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July 24, 2009
Traveling back in time to that hot July night when Mark and I had just arrived in Ottumwa…we decided to bike downtown to the concert, which was a rock band called Hand Stampede, or something like that…oh, now I remember, it was called “Standing Hampton.” (Ha, when you try to write about something a year or two later, there are bound to be a few mix-ups.)
Dancing drunk people, plastic beer cups all over…this I do remember. Standing Hamptom was actually pretty good, though, and we even bought a CD.
Next morning, I attempted (unsuccessfully, apparently) to update the blog, and Mark took this picture featuring some baked beans that he had been carrying for awhile and I had apparently failed to eat…what’s your point here, Mark?
Anyway, after Ottumwa, it was goodbye Ragbrai. We passed a sign which explained why “Mama Raphael” has a mustache:
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| Oh, it's RALPHael! |
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| Ride, Mark, ride! |
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| Toby and Lauree |
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| Goodbye, Ragbrai. |
We bid adieu to the route without fanfare at a little convenience store, and headed homeward toward Iowa City. Our destination that night: Washington. Wound up at a nice roadside stop a few miles outside of Washington with Toby, Lauree, Jerry Brown, Sharon, and Rich Berman. Check my coordinated top and picnic blanket:
Jerry demonstrates his back-rack cooler:
We weren’t the only ones that had deviated from the route…hung out with the Bad Boys on the square, and then it was on to dinner at Café Dodici, which was FABULOUS!!! Can’t emphasize enough how fabulous that was. Jim, Ohio Mike, and Hajdu caught up and we all had a great meal.
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| Mark and the very nice proprietor of Cafe Dodici I am lucky enough to have a friend in Washington from my Sweet Adeline Iowa City Chorus days, so Mark and I had a nice bed for the night at the home of Dianne Gray (thanks, Dianne!). I took a trip down memory lane (dragging Mark along too), looking at all of our past chorus photos and reminiscing. |
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| 1988...I'm the pinhead in the very middle. I don't think my head could be any smaller. |
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| Dianne and I |
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| Cafe Dodici also has a little store attached...we bought this very cool wine dispenser (and carried it home on our bikes...ha ha, no, we had it shipped). |
July 25, 2010
We finally got going, passing the bank sign downtown at 12:47 p.m., at which time it was 85 degrees and, thinking that that was a bit too much of an early start, decided to immediately stop for lunch at the Taste of China.
Really, who can resist Thai cuisine? Certainly not I.
Revised departure time: 1:55 p.m.
On towards Riverside, where I met up with old pal Andy Ockenfels and his wife Cathy, who now have a very lovely home just outside of town. Found Jim there, fixing a flat tire.
We had missed the main crowd at Andy’s somehow, but found evidence of their passing.
Man, these people need some handwriting lessons! Okay, considering they were writing with their toes, it’s not half bad.
After a great visit with Andy and Cathy, we headed to town. I showed Mark the future birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk, and we spun quickly towards Iowa City.
A stop in Hills, and then on to Tuck’s…er, IC Uglies?...and the ride was officially over.
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| Outside Iguana's Restaurant in Hills |
When we arrived at Uglies, who do I see sitting in the window but another Sweet Adeline friend, Patty Miller?!
No Ragbrai is complete without Mama Jo, even though she didn’t go this year.
Nomad, IC native (one of the few).
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| Old friends |
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| 22 years ago I met these guys... |
Home to Ron and Feather’s for the night.
July 26, 2009
Morning after…time to go to Lou Henri’s for the traditional post-Ragbrai, it’s-over-but not-quite-over-let’s-hang-on-to-just-a-bit-more-festivity breakfast. Guests of honor: Tom, Michelle, and Ella, fairly new to this world and the reason for Tom and Michelle’s absence from the ride this year. But then, their presence on the ride last year was the reason for her presence at all…
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| Happy dad! |
Jim riding around on a fabulous rig:
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| The real owner, Jack Carlson! |
So that brings me to the very last thing: today’s featured rig. We’ll wind this thing up with the mighty fine rig of Mr. Mike Hajdu, who was kind enough to leave breakfast and come pose outside with his bike. Thank you, Mike.
The first thing I want to talk about is Mike’s GPS, which he’s had for a few years, long before it came into general fashion. Mike always knows how to get out of town! This has proven invaluable on many an occasion. Now, of course, many have joined the ranks with the amazing maps app on the iPhone, but Mike was there first. I remember he had an mp3 player while I still had stacks of bulky cassette tapes, too. Always ahead of his time.
Next, let’s look at those beautiful front bags. Tailwinds: a classic, lean design, perfect for front bag purposes. And in the back, waterproof Ortliebs…or are they Vaude? this is what you get for being two years late…but in any case, durable, and prepared for any kind of weather.
No bike is complete without a chair for shadies, and Mike goes the minimalist route with his folding stool. But he doesn’t skimp on the tools and extra screws and such that someone might need for a few repairs (ahem, me). Add a few beads for decoration, and voila!
And with that, we end the tale of 2009’s ride and turn our attention to THE PRESENT MOMENT…amazingly…talk about task completion; this one’s been hanging over my head for TWO YEARS! WHEEEEEEE! On to the sweaty, sweltering story of the excursion of 2011, which is beginning with a 500-mile ride in a car with NO AIR CONDITIONING. When a Chevy Suburban has over 167,000 miles on it and the air goes out, it is apparently not worth fixing, according to SOME PEOPLE who will remain nameless, though his initials are M.A.E. Why are we in this sweltering sauna? Unfortunately, this is the only vehicle we own with a hitch on it (for our kick-ass Draftmaster bike rack). And somehow, we and the bikes must get to Iowa, so we can get out of this sweltering sauna of a car and into the sweltering sauna that is the Midwest right now. Sigh.
“It’s not the heat, it’s the stupidity!”
More to come. :-)
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