Happy Birthday Elsie

It was a chilly night last night but I can thankfully report that we didn’t have any more helicopter landings during the night!  The siblings even got their tent down before we left. Kate has decided it is best for her just to remove herself from the equation!  

As we left Pocahontas we saw a sign that said Emmetsburgh 25 miles…that’s our overnight for tonight but they’re taking us 55 miles to get there!  We have lots of twists and turns today. Our first stop for the day was 7 miles out of town. I saw a sign that said Heavenly Pies and decided that 7:15 wasn’t too early for pie!  I had Berry Medley and it was great. Homemade probably fresh home grown berries. It was a free will donation to help local veterans so a double win!  

As we rode on to Rolfe I saw a family on the side of the road with signs that said “come to Elsie’s birthday party”. Elsie was turning 5 today and I couldn’t pass up an opportunity for some free lemonade and a celebration with the birthday girl. I gave her a nice birthday tip for the lemonade. Not many people were stopping so I started yelling out to the riders as they rode by telling them to wish her a happy birthday. She had lots of well wishes and said “Thank you”every time someone wished her a happy birthday. She had been in Pocahontas last night with her dad and they were giving rides to people on the golf cart. They told people that we’d be riding past their house and that she would have lemonade for her birthday.  One group stopped this morning with a birthday card and small present for her. That’s what RAGBRAI is all about!  Making a little girl’s day and getting some tasty lemonade. I got a picture with the whole family and then pedaled off. 

Rolfe also had a big freedom rock and something other different statues. I had seen a sign for a BLT so I decided I better not tempt fate and eat something and not be hungry for the BLT. Boy am I glad I did. Not far out of town was Wilsch Family Farms set up selling BLT, pork chop sandwiches, and brats. I think they were running a bit behind because they didn’t think people would come in that early, so I had to wait for my sandwich, but it was worth it. It was an awesome BLT with lots of bacon. Ray ended up getting a pork scoop sandwich and he said it was the best sandwich he has had on RAGBRAI. This family isn’t going to any more stops on RAGBRAI but said they may be there every day next year. It definitely would be a must stop for me. 

While I was finishing up Chewy and his parents came. I’m pretty sure Chewy was waiting for some bacon. Chewy has done a few RAGBRAI now and loves to bark at people as they ride down the road. I don’t know if Murray will ever be up for RAGBRAI but the lady said Chewy loves it!  

After the BLT I had awoken the beast that is my stomach and I was even more hungry than before, so you can better believe that I stopped for a breakfast brat at Brewer Beef and the beer stop. Gotta stayed fueled!!  I’m glad I stopped because I got to see Ralph and Grant!  Ralph has moved to Atlanta now and they brought along his son in law Mason!  They are all doing well and enjoying the route. 

I had decided that today I would eat all of Emily’s favorite foods, so I had a brat and then in Mason City it was time for my first Thelma’s ice cream. Who cares if it was only 10:45!?!  We spent some time at the Grotto as well. A few years ago we went through West Bend so I had seen the grotto already, but still walked through to take some pictures. It is a shrine that was built from rock and stone from all over the world. The priest started building the shrine to the Virgin Mary in 1912 and it took the priest 42 years to complete. It’s pretty cool to see all the little intricacies of it. 

A block from the Grotto was the Iowa corn tent, so my ode to Emily continued today. Had some great Iowa sweet corn. Never pass up the free corn tent!! As I was getting ready to leave the corn tent a guy yelled out go C26. I tried to find him once I got back on my bike but never did. When I made the last stop for the day at Backpocket for a beer I ran into another C26 teammate Matt Miller. We chatted for quite awhile and then a guy came up to us and said his daughter was with C26. Susan Cates we met your dad!  

As I came into camp there was a bad bike accident where they closed off the road and made us all get up on the sidewalk. They were spine boarding the guy when I went by. I hope he is ok. Just another reminder to be very grateful every day you make it back to camp safely. Ray was the first one back to camp so he got all of us (siblings are now part of our family!) on the shower list…my number 160….serious am going backwards on this!  Ray set up his tent close to the hamburger guys from last night just in case they wanted to share again tonight!  Spoiler alert…we didn’t get anything!

Our camp site is small and we are packed in pretty tight. When I got to camp there weren’t too many places to go but a lot of people let to set up camp. I got my stuff and Ray and I thought we could squeeze in the Taj Mahal sibling tent too so we got one of their bags and spread stuff out so they would have a space. They were extremely grateful for that!  We even got their names on the shower list!  I think we may be moving up their list steadily since the first night they thought we were creeping on them. 

It was really hot this afternoon when we got to camp and no shade so it was bit rough waiting for the showers.  Phil and Steve started a game of Uno and I joined in too.  After beating them twice and causing them to feel shame for their family by getting beat by me it was time for my shower!  The other night I had said something to Phil about how happy their parents must be that they are doing this together. He said she was so happy and excited. She bought them matching socks and shirts to wear. Unfortunately….she forgot to give them to them!  Oh well. It’s the thought that counts. 

I ended up getting some Asian noodle stir fry for dinner. Emmetsburg is a cool city with a lake and some great park spaces downtown. We listened to some music and then it started to rain a bit so we headed back to camp. Thankfully it didn’t rain much at all. 

I ran into Janine and Ron tonight. Janine had a great ride but Ron’s seat rail broke 5 miles from the end. Unfortunately he had to get on the SAG to get into town but it didn’t come directly here. Instead it went on a “2.5 hour odyssey” before he made it to camp. He was able to find a new saddle but it’s a Women’s saddle. I hope it works out ok for him. 

Tonight is a quiet night in camp. Tomorrow is a big day and one that hasn’t happened in years. Tomorrow is century day. Normally the century is optional but this year they are paying homage to one of the founders who passed last Fall by going back to the original roots of RAGBRAI where a century was included every year. For the past several years there was just a loop you could add on if you wanted. I think a lot of people will be on the SAG wagon, but we are all in. I’m hoping to get out a bit earlier tomorrow, but we’ll see how the morning goes. 

Vince since I know you are reading this…Ray says hi!  He says he is crushing the hills and I can attest to him stopping at the fire stations!

Today was 55 miles of riding and 1700 feet of climb, so not bad at all. Temps were great and there was a decent tailor wind a lot of the time. I’ll leave you all with this bike parking picture from the beer stop!