Days 1 and 2

Our evening in Red Oak was absolutely blissful. Sarah and Leo Smith made us feel so welcome. In fact, both were volunteering in town, so they left the key in the mailbox for Kathy. Charlie the dog even greeted us with a friendly wag. We couldn't resist a pose in front of the corn crib (as I learned when I complimented the "nice barn").

After finishing the ride on dusty gravel roads, the riders were ready to shower and wash out their gear. The sight of all those clothes on a clothes line was such a retro moment. And also colorful. Even our hostess commented on the rainbow display and took a photo.

After that, the group spent the afternoon under a beautiful tree working on their bikes (gravel roads are tough on the gears and tires) and just enjoying the fabulous weather. Everyone kept insisting that this was highly unusual. I don't care - when the high is 80, it's absolute heaven. A few beers...the company of a dog...spectacular scenery...a few tales (some more "artfully" told than others). It just didn't get any better.

Oh, but it did. Sarah's sister, Twink, rode over on her horse to deliver zucchini, beans, peppers and sugar snap peas from her garden to include for dinner. So we cooked seafood fettuccini and fresh zucchini for dinner. The riders are eating like kings. And the cooks are loving the opportunity to cook with fresh-from-the-garden ingredients!

This morning, with the sun rising, the riders departed. They had 80 miles to go today, over very hilly terrain. It was probably the toughest ride on the trip. A couple of interesting notes - first, the riders and drivers do not travel the same route. There is one meeting point where tired riders can meet their support team and get a ride. Second, RAGBRAI can only register 10,000 "official" riders on the trip. That's what the Department of Transportation allows for "insurance" purposes. However, the estimated total of riders this year is about 22,000. That means that over half of the riders did not pay the $140 registration fee. We all agreed that made no sense. And there are about 3,000 "official" support vehicles. In some cases, the riders sign up with a tour company who load their gear and tents into semi trailers and transport them to the next campground. You have an assigned number and when you arrive, bag #143 and tent #143 are together and ready for you. Don't know what that costs.

But we joined the train of support vehicles today and headed out. As far as I could see, there were cars, motor homes, trucks with trailers, old school buses (more on those in another post) and any other form of conveyance, including one SmartCar - I think the bike must be bigger. Over hills, through cornfields and through small towns we went. Every hill brought a more beautiful vista. This was the first thing we saw when we left the Smith's house this morning. And there were dozens more on the ride.

Our next town was Greenfield, Iowa. Population about 2,700. Until today, when it increased more than tenfold. Our hostess, Ellen Moore, had a lovely home right on the bike route. We arrived about noon. So after we got the motor home and trailer squeezed into her driveway, we hung out the team banner, grabbed some chairs and sat down to watch the riders come in. At first, it was a trickle since the ride was 80 miles, but within an hour it became heavier. The stream continued until after 8:00 and when it got dark at 9:30, there were still some trickling in.

The main group of our riders rolled in about 2:00, and the last came in about 3:30. With our roadside view, we could easily see them coming, as well as a parade of other riders, too. The variety of bikes, costumes and gear was such fun to see. We were halfway up the last hill, so we cheered them on. It was sprinkling and they said they'd encountered rain on their route, but it wasn't hard. This is where I'm glad I'm driving the van. Besides, the Bloody Marys made with homemade tomato juice were something.

Although we are supposed to cook for our hosts, Ellen ended up cooking for us, too. She had made two rhubarb crumbles and homemade ice cream, as well as cookies, hand-whipped angel food cake from her mother and homemade noodles from her mother, too. And from the garden out back were potatoes, green beans, onions and fresh herbs. AND if that wasn't enough, she'd gone to the farm stand and gotten Iowa sweet corn, and had two coolers full of beer waiting when we arrived. Incredible! We put the riders to work snapping beans and stripping corn.

Before dinner, we walked the 5 blocks to downtown Greenfield where a festival of sorts was set up around the court house. All along the route, there were campers set up in the yards of host famlies (we had the best, however). And the senior citizens center down the street welcomed campers and set up a tent on the front lawn where residents enjoyed the spectacle, too.

As we walked into town, we saw children cheering, folks clapping, churches urging riders to return for chicken dinner (each overnight town brings in hundreds of thousands of dollars to the local economy and the churches and service clubs get enough money to finance a major project with their dinners). And the locals had decorated their yards and storefronts with bicycles - some had flowers, others were painted - and the effect was charming.

No one has more fun on this ride than Bill Rutherford, our "Captain." On the way to the squre, he saw Miss Iowa, so there was a photo op. But Bill also enjoyed the taverns, all the vendors, the folks on the street and the folks along on the route. When he saw someone with a coffee cup sitting on their porch, he'd stop and visit. Scott, our new rider from Georgia, decided to go at Bill's pace today and had a wonderful time.

Once we arrived at the square, there were food vendors, beer vendors, souvenir vendors, and pie. Everywhere there was pie. Cherry pie. Peach pie. Rhubarb pie. Apple pie. Pineapple pie. We wandered around for a while, enjoying the activity. My two favorite things were the trailers for checking email. All of these small towns have very limited cell phone connection and campers don't have internet access. In fact, one of the reasons I'm writing this at 12:30 am is that it's the first time all day I've been able to get my air card to work for internet connection. So folks head to the trailers and grab a laptop to check their email.

And finally...I'll leave you today with this photo, taken in the Greenfield, Iowa, town square this afternoon. At 4:58 pm, it was 67 degrees F. Amazing.