Scroll down for the live stuff
Rock Rapids to Spencer- only 995 feet of climbing in 73 miles!
Towns visited-
George, Ashton, Melvin, Hartley, Moneta,
our thanks to Rich Ketcham from GeoBike for doing this great work and research and allowing us to put it here.
Prologue
As part of their rigorous training
for RAGBRAI, Bruce and Ruie took a training ride along the Cedar
River last week. One of the more interesting sites was three goats sitting on top of a car. Unfortunately they heard the
rustle of the baggie that was housing the camera and thought we
were there to feed them. So Bruce was not able to get a shot of
them on top of the car, but here is Ruie trying to feed them some
clover.
Saturday
The trip from Cedar Falls to Rock Rapids actually went quite
smoothly for the HAWG bus. Here is Norm loading the bus and generally helping out. As we were leaving Hampton (about 40 miles down the
road) the pilot of the bus (that would be Boss Hawg) made a
serious error. We thought we were experiencing vapor lock, when
in fact we really had just run out of gas. So we were able to
procure ice, a very necessary item, in this heat and fill the
tank with gas. From then on all proceeded smoothly. Quite amazing.
We reached Rock Rapids in record time for the HAWGS. Here are some HAWGS getting the
bikes off the bus. We're noting that
this time, we didn't have to retrieve any bikes out of the
branches of trees over the road behind the bus. Tents pitched and
ready to go before 5 pm. Must be a record.
Rock Rapids was a nice overnight
town. Camping was not crowded as we were all quite spread out.
Most people tried to leave early in order to beat the heat. That
was the name of the game today. Hot humid and windy. Reminiscent
of Saggy Thursday, RAGBRAI XXIII. Even Larry, Boss Hawg, left the
campground by 8:00, a HAWG historical first
Our first stop was George; this community is named after George
Washington, founder of our country, or Curious George I am not
sure which. Great
pancakes and sausage and efficient lines.
The entire town of George pooled their efforts to make this a
successful event. They plan to use the money to purchase new EMT
equipment. Entertainment was provided by a men's Gospel Quartet.
Here are some the HAWGS relaxing after breakfast before taking
off for their next destination. Left to right are Jeff, Liz, Greg,
Norm and Ruie: you can tell the humidity and dew point were high
by looking at the frizziness of Ruie's hair.
On our way to Ashton, we had to slow due to an ambulance; we
stopped because two of our HAWGS had stopped to help. As we were
standing on the side of the road a secondary accident occurred. Here is picture of
Christina Young as she is being treated
for her wounds. Ashton provided the usual fare of food. Two local
bands provided the entertainment. One of them was quite decent.
Melvin was our next stop. Greeting the bikers was Melvin's Moose.
This moose allegedly wondered down from Canada and was the town's
pet moose until he (or she) was shot by some nearsighted hunters.
Here is picture of
Bruce and the Moose. (Bruce is on the
right ). Here we
encountered a lovely mud hole. We
wondered where the HAWGS were. Here is a photo of locals and
bikers wallowing in the mud. It was great cooling down spot.
On the road we stopped to shake hands with presidential candidate Steve
Forbes, because he "bribed"
us with free cold water. Mr. Forbes' T-shirts proclaimed his
campaign motto: "Flat hills and Flat taxes." He
promised, if elected, to abolish head winds!
Coincidentally, shortly down the road, Norm and Greg encounter
the alleged largest Angus Bull in the World. Norm and Greg were
jealous of his gigantic size.
Next stop was Hartley, where Team TuTu and others were
street dancing to YMCA. By this time Bruce and I were ready to
pack it in and we had 23 miles left to ride. The heat and
humidity and the wind were really getting to us.
We stopped at the Dove Barn for a lemonade slush and we met
Albert Lee from San Francisco. He is roller blading RAGBRAI
instead of biking. An incredible feat, we think, we hope he makes
it.
We arrived in Spencer at long last. The information booth was
conveniently located at the entrance of the Clay County
fairgrounds, where the majority of the teams are camping. We had
a RAGBRAI first.
We had to sign a release before taking a shower. Due to the fact
that I had no glasses and Bruce didn't read his, we just assume
it said we couldn't sue them if we didn't get clean.
