Day 6

The day started off cool, with ground fog and heavy dew. Bill and Scott slept outside on the porch and Bob slept outside under a lean-to off the barn. Everyone else was in a large room in the house. Bill was pretty heartbroken that Peaches the kitten chose to sleep in the hammock with Scott, but she’d chosen her man earlier. When Scott was packing the next morning, she decided to help. So it was put something in the suitcase. Remove Peaches. Put something in the suitcase. Remove Peaches. But any of us would have packed that kitten in our luggage and taken her home – she was a sweetie pie.

As with each house, the riders posed for a group photo with the hosts. Here they are in front of Crystal and Pat's house. The tree beside them has Pat's used boots nailed to it for bird houses. There was a nest in one, too.

Fortified with more homemade bread from Crystal, the bikers headed out, crossing the Des Moines River in Ottumwa. The trip to Mt. Pleasant was about 75 miles.

The trip took them through more Amish country and they came out to watch the bikers pass by, but would not return waves or greetings, which surprised our friendly group.

But Bill, as always, found the party wherever it was, including one on someone’s porch.

One thing fascinating was the group of food vendors who set up between towns every day. Since the locals in the pass-through towns had the concessions locked up every day, another group set up on the roadsides every day. There was Beekman’s homemade ice cream (EVERYONE talked about how good it was), serving ice cream cranked with an old steam engine made in 1914 that whirred and popped as it cranked the dasher.

They served about 6 flavors and I think most everyone tried all of them. As you can see, they'd just set up where the riders had a good place to stop.

Mr. Pork Chop (Bill’s favorite) serving huge pork chops on sticks so the riders could eat while they rode. He was known for his loud call, which Bill captured on video for posterity.

Pastafari (ONE of Curt’s favorites) that played reggae music while they served up penne pasta with grilled salmon and vegetables on top. And Tender Tom’s (another of Curt’s favorites) that served smoked turkey legs.

And in every town, the churches and service clubs would serve dinners. Chicken and noodles, country ham, pork tenderloin - each with all the trimmings and pie for dessert. They made thousands of dollars in one night. No wonder it’s said you can bike nearly 500 miles across the state of Iowa and still gain weight!

Finally, the group arrived in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. The theme of the city was “Blast Off for a Good Time in Mt. Pleasant” and the riders were greeted with an arch across the street. On either side were rocket ships that went up and down. The whole town was decked out with American Flags: along the route, in people’s yards and even at the Court House.

There’s a HUGE amount of planning that goes into each town’s presentation to the pedalers at each stop. But it has to be done quickly, in the scheme of things because the route is not announced each year until some time in January. So each overnight and pass-through town only has about 6 months to organize and make their plans. And all for just about 24 hours! Also, many of these towns have either finished or are getting ready to host the county fair the weekend on either side of RAGBRAI. I was just amazed at the coordination it took to move 30,000 people, 20,000 bicycles and 5,000 support vehicles from place to place each night for 7 nights. You have to arrange housing or camping, food, sanitation, entertainment, emergency, law enforcement, traffic control (both in town and out on the road for the cyclists, especially at busy intersections) and who knows what else.

Our hosts for the evening were Nancy and Mike Vens. They had a home about 7 miles outside of town, so most of the bikers were ferried to and from the center of town. But not until after a few beers and attempts at the slip ‘n slide. Curtis was by far the most successful at this venture. According to some of the veterans, there have been years when the slip 'n slide was covered with beer instead of water and some bikers slid naked. They looked and looked for it this year and never found it, so the younger bikers settled for this one in someone's yard.

Scott and Brian got separated from the group, however, and pedaled out on their own – a difficult job after a tough day. All the riders felt the ride was one of the hardest rides they’d had. They faced a strong headwind and high humidity. The temperature was only in the mid 80’s but it felt much hotter. They were all glad to arrive. Pepper and Blaze, the English spaniels, welcomed them with wagging tails. Blaze was about 6 months old and loved to steal things, so Nancy was very worried that stuff would go missing. She periodically checked Blaze’s hiding places throughout our stay.

Nancy and her friend Kathy had picked sweet corn that morning, so we decided it was steak and sweet corn night. They had a wonderful local meat market that was thrilled to get our order. Kathy and her husband Gary joined us for the evening, which featured lots of fun, great jokes, incredible food and good conversation. We all felt right at home. According to Bob, something of an expert on sweet corn, it scored a 10 because it was so fresh.

Because it was the last night of RAGBRAI, the younger riders in our group wanted to head to town for the fun. However, thunderstorms moved through about 10:30 and shut everything down. Not wanting them to go away disappointed, Kathy and Gary volunteered to show them the hopping places in Mt. Pleasant. They enjoyed themselves immensely. By the way, the extra person in the photo is Richard Breinin, who was the Specialized bicycle representative. He was a friend of Tahressa’s, who tagged along with our group from about Tuesday night on. The first night, he slept in his truck and when Tahressa found out about it, she asked if it would be OK if he shared space with us. As a result, the gang got loaner bikes and free repairs throughout the trip. He spends 300 days a year on the road, visiting bicycle events to promote Specialized bicycles. He was headed to Minnesota when he left us on Saturday, then to Illinois.

And so another wonderful day on ride across Iowa ended.