July 21, 2002- Sioux Center to Cherokee
54.7 Miles- 1283 Feet of Climb
Conditions-- Very, Very Hot! Headwinds from the South. Gentle rolling Hills. A very, very tough 50 miler due to winds and mostly the near 100 degree heat.
As always, our great thanks go to Rich Ketcham at Geobike for allowing us to use this helpful information.
Towns visited
Sioux Center (start town)
Orange City, Alton, Granville, Germantown, Marcus and
Cherokee (overnight town)
Update- July 18-2002- It was a real tough drive through the Texas rains, but the weather immediately cleared in Oklahoma as we drove Northward. Is this an omen? On day 2 of the drive we entered Iowa and Cindy was asleep. I kind of like to be alone when I enter Iowa at the beginning of the new year. It didn't talk to me this year, but I was listening for it. I did see, however the so familiar vertical bullets in the skyline and the nicer than ever farmhouses, and oh yes, the mailboxes. Some depicted tractors, one was a pig, there was a huge red barn with an American flag on the roof. I wonder how many changes have even been made to the Iowa countryside since the happenings on 9/11. That's probably about it.
Norm saw a couple riding self contained to the start of the ride today on his way from Texas.
Notice the terrain of this year's route. Could this be an apology from the Register about what we went through in the last two years? Except for the last day of this year's route, the hilliest day of this year's ride is still flatter than the flattest of the last two years. Last year was one of the rainiest years and six out of the seven days had serious headwinds. I'll bet that most of us are packing more socks than spokes this year. Do your toes still look like prunes after one year?
Saturday, July 20th-
Loading was just like always except the bus was early and not the usual 1 hour late. Tara almost missed it and showed up at 8:55 for the 8:30 departure and said "We never leave before 10!" Oops. Hawg secretary, Mary showed up. It's real unusual to see her.
The trip to Sioux Center was eventful in that it was uneventful. Our first campsite was at the home of Shari Boone, of Sioux Center. The Boone household absolutely treated us royally! Flat tire one and two of the trip were before the ride even started. Dave went to the expo and got it fixed. The heat was stifling and your reporters were able to sleep in the house. The unlucky ones outside were treated with giant dairy barn fans for some true dairy air!
Our entertainment for the evening was at Doc's Cafe. There was a disk jockey who kept the evening lively. Team Mosquito did their famous dance to the tune of "Wipe Out". Many engaged in a modern day limbo. The idea was to pick up a box filled with cash donations without using hands. The box was cut shorter each round. The first of the philosophical Ragbrai T-Shirts appeared this evening!
Sunday- July 21st- This day was one of our latest departures in recent memory. Our wonderful Saturday night hosts even had breakfast for us in the morning. We had this strange idea that this 50 something mile ride would be a breeze. Someone actually said that before departure. BIG MISTAKE! It was a big breeze which hit us squarely in the face on the two lengthy legs when we traveled South. The heat soared. It was almost 100 degrees! We stopped for pancakes at Alton. There were (lip)singing Nuns who were very entertaining. The pancakes were served by local ladies. This is a Ragbrai tradition.
Alton treated us with the Singing Nuns, probably so named because they were singing none at all. But they were very entertaining! In Granville, we stopped for water. On the road, we saw some very interesting sights. First were three young men on unicycles, George Barnes, Aaron Parker, and Jesse Schumaker. They want you to know about their web site. We found out later in the week that these guys went through an incredible amount of pain and Jesse had to make a tough decision. Just down the road, we ran into Curt and Sharon Heidt, from Des Moines. They were distributing bracelets made by a Maasi tribeman in Iringa, Tanzania where their daughter is in the Peace Corps. It was Maasi people who gave the gift of cattle to the residents of New York after September 11th.
Further down the road, we were buzzed by ultra lights, a common occurrence. But this time, they landed right next to us! We got to know the pilots who told us that it took them a full day to come from Cedar Rapids. They had to land four times at service stations to refuel. Twice, they taxied right up to the pumps. What a sight that must have been!
The final pass through town was Marcus. They did a great job of management with this stop except the planners must not have read Dave's Ragbrai Page's advice to towns. They placed the Kybo's with the doors right next to the road so that those waiting in line has to cross in front of bikes to use the facilities. But the ice cream and snow cones were a welcome treat.
After that, the day turned sour for Bruce. He had the same flat tire twice. There was a shard of glass inside the tire. The temperature soared as Bruce and Dave changed the tire in the beating sunlight. We walked to some shade in a farmyard where our gracious host treated us to cold water and cookies while we found the problem and fixed it properly.
This put Dave and Bruce an hour behind the others who obviously and inconsiderately decided not to wait, in keeping with that great Ragbrai tradition, "You're on your own, sucker, we'll see you if you get there!" Since we were now is the later afternoon, we were pedaling in 100 degree weather while Tara and Norm were in the pool in Cherokee.
The Great Concert! - We enjoyed a dip in the pool when we finally arrived in Cherokee, but soon had to eat, shower, and prepare for our performance with the Cherokee symphony. We had a 10 minute rehearsal on music we had never seen at 6 o' clock and watch the storm clouds gather as the civil defense sirens sounded and the police directed all to the auditorium to seek shelter. Talk about a captive audience!
The concert was very aggressive and featured Shostakovich's Festive Overture, Finlandia, American Salute, and a world premiere performance of "Music for a Great Ride" by Jim Theobald. The composer was there from New York. The concert had a patriotic theme and there was great audience participation. When the audience sang "God Bless America", they stood and sang spontaneously. There wasn't a dry eye in the audience.
The storm front passed with little or no damage from the wind. The rain didn't materialize and the temperature turned cool. It was a late night processing the web page at the home of one of the Symphony board members. Tomorrow, we will get an early start. Seeya!
Click here to visit the Cherokee Symphony home page
Email me at plummer_dave@prodigy.net
Links to Today's Towns
Do you wish to ship your bike to Sioux Center in advance?
Here's a Virtual Tour of Cherokee
