A Day of Rest (for Mark and I)

Day Nine: Red Oak, or Red Oak to Corning

Okay, our group has split up...Mark and I stayed here in Red Oak, and everyone else (minus Al, who is riding the route) has gone on to Corning, about 30 miles to the east and on tomorrow's route. We've had a wonderful day putzing around town here.

Hmm, actually, the rest of the group had a rather rude awakening that Mark and I slept right through. A charter group had apparently reserved the spot in the park that we'd chosen to camp in last night, and woke everyone up at 8 a.m. to tell them they had to leave. So everyone else got kind of an early start.

Bob and Noelle, who were also in a tent, missed this part...Mark and I awoke around 9:30 to find Ryder trucks parked at the shelter and quite a lot of duffel bags laid out on the lawn nearby. Bob and Noelle were getting their gear together to go downtown, and filled us in on what had happened.

Mark and I decided to leave our tent there, seeing as how it was in this premium shady spot (we've finally figured it out, I think) and thought well, if we decide to leave town, we can always pack it up later. I was a little worried about the charter group thing, but Mark said, "Squatters' rights."

I hope it's still there as I write this.

Anyway, we headed to the Rainbow Cafe to see if we could catch any of the tour, but it had just ended, so we went to the laundromat, which was conveniently located right next to the Firehouse Cafe. Most of the gang was there, and we had just missed a ride on the fire truck. Rats.

Did laundry, ate a wonderful breakfast/lunch at the Firehouse...the owner is from New Orleans, and Mark was very pleased to be able to order gumbo, which was delicious.

Met Doug, Ken, and Sue outside the Firehouse...friends from Ragbrais past.

Went up to Red Oak Towing and Bicycle, a new bike shop in town, and got a new-to-me pump from the bargain bin and various other stuff. Really nice folks there, and Bob made another friend (Australian shepherd...pic later). I would write about the nice ear of corn and free cookies, but Mark has just informed me I shouldn't write about food so much.

Mark and I finally got going uptown to the vendors around 2:30, and bought a few other things...tire gauges, a tie-dye t-shirt...but no shoes, though I really tried. The old Shimanos are going to have to make it to the end of the trip.

Found out Giggles Cafe here has wi-fi, which is what I'm using right now...we stopped by there to test it out and had a nice ice cream.

Then we went to this drumming show called "Sheltered Reality." This is a group of mostly teenage kids who drum together and spread a message of empowerment. I think they have groups of this sort all over the country. Guess what--Mark got picked to go up on stage...but he just pointed at me, and so I went up instead and got to drum to one of their songs! And they gave me a free CD.

A nice Chinese buffet finished out the evening, and we ran into a guy who follows biking blogs on crazy guy on a bike...so we turned him on to last year's blog, and he brought it right up on his phone while we were eating. They were impressed that Mark and I were on there, and we felt kind of famous for a moment. :-)

Then over to Giggles to try and catch up with the blogging...sorry about the lack of pictures, but I thought I'd at least write things down before I forget everything.

The rest left about 6 p.m. to ride to Corning. Mark and I will catch up with them tomorrow, as I would guess we will be getting up pretty early in our "tent city" camping spot.

Over and out until next time...