RAGBRAI

Do you know what RAGBRAI stands for? It is the bike ride across Iowa. Okay who would really want to do this? Well Lance Armstrong and about 10,000 other crazy people. Jason thinks that we should do it someday. I think we better do it before we get too old. Problem: I struggle riding my bike through the subdivision let alone 65-75 miles everyday for 7 days! I feel like I am going to fall over.

So what is the fun of RAGBRAI? Every year they take a different route through Iowa. We don't have mountains - even though some would claim we do - they are just big hills. But we do have awesome hospitality. Towns like ours have been working on planning this night for over a year. As you can tell we had a pirate theme.

I don't know when the bikers started to roll into town, but know that when I left with the kids on Thursday morning at 9:30 all the campgrounds were full with lines. If you don't get out early, you don't get a good spot near the bathroom and shower. We headed into town for some entertainment and food that evening. We thought - hey we should run into someone we know. We didn't know hardly anyone, but did run into a guy that came from San Diego 2 days ago to help at Mercy with Jason. They had never seen anything like this! There was a lot of food, people, bikes (go figure), beer, music....

I get a kick out of one of the weathermen here. His name is Joe Winters. He was finishing up the forcast as we walked by. He is in the red shirt.

Bikes from all sorts and sizes and styles show up. Who says you need a road bike to have fun? One really old guy stopped our kids and told them to honk his horn. He had a button on his bike bar with a real horn.

Also the traveling attire is as big as the bikers sometimes. Buses of all colors come to town! Most set up a tent which is not my cup of tea to get a good nights rest but most pass out from all the adult beverages!

They headed out of town this morning past our subdivision. I grabbed my camera as I went on my walk at 6:00 this am. This is the crew that was leaving then. I looked out about 9:30 and a few stragglers were still heading out to make the 65 mile trek to Tipton - the long scenic route! They will enjoy many stops along the route!


Oh RAGBRAI stands for Register's Annual Great Bycicle Ride Across Iowa. (Register as in the Des Moines Register our newspaper)