Manning to Carroll

Wi-fi has been a little scarce this week, but I am finally catching up a little in Victor, Iowa...thank you, nicely air-conditioned Cooperative Telephone Company!

Monday's ride was to Carroll, but I think Mark and I were the only ones who actually went there out of our group.  The rest of the gang stayed in Willey, the last town out.  But we all started out together at Deb's Corner Cafe in Manning.  

Looking respectable.

Breakfast is my favorite meal.

I'll take Column A.  

At Deb's Cafe.

 We also did some laundry, and when we got it back, we had one more pair of underwear than when we started.

If the underwear fits...

 I guess we stole someone's underwear!  Whoops.

Ragbrai festivities.

 You could take a quiz about the U.S.  Constitution...

I did pretty good! Here's my Constitution. 

Then there was some entertainment in the park...

Nuns on the Run!

 Taking off from Manning, we found ourselves in Ragbrai bike traffic.

We didn't get too far, though, because we had to stop and visit this historic German barn.  

On the road again...the highest point on the ride!  

 A cold beer on the back actually feels GREAT...
it is SO HOT OUT HERE!!!

Reunited with old friends...

LJ, me, Terry!

Most delicious sweet corn ever!  Went back for thirds.

Sweet corn ladies.  

Met a woman celebrating her retirement (and training for the annual Portland Marathon) by riding across Iowa...go Bonnie!

Mark, recent retiree Bonnie, and Mike.

So Iowa.

At the festivities in Carroll with unknown corn-head man.

Harlan to Manning

Sunday, July 25, 2011...36 miles

Breakfast at Mickel’s, just off highway 44…great buffet with lots of fruit.  Also bacon for Mark (genuine, real bacon, he wants to point out…non-tofakin’ bacon).  

Shauna braids Lauree's hair.

We stopped for a shady halfway along...Mark and Shauna check the route.

Mark, didn't you lose your navigator button a few year ago?  I think I'm going with Shauna.  

My rig

We arrived in Kimballton to find the bar "closed," but open.  Hajdu had gotten there first and convinced the owner to sell him a beer...or maybe two...and let us sit inside in the blissful air conditioning.  They were great over there, and we wound up staying all afternoon and watching the Cubs game.  More on that in a moment.  

But first, some guys in Kimballton put us to work helping them erect a "mermaid shelter," which they planned to have everyone sign and sit on as "mermaids" the next day when Ragbrai came through.  Kimballton is famous for its Hans Christian Andersen mermaid fountain.  After we got the shelter set up, I got to be the first mermaid!

The second mermaid.

Jim enhances the shelter with ocean scenery.

New, improved handlebars with roadside flowers.

So while we were in the bar, we were watching the afore-mentioned Cubs game and Lauree remembered that Mama Jo and her husband Jim were at the game!  Jo had bought special tickets right behind home plate, for Jim's 60th birthday.  So Lauree called Jo on the phone, and sure enough, as the camera focused on the batter, we could see Mama Jo on TV, sitting in the stands!  "Wave, Jo," said Lauree, and she did!  It was so cool!!!

Watching the Cubs game, looking for Mama Jo and Jim.

Mama Jo is wearing a red top and a black visor...see her on the right-hand side?  Squint!

 We also reviewed the Ragbrai rules while in Kimballton.  No nudity.  Darn.

Finally, we had to leave the icy AC and ride to Manning, a long stretch of 20 miles with no towns, and, as it turns out, lots of hills.  Photos later...suffice to say, we made it to Manning, scored some showers, had a nice night camping by the high school.  As the inimitable Dr. Bob always signs off...

more later!

Mr. Moose is ready to ride!

On the Road Again

So Mark and I have joined up with this rag-tag band of bicycle travelers who started in Lusk, Wyoming, a week ago Friday (July 15).  Being lame late-joiners means we have to admit that we have only ridden from PERSIA (Iowa), not Wyoming, when people see our loaded bikes and inquire.  But I have to say, starting from "Persia" still sounds like pretty far away!  So it's okay.

Mark and I had planned to start riding from Iowa City on Friday, getting as far west as we could to catch Ragbrai and our group.  But on Friday, we found out we could get a ride all the way out to join the group the following day, so that's what we did.  Saturday, Pat, Mark, and I jumped in the Suburban (still no AC) and headed west.  It also happened that Tricky Al, who had ridden from Lusk, was ready for a few days of rest.  So Pat dropped us off and picked up Al, and it all worked out great.

We got to Persia about 2 p.m., a town I remember well from a trip years ago that we made in the dark in which the hills appeared to be vertical cliffs towering to the heavens...and there were many of them.  The crew informed us it hasn't changed a bit!  Mercifully, Mark and I missed this part, as it's to the west of Persia.

The gang: Toby, Lauree, Mike Hajdu, KY Jim, and, as he always introduces her, his lovely wife, Shauna.  They had some kind of cannonball drink waiting for us, and the festivities ensued!  Dancing, drinking, singing, talking, and general revelry were the order of the day.  It was great to be back!

Hajdu, KY Jim, Mark, Pat (obscured), and Toby

Tricky Al and I

Jim, Shauna, Pat, Mark....peace out, Pat!

Glad to be on the ride.

Dinner in Harlan

Great food!

Date night at the Harlan Theater

Our wonderful hosts, Rocket and Karen.  

At some point, while still light out, we took off for Harlan, a whole 15 miles away.  A nice cloud cover and gentle rolling hills made the ride a pleasure.  It was a good introduction for Mark and I, who had ridden nary a single mile with bags on our bikes yet this year.

In Harlan: date night for Mark and I, with dinner and a movie.  Shauna, Jim, Mark, and I ate at a great Chinese/Thai place, and then Mark and I went to see the last installment of Harry Potter at the Harlan Theater.  Great food and great movie!

The movie let out and everyone was getting out of the bar at the same time.  Toby and Lauree stayed at a place next door with homemade banana bread but 23 steps to climb.  Mike, Jim, Shauna, Mark, and I headed to an old friend of Jim's house, Rocket.  They met on Ragbrai years ago when Rocket decided to take Jim's bike out for a spin.  Rocket and his wife Karen were wonderful hosts and we had showers laundry, and a good night's sleep.  Thanks, Rocket and Karen!

A good time was had by all. :-)

Love of Biking

So when we last left off, two years ago this month, we were biking through the hills of Iowa (to paraphrase Dar Williams) with several thousand of our closest friends.  Let’s return to that RAGBRAI of two years ago to finish the story; otherwise, I won’t feel right about beginning the story of this ride. 

---

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:

Oh, it's RALPHael!

Ride, Mark, ride!

Toby and Lauree

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.

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.

1988...I'm the pinhead in the very middle.  I don't think my head could be any smaller.

Dianne and I

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. 

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).

Old friends

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…

Happy dad!

Jim riding around on a fabulous rig:

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.  :-)