Clear Lake to Waverly- 74 Miles with
1340 vertical feet. Just a little longer version of yesterday
Towns visited- Swaledale, Rockwell, Dougherty, Greene, and
Clarksville (you could take that one last train)
our thanks to Rich Ketcham from GeoBike for doing this great work and research and allowing us to put it here.
Day 4 - the last train to Clarksville. This started as a pleasant day - cool and overcast, which was a nice change. With a mild wind from the southwest, we had headwind on three legs, but felt like we were flying when we turned toward the east. By the end of the day, though, the sun came out and the temperature went to 90+. We're told that the heat index exceeded 100 degrees. It really was hot before we finished. There were a few rolling hills.
It's amazing that we never seem to see many of the people that we know who are also riding this week. So it was a pleasant surprise to see our good friends Alice and Norvin Hoffmeier from Cedar Rapids in downtown Clear Lake last night. Alice is riding her 13th RAGBRAI and Norvin his 7th. Clear Lake put on a good party for the riders. Main Street had many food stands with a stage at one end that featured a fine barbershop chorus and then the Air Force band "Wings". At the bandshell, local groups performed, and the waterfront featured a disc jockey. A large fireworks display was set off over the lake after dark.
Today we met Charlie Townsend from St. Paul riding with his three children. He has been on every RAGBRAI, except the first one. He claims to have the only Minnesota license plate that says "RAGBRAI". In Swaledale a resident (who obviously has too much time on his hands) was displaying a "Thingamajig", a wind car, and a Y1K car. In Dougherty we found a horsey swing made from tires that Gary Miller from Humboldt, Iowa tried out. After that, Norm took the 100-mile loop. Ruie and Bruce elected to just do the 77 miles.
In past years, we have been amazed at some of the creative spellings on various signs. The tradition continues this year. In Rockwell we were invited to eat "biskits". This sign in Packard inquires about Boxcar Willie.
The town of Greene was a great stop for lunch - Ruie's favorite. There was a wide variety of food and short lines. Additionally, they offered an inflatable slide and Psycho Swing for those with extra energy. The last pass-through town was Clarksville. We were there fairly early in the afternoon and the party hadn't really warmed up yet, but from this picture, you can see that they were ready.
Although it's not obvious this week, many of the towns we are visiting had significant flooding just last week. This is a picture of the bridge over the Shell Rock River in downtown Greene. Just last Thursday, the water was over the railing in the foreground - about 20 feet above the current level. Spencer's fairground (where we camped) was under water late last week. Waverly was shut down last Thursday and Friday with water covering the highway through town and about 1800 residents were evacuated from a 65 square block area. We rode over a newly paved 100 yard section of road coming into Waverly that was washed out last week. We really appreciate the enormous efforts of the local citizens who have made it possible for RAGBRAI to visit.
The information booth was located at Wartburg College near the entrance to town today, so we have no complaints about that.
