Today’s ride was short but very enjoyable. We had some hills but were treated to one Long downhill into the town of Lansing, Iowa. Once we got there we headed straight for the Mississippi River and dipped our front tires, a tradition for Ragbrai’ers. Once done with that we started looking for the tractor-trailer that would ship our bikes back to Arizona. Found them pretty quickly and got our bike cases and proceeded to pack up our bikes. Once done with that we went and found a local bar to have a celebratory cocktail. It was still early in the day but we needed to be in Desoto Wisconsin before 2 and it was about 6 miles from where we were at. We had to hoof it on foot so we headed out walking. Halfway across the bridge to Wisconsin I was stopped by a police officer and he was not happy! Apparently you are not to walk across the bridge. He gave me a ride to the other side and picked Tina up who was a couple 100 yards in front of me. He dropped us off on the other side. We started walking and decided to hitchhike and after about a mile or two we we’re picked up by a young lady from Minnesota and she gave us a ride all the way to our destination, the Bright Spot Bar & Grill. WE WERE DONE, WE MADE IT, IT WAS A BLAST! Now for the 140 MI shuttle van ride to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, ugh!!

View from the bike

Riding into the morning fog

Dipping our tires in the Mississippi

Selfies on the bridge

The Bright Spot Bar and Grill in DeSoto, Wisconsin

Celebrating with one of our team mates

Today was college spirit day and woke up feeling much better. Lots of college jerseys. 60 miles is what Ragbrai said the mileage would be but it ended up being 67. Sometimes it’s incorrect because  we have to  ride out of town to find our host Campground. One thing I have learned on this ride is to not trust the posted mileage. We had our own private concert in Provitin (one of the pass through towns) because we rode early and got there before the crowds came. The band was called Challenger and the music was rock and really good. We stopped along the way and had some Iowa craft beer and relaxed in the shade as it was starting to get a bit warm. Our host Campground was a few miles out of town and as we were riding there I felt a little disappointed because I knew we would not make it back to town for the evening events. Our host for the evening was a farmer that farmed corn, hay and had a goat dairy. My disappointment faded once we were there and it became my favorite Campground of the entire trip. Curt and Judy Hanson were are hosts and an Amish family from a few miles down the valley helped out in welcoming us. Once we arrived we were served ice cold watermelon and cantaloupe in the air-conditioned basement of their home. When evening came they provided us dinner. We had haystacks which I had never heard of but were really really good. They went above and beyond to feed roughly 30 to 50 cyclists. They also lent their showers for us to get cleaned up. This was truly an incredible day! Tomorrow is our final day as we ride to Lansing. Mileage is 44 miles but we plan on taking a shortcut to cut that down to 19 because we need to pack up our bikes for shipping and make our way over to Desoto Wisconsin for our shuttle to Cedar Rapids Iowa. DeSoto is about 6 miles from Lansing and we will be  doing that on foot. Shuttle leaves at two o’clock and we want to make sure we’re not rushed.

Town of Provitin

On the road again

 It was either here or in the cornfield

Our own private concert

Fueling up

Just another road pic

Refreshment

Our team flag telling us where to turn

Baby goats

Milk time

A building on the farm

View from the farm

Our home for the week was the yellow tent

The friendly Farm dog. I believe his name was Zeda.

Our bags waiting to be unpacked at the end of each day

Curt Hanson doing the evening milking

The adorable Amish children

Sporting the ASU Jersey for college Spirit day

Well the cold I have been fighting all week finally took a turn for the worse. I was up a good portion of the night and woke up feeling awful. Tina wanted me to take the day off and ride the SAG wagon but I couldn’t do it and made the decision to ride. We were on the road at 6:45 AM. Constant hills and headwinds was the theme for today. Did I mention I hate headwinds? The hills were not much fun either. Our ride time today was slow at about 5 hours 45 minutes. We did not stop much today except to grab food and fluids. My favorite stop of today and of the trip was a lemonade stand in New Hampton. A little girl about 4 years old was the proprietor and her Dad built her a great looking stand. She took my money and rang me up on her play cash register. She was so proud! We shared the road today with Lance Armstrong and from Nascar Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson. We did not see them (I’m sure we were way out front) but a rider from our group got his pic taken with them. Staying at another nursing home on their back lawn and once again we were treated to a pasta dinner. They are also cooking us an omlette breakfast tomorrow morning at 5:30. The Iowa hospitality has been great. Tina was in a good mood until she dropped her chain on a long steep hill a couple miles out of town. We were seperated at the time so she got it fixed herself but told me it changed her mood as she was laughing. Tomorrow is 60 miles to Waukon, Iowa and we are already in bed at 7:00 PM. Hoping we awake to my cold gone and tailwinds.

