July 22nd- Sioux City to Storm Lake
70 Miles- 2705 vertical feet
Conditions- Winds- Strong Headwinds 15-25 MPH- Precipitation- afternoon, Not too much hail, mostly painful rain. Hills- With the wind, the uphills were more pleasant than the downhills.
Towns visited
Sioux City (start town)
Kingsley, Washta, Quimby, Mount Olive and
Storm Lake (overnight town-can we swim in the lake?)
click here to visit the Cherokee Symphony home page
Saturday- Friday night was a wonderful evening at the Eiler's home in Waterloo, resting, having a great meal, and doing a few last minute changes 2 on the pages. The next moning, we waited in anticipation for the arrival of the "new" Hawg Bus. We knew it was going to be reliable when it arrived on time, making Hawg history. We were immediately able to see the terrific changes with the new luggage racks and a special treat attached to the back. Our very own Kybo and a shower make us one of the most "interesting" buses in all of team busdom! (for non ragbrai folks, the term "Kybo" is synonymous to "Port A Can", "San-O-Let" or whatever. It's a plastic outhouse) Here is the arrival of the new bus and here we are loading it up. Wally and Norm 2 loaded all those bikes on the roof.
History was indeed made again when our new Hawg Bus made it to Sioux City without breaking down and only one refueling stop due to the new leakless gas tank!
Here is a picture of our waterfront campsite in Sioux City. They had custom painted shuttle buses 2 just for our one overnight visit! On the negative side, it is also freeway frontage and was very noisy- all night long.
Keeping with tradition, we dipped our tires in the Missouri river and noted a sign which erroneously told us the distance before the new route revisions.
After that very noisy night, we departed Sioux City2 and met with our first hills. They were hillacious. Breakfast was at the slowest Chris Cakes stand ever.2 However, the Sioux City East High School Raiderettes drill team was raising money for a trip to the National Competition in Orlando. Now here's a Ragbrai® first, a train stopped "dead in it's tracks"2 probably because some cyclists wouldn't stop for it. I'm sure it sat there at dead idle for hours before it could cross!
And of course, what Ragbrai day would be complete without team Bad Boy! Norm always does a great job capturing the action. But Bad Boy has some new entries. We used to say they had everything but the kitchen sink.1 They brought that, too, along with the usual charcoal grill,1 full scale sound system with generator, and of course, the bar.1
Our first rain of the day was in Kingsley. This became something that would stick around for most every day of the week.
Gripe of the day. Riders, shame on you! We're sure you are a nice town, but, please do not allow your Kybo lines to go in to the street. Next, have you ever been to the airport and noticed how there is just one line for all agents? Why should we have separate Kybo lines for each stall. This present method allows everyone in the ride to know how long each person was inside. We do not need this kind of pressure!
Anyway, we sought shelter under a tree (do not do this at home). But it worked just this once. We set out when the rain subsided. But it was a harbinger of things to come. The headwinds were the next element that God bowled at us. Still, however, we were just getting one element at a time. Here's a shot which became more and more frequent of us resting.
Remember last year when we chose
the elements that would be the worst to experience? We mentioned rain,
hail, vermin, sleet, snow, volcanoes, of course wind, frogs, and bagpipes?
We must take bagpipes off of the list! In Washta, there was a young
man by the name of Alex Doman, from Denver. His
Sister, Bonnie, was riding the ride and he entertained us. Also in town
were some very talented tap dancers. Also in
Washta was the Corn Woman with a different form of Ballet, make
that Belly Dancer. 2
We learned today that it's very important to behave on Ragbrai. You never know who you're going to see on the ride. Tara ran into her former volleyball coach, Rick Blackwell, currently Principal at Regis Middle School in Cedar Rapids.
God then dealt us all of the above elements, but this time simultaneously, except for the sleet, snow, volcanoes, and frogs. This probably will reduce the population of the ride tomorrow. Our average was often only 5 to 6 miles per hour on the flat roads. Many promises were made.
As we approached Storm Lake, we passed by the largest wind farm1 in the country. They were harvesting heavily1 since the headwinds were so strong. It was interesting watching these four windmills almost in syncronous generation.1 From the viewpoint of a marching band director, however, the times that these were in sync were very few and far between. Again, just like marching band!2
The high point of the day was the concert of the Cherokee Symphony in Storm Lake directed by Lee Thorson. Your Ragbrai crew joined the orchestra and Tara recorded the pictures and movies for you to enjoy. Playing the cello are our very own Bruce and Aaron. In the woodwinds was Norm and playing trombone was Dave. Here's the violin section. Everybody had a T Shirt with their position in the ensemble, including the meastro.
The featured solist was Chuck Offenberger, formerly a writer for the DesMoines Register and host of the Ragbrai. After tuning his "A", he gave a virtuoso performance on the typewiter. You will find video clips below.
A highlight of the performance was when the Ragbrai chorus (the audience) performed Christmas Carols with the orchestra with a slight adaptation of the lyrics. For instance, here's the lyrics to "O Come All Ye Faithful"-
O Come all Ye Tail-Winds,
Joy-ful and triumphant
Oh come Ye oh Come Ye To Rag-Brai
Come Make us quiver
Push Us To the River
Oh Come and blow behind us
Oh Come and blow behind us
Oh Come and blow behind us
to Mus-Catine.
Below are a couple of video files for your enjoyment of the concert-
"The Stars and Stripes Forever"
This evening in the Des Moines Register, there was a heart wrenching story about a young man who used his bicycle to overcome a terrible addiction to drugs. It's about one of our very own friends in the Hawgs, Judd Myers. Read this inspiring story.
Credits- 1. Photos by fellow Hawg Norm Running 2. Photos by fellow Hawg Aaron Eilers
Email me at plummer_dave@prodigy.net
Links to Today's Towns
