Saturday July 21, 2007 – Rock Rapids to Bellevue

Immanuel Lutheran is our home away from home. Nice day to be here (82º). I hope we can say that on Sunday. It’s off to Spencer 75.7 miles and only 1400 ft. of climb. Sunday evening…I had a couple of extra miles but who is counting. It was a beautiful day in the low 80s and a south wind. The wind was the only negative. The hills were well placed in distance and rather blah! The greatest event of the day was a farm stop east of Hartley. This young couple (40ish) had a sign out for free wine tasting and that was enough to make me push Jerry Falta off the road and into their front yard. And here they were giving big samples of wine as many as you wanted. I first asked her what kind of wine is this? She said I really don’t know smiling all the way. After a glass (plastic cup) of wine we sat down to observe her enthusiasm with everyone that was stopping. Her husband was deep frying venison he shot the year before and was cutting up pieces of it along with different cheeses. When she was less busy I asked her for more details as some of the bottles had no labels and some had name like yellow tail and Paul Mason. She told me her father-in-law had been making kit wine for many years and he would give it away in town for functions there. And this was a great extension of that. Actually the wine wasn’t bad and since we didn’t know what we were drinking we had to guess. The real joy was watching two Iowans having fun meeting people and in general being the best representatives of the state as could be imagined. A man from Pennsylvania was sitting on the grass next to me and he said (his second Ragbrai) it was people like those two that made him have to come back. The lady told me they farmed 1200 acres. His father lived there and she was a city girl (Hartley) until she married and moved to a farm half a mile away.

We really lucked out in our stay at the Sacred Heart Church and school in Spencer, air conditioned rooms and showers. At this time I don’t know where we will be eating but it has been all in all a great day. It’s 77.4 miles to Humboldt and again flat.

It’s off to Humboldt around 6:15am and 21 miles to the fireman’s breakfast of pancakes and sausage. It was overcast all morning until the sun broke out around 11:00. Again it was a south wind and half of the trip was south. It was flat except for a couple of hills. Good eats along the way but the only entertainment was in Lawrence. It was a root beer float (for a new roof) and a hamburger, pie, watermelon, plus a beer for Jerry in the most dilapidated building you could imagine along the way. It was an easy great day but I was tired anyway.

It’d the Baptist Church tonight in Humboldt. It was nice air conditioned with lots of room.

Tuesday and the weather has hardly changed. Not to hot and a little wind. Not perfect but working on it. One thing was different as far as towns were concerned. Eagle Grove, Clarion, Alexander all had entertainment. The best by far was Eagle Grove with Eagle in a tree (like 3 years ago) and Mayberry characters in full uniform. Elvis was there and his voice still seems to be holding up. In Alexander a group of elderly ladies were playing simple items like combs, kazoo, and washboard in the lawn of a house that was Congressman Tom Latham’s mother’s. Again the ride was relatively flat and fairly fast. In Hampton tonight we are staying at the Trinity Lutheran church. Not everyone can get into sleep until the potato bar meal was completed. There must be at least 100 tents just on the church grounds. Some of those campers didn’t appreciate us not letting them use the facilities in the church (liability). We are past Interstate 35 so the rest of the week we are in eastern Iowa. It’s off to Cedar Falls and 68.2 come morning.

Well the ride to Cedar Falls could have hardly been better. It was flat to rolling, cool morning, high in the mid 80s and only a slight south wind. We had five stops with some entertainment and a Lance sighting.

In Cedar Falls we stayed in the Episcopal Church with showers. It was near the Holiday Inn close to the Waterloo city limits which means there were restaurants close so no church food tonight. Tomorrow I am going to wear my Corvairs T-shirt as some of the group will be riding to Independence. (Corvairs are an older group in CR that epitomize the term of unsafe at any speed.)

What an easy ride. It was flat and wind only late. We are again staying in an air conditioned church (Calvary Evangelical Center) with showers. A First time for me that we have had showers three of the five nights. Some of us had great beef and noodles at the Catholic Church. Even the towns we went through today were pleasant. (Denver, Klinger, Dunkerton and Fairbank) I do think Friday will bring hills into play for the first time this year. It will be 64.7 miles to Dyersville and the elevation map looks like a heart scan. Thursday was a great reunion with Steve and Sharon Davis at the damn bar. Since Steve can’t ride with us this year it was good to see them surrounded by the Ragbrai friends. We really miss his flare, spirit and enthusiasm along the way.

Friday it was off around 6:30. It had rained overnight and looked threatening along the way. We did get a few sprinkles but no real rain. The overcast left after 11:30. I know now I will never believe an elevation chart again. Today was a flyer with a few roller hills. It makes you feel like a pro (at least for a little while). Again, no granny gear in the first six days. We are staying at Beckman High School but with no air and if we wanted to use their showers it was $5.00. Getting in around 1:00pm leaves a lot of time to relax. Along the way today Manchester was setup for us very well but nothing special otherwise. It seems every day has started out overcast so when it does warm up we are well along the way. Since we were staying at the high school it was only 200 yards away from the Ertl Toy Museum. We went through it and it was very interesting.

Saturday came up clear and a very comfortable temp. Breakfast in Dyersville and off a little after 7:00. It’s a short trip to Bellevue, 56.6 miles and a beautiful ride with hills. It was tough for a change. The stops along the way were limited and coming into Bellevue we a mess of traffic with cars, buses and bikes in a small town (2,500 population). In other words it was like usual. The bus is to leave at 2:00 for CR.

Impressions:

1. Flat as a ride can be!

2. Great weather – not to hot – no rain.

3. Jim/Jim and Denise make our life easy – thanks for the effort

4. First time I never used the granny all week. But I probably should have on the hill between Cascade and Bernard.

5. Eagle Grove was the best welcoming city by far.

6. Spencer had the best band.

7. Most host churches that had indoor showers. Give a hand to the contact people. 4 churches

8. The trip was great but we sure missed Steve keeping things lively.