Money Well Spent - Wet & Windy

It’s RAGBRAI time!  I’m on the bus and even though I have my bus snacks I am anxiously looking forward to our stop so I can get out and stretch my legs. I’m ready to not be crammed in this seat!

Loading the bus stop was pretty uneventful. Ended up on bus three and we are stuffed to the brim!  Ray and Gary from Philly are back this year. They drove out together and are ready to take on the hills of Iowa again. Murray came to see me off and he got to meet some new people which he loves. Unfortunately there was lots of goose droppings all over so eventually he got relegated to being carried around. He’s going to have a great week at farm camp. He tries to keep up with the big dogs but sometimes he just can’t hang!! 

The weather this week looks like it is going to be pretty nice so I hope that’s true. Better than the excessive heat last year!!  

Finally…the stop!  I made it quickly into McD and got to the bathroom way before there was a line. Which was great…but then that meant all the lines were for food. I opted for some gas station yogurt parfait instead of the 30 min wait in the McD or subway lines. 

There appears to be a lot of newbies and first timers here this year. Which means that experience will be in my favor for getting campsites, showers, etc. We even outsmarted them loading the bus as everyone were lemmings following each other to load their stuff on the bus. Well we just walked around the bus and loaded from the other side. Easy peasy while the majority were waiting in line. Yesterday I met Todd from Purdue who works in performing arts/student life. Then I met another couple who lives in Indy. So maybe Indiana has taken over the QCBC charter!

After our stop we started hearing rumblings of strong storms, wind, rain, hail for later today in Sergeant Bluff. Here’s hoping we can at least get our tents set up before that happens. I upgraded my tent this year so I have some more room…I just hope it handles rain well. I’d be real upset if I got flooded out on day one. 

We made it to Sergeant Bluff our home for the night. We are camping at the local high school around the football field. Unfortunately that meant the dropped us off in the parking lot and we had to lug our bags at least a half mile. As we set our bags down there was lightning in the distance. The race was on to get the tent up before the rain. It was actually overcast with a slight breeze so it wasn’t unbearably hot. I managed to set up the new tent relatively easily. It’s much bigger than my old one and I think that’s going to prove to be beneficial as the week goes on. 

After I got my tent up I walked to find my bike. Right as I picked up my bike the rain drops started. I made it back to the tent before it cut loose. New tent….CLUTCH. I was able to get myself and my bike in the tent while it was raining. I got it all put back together while standing in my tent. It’s already proven to be a great investment and it’s only been up 30 minutes!

Fortunately the rain and yes lightning/thunder didn’t last very long. Unfortunately that meant the sun came out and it got hot!!  There was a very strong breeze….downside of new tent…it catches a lot more wind. I’ve had to re-stake my tent 3 times in 3 hours. Hopefully wind will die down tonight.

We decided to head up the expo area and check it out. After waiting in the shuttle line forever without a shuttle in sight we decided to walk. It wasn’t that far. I feel like there were less vendors than normal, but it was still packed. Did some obligatory pictures and then I needed food…real food. I got some very delicious nachos from a taco food truck. A sat down to eat them across from a lady who was eating taco salad from the same truck. They must have looked good because many people came up to ask what they were. One lady came up 3 different times to ask more questions. But my favorite was…which one is better the taco salad or the nachos?  Well….I hate to tell you lady but it’s really hard to answer that question when you’re only eating one of the items and I’m not about to ask a stranger to eat off her plate just to help you make a decision. She must have missed class the day they talked scientific method and basic research design. I was talking with a lady while eating who is returning to RAGBRAI after her knee replacement surgery. She said she kept looking at my shirt which said “practice not quitting” and would remind herself of that several times this week. I think it is something we all need to remember. Forward progress is progress just keep moving forward. 

We saw a guy riding a very tall unicycle that was a “unicorn”. Well then he started juggling a sword, a flame, and a selfie stick with his iPhone on it. He pedaled around and juggled. He didn’t last long but I he didn’t fall or drop anything. 

As my faithful readers know, I appreciate a good sprinkler or hose. Well Sergeant Bluff fire department didn’t disappoint with one of their fire hoses set up for us to walk through. It hit the spot on this feels like 97 degree humid day. 

We headed back to camp fairly early because I needed to get my tent more organized and find everything I need for tomorrow. I grabbed a couple waters when we got to camp and I saw Paul who I ended up camping by a lot last year. I’m told him he was my inspiration for me putting contact info in my wallet in case I lost it. Then a little kid asked if I wanted to have a water gun fight. Normally I’d be all about that, but my hands were full so I turned him down. Maybe tomorrow kid!

I have also discovered another downside of my new tent…there are at least 4 others exactly like it in our camp site. Here’s hoping I don’t lose my tent or go in the wrong one later in the week.   I’m a LONG way from the bathrooms tonight and I sure hope I don’t have to navigate through the tent mind field in the dark. It could be treacherous. 

Clouds have finally rolled in and it has gotten a bit cooler. There still may be storms tonight so we’ll see. Tomorrow will be a harder day. Lots of hills and lots of heat, so it will be a challenge even though it’s a fairly short day. Less than 60 miles. We don’t do these things because it is easy, so bring on the challenge. 

I did a RAGBRAI first tonight and took a quick shower once I got my tent organized. I’ve never gotten a shower on day 0 before and it felt nice to rinse off for a brief bit. Of course as I walked back to the tent it started raining. So I’m sitting in my tent with it pouring outside and the wind is whipping my tent. But I’m dry…it’s just steamy in here. Hopefully this passes soon. I don’t know what I need to do to get my tent stakes to stay better but it’s safe to say they are no longer holding my tent down. My stuff and I am holding it down. My little tent never had this issue. 

Murray seems to be having fun at farm camp. It was really hot today so he had to test out the air conditioning vent.