Do you want to cuddle with a Goat??

All you need o know about today is that it was probably the best day yet on RAGBRAI. I’m super thankful for that because last night was probably the coldest night ever on RAGBRAI. I was freezing and I had in triple layers of everything. 

Today’s ride was a short one only 40 miles so we planned to take our time at stops and enjoy the day. We left a little later too because there was no need to rush out of camp. Our first stop was the best!  

 It was a place called Howell’s farm and they normally are a Christmas tree farm but today it was a place of fun for adults. They also called it an Ag Oasis where the soybean and pork producers used their stands to promote agriculture. There are a ton of people on this ride that don’t understand Iowa or farming!!  This place had a snow globe for us to be in. They had a pumpkin cannon that shot pumpkins further than I could even attempt to describe. 

They had some good food. Tacos breakfast bowls for the win!!  They had goat yoga....so fun!!!  They had a steer slide, a corn on the cob shooter, bath tub tractor rides, hay rides, and probably other stuff we didn’t do. We were at this place for 2 hours!!!  Thank goodness it was a short mileage day. Here are some pics!!






Now let me tell you!  Goat yoga is interesting. The goats just come start climbing on you!  Joe seemed to take a liking to me and he actually took a little nap at one point. Luis...really like chewing my hair!  Now that was cute at first...but it hurt when Luis pulled on a big chunk!!  

Lucky for all of you I got a picture of that exact moment!  It’s a RAGBRAI classic!!  

Seriously I’ve never seen thousands of adults who act like kids...it only happens on RAGBRAI!  I also tried my hand at pork chop flipping and I was terrible. They bounced off the grill every tame. I thought I was a better grill master than that!  Guess I need to practice!

We got back on the road and we’re greeted with some nice long slow climbs. We went to Cumming and I had some delicious COLD watermelon. Can’t pass up food watermelon. Then we headed to Norwalk the meeting town. There was a band there of 13-14 ish year old boys and they were really good. 

I had my first Thelma’s of the trip and it was a rare RAGBRAI find...Apple Pie which is one of my favorite. An apple crumb cookie with vanilla ice cream!!!  The best!  We then headed the last 12 miles to Indianola. 

About 3 miles from town we stopped at a road side stand that said they had free water. Well not only did they have free water but free cookies!  This woman made 150 dozen cookies in prep for RAGBRAI. That’s a lot of cookies!!! And there were at least 8 different kinds of cookies. The toffee almond cookie was the best!! And she had banana bread and brownies. She would not accept any donations so it was a high quality stop for sure and just the fuel we needed for the last 3 miles. 

Today we saw a lot of kids riding and they were having a blast. Aiden was pedaling away in his ninja turtle helmet. He was 7 and on his first RAGBRAI. This morning we were cruising along and there was a family with at least 2 kids...maybe 3 that were riding. The dad yells up to his daughter..probably 10 yrs old...don’t get caught going fast with that group...stay with us. She sighed and looked utterly defeated. I told her to rideon and go fast...they’d catch up. The dad promptly told me it was lent him I’d have to worry about it was her mother!  The poor girl just wanted to go on a nice bike ride!  I felt her pain and just wanted her to be able to enjoy the day!!!  Hopefully they let her cuddle some goats. 

Tonight I have to camp on the dreaded Simpson College campus. I’m abou as far off of it as I can get. The far outfield

Of the softball field. I can proudly say I did not buy and shower or food from this college....I would lose my Central alum card if I did. We got a pool today!!  Some fun waterslides and good tan line watching from all the biker tans!  The shower was ok, but when you have a pool do you really need a shower?!?  The pool definitely made up for having to be on Simpson’s campus. 

Tonight Stephanie, Eric and their kids came to visit. I love when RAGBRAI is close to Des Moines so I can see her!!  My friend Mark came too!  3 Central grads sitting together on Simpson property having a few beers together!  It was a great night. For the Ray followers...he went to the concert.  Sister Hazel is playing tonight and he’s been excited about that since the beginning of the week!  



That’s it for tonight. Tomorrow is a BIG day. Lots of miles to be ridden. Stay tuned!