Free Day!!

Before I catch you up on last night I have to add a clarification. Ray insisted a clarification be posted. Christopher Columbus is the only one who thought the world was round so therefore that’s why he eats around the corn. He says us non Italians believed the world was flat and that’s why we go typewriter style. I can tell you that typewriter is the prevailing method here on RAGBRAI. Guess there aren’t a lot of Italians on the ride. 

Last night after my freezing shower I decided I would let the Lutherans warm me up with some beef and noodles. They started serving at 4:00 and by 5:15 they had sold out. Of course I got there at 5:30. Lutherans....that is just poor planning!  Be better Lutherans. I got a grilled cheese from the Presbyterians to tide me over and then had a couple tacos from the taco truck!  

We ended up sitting in the park and met two new people. Lori is from the Florida and Brian is from Des Moines. After talking to them for awhile they must have thought we looked thirsty because they offered us  a beer. That one beer led to several stories and over 2 hours of chatting. We added a new guy Rich to our table. At the end of the night we made plans to meet up tomoorw as well because we had so much fun. Brian has ridden 31 RAGBRAI....he started when he was 12!

It was a chilly night in the tent but the rain stopped so that was huge. I think it got down to 60 overnight but it wasn’t wet!! But there was a guy dry heaving all night...that was fun!

This morning I saw Kayla and Shaun from last year!  It was good to see them again. I also got to talk to Bob!  Bob doesn’t sleep under the stars anymore. He has his cot in a big tent now. My conversation with Bob was like nothing nice ever experienced on RAGBRAI and it all is because Stacey got married and isn’t here. Apparently “married” is the the same as dying because me saying she was on her honeymoon made him feel compelled to tell me that he had been planning his own funeral. He’s still trying to decide whether he wants to be creamated or buried...”but why do I care...I’ll be dead”. He then proceeds to tell me that he thinks if gets creamated he would want his ashes spread on RAGBRAI.....hope it’s not a windy day when that happens!!  He then proceeds to continue to tell me all the other things you can decide when you plan your own funerals...the music, the food you want, and who you want to speak...unless you’re Catholic...no choices there!!  This conversation lasted well over 10 minutes and spanned two different time points because he was “trying to keep it short”. I was afraid he was going to ask me to be the executor of his estate if it went much longer. Awkward! 

The ride this morning was beautiful!  We had sun!!!  

 We rode to Anita and I got to show Ray true small town Iowa. When I got into town I stopped at the first booth and asked if any of them new Nate and Terri Hansen. I went to college with them. Nate is the veterinarian in town so I figure they would know of him and maybe even knownif he was in town. While nobody knew where he was they did offer to call him. I said it was ok I’d keep looking. I made it a block and a half and there was a group of older people sitting and watching the bikes. I knew these people might be able to help me out too. Well I just happened to ask Nate’s “adoptive grandparents” so before I could even get my question out the guy was calling Nate!  Nate came to meet me and said I had another call about some girl looking for me. In the span of 5 minutes he got two calls and I never even asked anyone to call him!  Gotta love Iowa nice!  It was good to catch up with him!  Sounds like he and Terri are doing great!!

Today we deemed “free” day because we got lots of free goodies on the ride. We got several bottles of free water at different places. Ray got free coffee. We had free beef sticks, free hard boiled eggs on a stick!, free pickle juice slushies, free sunscreen, free pie and homemade ice cream from the Presbyterian and Methodists churches in Adair, free cooling towels, free honey stinger chews, free sweet corn, and a free popsicle!  It was an excellent free food day!!  But the most plentiful free thing we got was WIND!  Lots of head and cross winds today. We rode for 48 miles before we got a tailwind and that only lasted 1 mile. What a tease!!!  We did get about 11 miles towards the end of the ride with a tailwind but the constant rolling hills really put a damper on that!!  We ended the ride with 6 miles on a strong cross wind and im not afraid to say it but I was spent. Getting beat up by wind all day is tiring. We did a total of 72 miles today. 

Some free photos for all of you!!!  Our camp is in a nice open grass field...no real shade but it’s a good spot. There is a shower truck right across the street and while the line moves slow, it was totally worth it!  I had a warm private shower!  Almost made up for the ice bath last night!!

We also got to see a really cool veterans memorial wall!  The picture doesn’t do it justice because it was so big. It was a really cool thing to see. 
Farm Camp update...Gabby is having a great time!  She’s been checking cows and living the farm life. Today she may have lived it up a bit too much because the camp director sent me this photo. I’m not sure if she’ll be allowed in the truck anytime soon!!