Here is an entire week of RAGBRAI ® encapsulated into only eleven photos and 300 words or less....well, for you people who have been there, you know both requirements are impossible. But if I'm crazy enough to thrive on a 75 mile day straight into the wind, then I guess I'll try anything in cyberspace, tool
Your story teller is Norm Running. I am known to smile even when
both shoes are soggy.
Our first night in Onawa, (and every night thereafter) was spent on school athletic fields, where camping was very crowded. You might say, "intensely dense tents."
The tour through the Iowa hometowns gave us an All-American celebration flavor, a celebration of community pride in home-town bands, poetry, ventriloquests, gateways to the city, singers, costumes, food and more food, and of course the ubiquitous lines of KYBOS, and strategically located bicycle parking (complete with tractor and steel cable). If the parking was really crowded, you often could not find your bike. In fact, here just try to find the tractor!
In the countryside of Iowa, scenes were varied, and often nostalgic. Buildings old and older were a constant source of music, and appreciation. It's not too difficult to think what farm buildings would have been like eighty years ago, with animals abounding, hay stored in the loft, and the sounds of children bringing life to the home-place.
An old gas station on Highway 30 in Belle Plain provides more wonder about home towns, traveling salesmen, crossroads hospitality of the old Lincoln Highway, and the commercial products of years ago. Some of those products have followed us into the modern RAGBRAI ® times.
But bicyclists often don't think too much about old times, because there's still the preoccupation of getting to the next town, and warm showers (if you're early), being in the shortest line for KYBO's or finding running water toilets that no one else has found. Sometimes you find bathrooms with no lines at all....
Sometimes you think that the hills will never end.... And there is certainly no end to the variety of scenery.
RAGBRAI ® is bicycling and people (mostly it's people).
For each person, the ride is a unique experience. Each person
has his own favorite town, a special new RAGBRAI ® acquaintance,
a favorite meal, or a most outlandish memory, such as team "dragbrai!" 
Ragbrai XXIV ® - Next Summer!!!!
Norm
Email Norm Running nrunning@tenet.edu