Entering Ionia (pronounced I own ya)

Entering New Hampton

My favorite lemonade stand

She was all business

An arch of bicycles

The weather report was forecasting 1 to 2 inches of rain today so we were up at 4:30 AM to pack up and get an early start. After a quick bagel and peanut butter we were on the road by 6 AM. The morning weather was chilly and the temps were near perfect in the 70’s for the day. The rain did come at about the 40 mile mark but not the downpour we were afraid of. We donned our rain gear and kept on moving until we came across an Amish stand where we had pie and homemade ice cream. Theres just something about sitting next to a cornfield at 10 AM in the middle of Iowa eating pie and ice cream. This was our quickest day and arrived at camp before our support trucks so we went downtown to the expo. Saw Maddie Poppe perform again while sipping on cold beer and then did some shopping. Our camp spot this evening is the back yard of a nursing home where we were treated to a pasta dinner. This was my favorite day of the trip so far and mainly due to the cooler temps. We’ve been told the rest of the week should remain in the 70’s, yay! Tomorrow we ride to Cresco, 55 miles with 2200 feet of climb

A rope swing on a farm

Big windmill, big flag

Here comes the rain

Making ice cream

Rain on

Relaxing at the expo with some good music

Charles city downtown

Very nice day and not too warm but really windy. It made a short day a semi long day. Ran into Batman at one of the pass through towns. Had pancake breakfast in Wesley, Ia sponsored by the fire dept. and it was so good we had spaghetti lunch at Britt, Ia sponsored by their fire fire dept.. The two best meals so far! Stopped at a bar just outside of Clear Lake and got lucky. Maddie Poppe a local musician was just setting up and we were treated to some great music. This young lady has a very bright future. Made it to Clear Lake but rode past our campground at the Veterans Memorial Golf Club but saw the Surf Ballroom (Google it!) and had to stop. What a COOL PLACE!! Once done there we rode back and found our camp. We set up our tent on the driving range so I hope the memo got out that it is closed for Ragbrai. Tomorrows forecast is for thunderstorms, 90% chance of rain and predicting 1 inch. We are praying the Ragbrai Gods are looking down on us.

The sign caught my attention

More pancakes

Where’s Barney?

The Gorilla

Eating again

To the Batmobile

Where’s my bike?

Gotta love the shirts

Maddie poppe

Surf ballroom

Our camp on the driving range

Today was a long day so we left camp around 7 a.m. It was a cool and windy day but no wind at at our back. Tina and I lost each other at about the 50 mile mark and never found each other again until we got to camp.  The good news is Tina arrived at camp before I did and she had our tent set up when I rolled in. We showered at the local high school and then got back on our bikes to go find something to eat.  Two black bean burgers later we were back at camp and we are off to bed as we are really tired and I am fighting a sore throat and headache. Tomorrow is a shorter day at 50 plus miles, Yay!

Pancake breakfast line

Mmm good…

Pass through towns are crowded

Tina on the road

One of Iowas many hills

Our camp in Algona

Bikes at rest

After a sleepless night we awoke before sunrise to pack up camp and hit the road. Thousands of bikes and people everywhere, just what we expected. The mileage today was supposed to be 62 but we ended up riding 71. Pizza and beer for dinner and we are off to bed early as tomorrow is the longest day of the week.
Stopped in Primghar for refreshment

Paulina, a pass through town

Make your own bloody mary….9:30AM

Mr. Corn…..

Two weeks until we leave to ride our bikes across the state of Iowa. 411 miles in 7 days but I think the hardest part of the journey will be today when we packed up our bikes to send them on their way via Fedex. Trying to cram a bike in a 10x30x48 case, not an easy task!

Had to leave at 4 a.m. to beat the Heat. 40 miles, done!

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