Biking Across Iowa: Pigs & Pools

The Surf Ballroom

Wednesday's Route

What do you mean you didn't have a pork chop at 8 am this morning? That's right, today we went to the famous Mr. Pork Chop for our breakfast. We had committed to eating there today because it was a short day. Little did we know we'd come upon his stand about 15 miles into the ride. It was the best stop ever because we didn't have to wait....normally the wait is forever long. You may be thinking, how on earth can you eat a pork chop at 8? Well because it's that darn good. It's hot off the grill and they just hand you a pork chop bigger than your hand in a paper towel. By far the best pork chop either of us have ever had! We talked to them as they were grilling and they said they sell 800-1000 pork chops a day at $8 a crack. That's 56,000 for the week! They've definitely got a good thing going.

Enjoying our pork chop

Today's ride was short with us going about 41 miles. The winds weren't bad, the temp was good and it was flat. We were actually done for the day by 11 am. We went through Clear Lake which was really pretty. Clear Lake is famous for where Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens played their last concert at The Surf Ballroom. They then were killed in a plane crash a few miles from our overnight town today. This is where "the day the music died" phrase came from.

For lunch today we had pulled pork sandwiches (we made it the day of the pig) after that we went to the Mason City Pool...for free ( no we didn't wait 30 minutes before we went in the pool) not only did we get to swim for free but shower for free...VICTORY! RAGBRAI is the only time the ladies line for anything is shorter than the men's. This pool was huge and had a few fun water slides & diving boards it was a great way to spend the afternoon. We hung out with our friend Andrew at the pool and were like kids doing cannon balls off of the diving boards! Cycling tan lines were on their best display at the pool, I'm sure it was entertaining to the locals.

Dorice tested the water slides

After the pool we decided to go to the Lutheran church for a spaghetti dinner. This is our second trip to a Lutheran church & our last due to their lack of serving pie as dessert....to our Lutheran friends out there...why no love for pie? Stacey did experience a new food of the day today....scotcheroos!

We are quite the neighbors in the camp grounds...our new friend Ralph (he's from DC) has given us a 5 star rating as a neighbor & Roger & Larry usually set their tent up by us as well. Last night we were neighbors to Andrew & his dad ( his name is Toby) & when we set up camp today they seemed disappointed that we weren't by them again....so see you guys would love to come on RAGBRAI with us and be our neighbors.

We figured we would tell you that we are holding up pretty well physically. Stairs & getting up from sitting may be getting a little slower but overall we are happy with the way we feel ( we thought you might care about this part but if not sorry for the 15 seconds that it took for you to read this).

Sometimes riding can get a little boring, so thankfully people put signs along the road to keep us entertained...a few of our favorites

"Caution, tighten your bra straps and take out your dentures, rough road ahead"

"Kook-aid stand ahead serving real kool-aid by a real live 4 year old"

"Free snow mobile rides 2 miles ahead, weather permitting"

"Shut up legs, just keep moving"

A few things you only hear on RAGBRAI:

"RUMBLES".....what riders yell out to signal rumble strips on the road

"Do you need more butt butter".....the chaffing cream is never far away

"We would have gotten here sooner, but there were $2 drafts at the last town".....we hear that from Roger a lot

An addendum to yesterday's blog: Dorice made me pet a cow yesterday (Abby was her name) she tried to get me to kiss a pig but let's be honest there is no need to do that...I think the heat was getting to her at that point!