co-workers. Apparently at a recent High School graduation Mark had said, "Well, if the weather is bad when we get to Esterville perhaps I just might give you a call." He was kind enough to take me along.
The rest of the week was beautiful weather (mid 80's) and beautiful riding terrain. Small rolling hills and with no luggage a blast to ride. 60 to 85 miles a day and towns every 10, or at the farthest 20 miles apart. As usual met many new people and it was great to see familiar faces. Hitched a ride back to Cedar Rapids with my friend Dawn, impossed on another friend, Ned to stay at his house and get a ride to the airport, and soon arrived back in Seattle. Was greeted by my new chaufer, Bret, kidnapped to Greenwater (from the prairie to the mountains) and finally escaped three days later and rode into my parents backyard. I was promptly told that I would not be allowed to leave for the rest of the night. I was staying for dinner, so I did.
It is kind of nice to come home. Road trip to California starts tomorrow.