Day 3

The riders faced a rough day when they left Greenfield. 80 miles across very hilly terrain and cool drizzle. Everyone also said that the 3rd day is the hardest physically and mentally - the body is tired and you're not halfway there yet.

Now that they've figured out I'm really doing this blog, the riders are taking great photos for me to share. I'm pulling their photos off their cameras and choosing the best ones to tell the story of the day. What strikes me as interesting is how many of the group (and they weren't all riding together) chose the same points to photograph. So tonight's blog has the best of the day.

It seemed that today was one where we all encountered interesting things. One of the surprises to me as we all headed out was that we passed through Madison County - both riders and support team. Remember the movie, "The Bridges of Madison County?" Well, here we were in the place from the movie. While driving, I saw signs pointing to 3 of the famous bridges, but the riders' route took them by one, where they were able to ride through it if they wanted.

Another point of interest the driving convoy passed was John Wayne's birthplace - Winterset, Iowa. Although we didn't see the house, there were signs to it. We did see the famous Independence Rock outside of Greenfield, Iowa this morning, however. You've probably received an email with photos of this very large boulder that's painted with patriotic scenes. Suddenly, there it was on the side of the road, surrounded by corn fields (surprise!).

But the bikers had by far the better day today. Every little town along their route had something for them...stuff to do, stuff to see and lots to eat and drink. So here are the standouts...

Scott was thrilled to see Johnny Carson's birthplace. The house was open for tours and featured a desk on the front porch with a cardboard cut-out of Johnny that folks could pose with. As you can see from the photo, lots of other bikers wanted in on the action, too.

One town had a group of high school students doing German-style dancing. This was in the downtown area, which had plenty of tables set up for eating and observing. As you can see, bikers and their bikes are everywhere. No one worried about having their bike stolen - someone else had always had one that was better. Speaking of that, Tahressa Ramos, the only girl on our team, was offered the chance to ride a new demo bike for the rest of the ride. The bike companies are here en masse and eager to have the riders salivating for the latest and greatest. You can leave your drivers license and your bike and ride one of the new ones for a day, then return it. In Tahressa's case, however, they ASKED her to ride it for the rest of the week. She claims its because she knew one of the guys who used to work at the bike shop she uses. But the rest of us know better...what company wouldn't use a cute, hot girl to get attention for their product. Sex sells...even while biking.Several of the guys took a photo of this large boar that was on display along the side of the road. Ok, we've all seen a pig so beside the fact that it was big, what was the fascination? Well, every guy's camera also had some version of this photo, too.

What else is there to say?

Everyone also came in talking about the "skillet throw" in a small town they passed through (remember all these little towns are under 5,000 people). In this case, the town erected cages using deer fence. At one end, they placed a dummy with a basketball head and at the other end the contestant stood and tried to hurl an iron skillet just as hard as he/she could down the cage and try to knock the head off the dummy. Everyone stood around watching, cheering and laughing. They say it's harder than it looks. And funnier, too. One skillet cleared the top of the deer fence, sending bikers scurrying.

Gerry Morris also stumbled across this wonderful old car, complete with taxidermied skunk (hence the hand in front of his face) and covered with an unbelievable assortment of stuff. Some place on the car had squirt jets, that would shoot riders with water if they got in range. Once you'd been squirted, you just had to stand around and watch another unsuspecting rider get nailed. Lots of laughter accompanied this attraction.

But perhaps what stood out to everyone all day was the sheer number of bikers. As the tour rolls closer to Des Moines, many folks take a day to ride along - perhaps they can't take the whole week. It is estimated that tomorrows ride, which is the shorted on the tour and closes to Des Moines, could have as many as 30,000 riders along. The town of Indianola, where we are staying tonight, was told to expect 40,000 people in all, including support folks and gawkers. This takes an amazing amount of organization. In fact, our host tonight, Dick Mathews, is one of the main organizers for tonight, so we saw very little of him. Dick was in charge of sanitation, campgrounds and volunteers. I just can't imagine one person taking on all three of those jobs.

This shot taken as the bikers left one of the pass-through towns says it all. As far as the eye can see there are masses of riders. And if you turned the other way, the view was similar.

Even out on the open road, the view was astonishing. And you have to remember, this sight stretches on for miles and miles. While riders were finishing at Indianola, others were just waking up from the partying the night before and setting out. When we stayed on the route in Greenfield, we actually saw riders coming in at dusk - about 9:30.

And then, you COULD ride like Bill Rutherford does. He loves this event, especially the people. He'll stop and visit with them, have a cup of coffee and sit on a porch, learn about them and come away with a new friend. And he loves the local taverns -both for the refreshment and the ambience. So he moseys his way across the state, always being the last to arrive. What's interesting is that Scott started with the main group of riders, but the past two days has gone along with Bill at his pace. I think he's gotten a different perspective and had a really good time. Bill also interviewed folks along the way, recording them on the video portion of his camera.

The day ended with us sitting on the back deck at our hosts' home and watching about two dozen balloons fly over - Indianola is the home of the National Hot Air Balloon Museum.

Bill is right...it's the journey.