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last night everyone went to bed at 10 PM, except your humble narrator, who
was up until midnight composing and uploading yesterday's page. when the
alarms went off at 6, i was not the only person who thought the
world was blurry and out of focus.
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we loaded our gear after breakfast. but despite the liesurely pace, we were
on the road by 7:30. i would never point fingers, but i think some people
just didn't want to help load out. don's army training woke him and put him
on the road even before our alarms had gone off.
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the ride was beautiful. an early morning rain had cleared the air and released
humidity. after we joined the official route and caught up to these riders,
we were surrounded all day long.
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usually i watch the road forward, over deb's helmet. but when we are really
cranking down a hill, i have to crouch low to decrease wind resistance.
the tandem isn't bad for RAGBRAI because the disadvantage about carrying
our mass up a hill becomes advantageous on the downhill side as we
coast ahead of the single bicycles.
we stopped through half a dozen or eight towns throughout the day. the town
of Shelby had the wierdest decorations of them all.
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at our lunch stop, we saw somewhat over one metric tonne of people. here are
their bikes while they ate lunch.
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we got killer bloody mary's and bar-b-que pork sandwiches. a tuba guy was
playing; we spent part of the meal trying to recognize the songs. he travels
from town to town for all RAGBRAI lunches. i hope to have a picture of him
before the ride is over.
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as usual, Pete was ready for lunch, the instant the team assembled.
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the rest of us needed a few moments get off our bikes, and appreciate the
shade trees.
i was starting to get concerned about Josie, because she is a vegetarian,
and the population of Iowa thinks no dinner is complete without a pork
or beef entree. she was inconvenienced at every meal, so she ran over to
the grocer and bought some pasta.
you may think it's weird to carry noodles on a 57-mile bike ride, but some
riders carry even crazier loads.
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for example, team bad boy carries all their gear, everything
from tents and sleeping bags to clothing, because they use no support
transportation. and all their gear includes things that normal people
don't bring to RAGBRAI: stereos, electical generators, etc.
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i remember the kitchen sinks from RAGBRAI 14 didn't have all these stickers
on them...
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despite a stop that included Dove bars and two-week old kittens,
we arrived in Harlan before 3 PM in good spirits.
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each night team Tropical Fish is staying at the homes of generous people
who make their bedrooms, floors, and showers available for the night. i
missed a photo of last night's hosts in Council Bluffs. (they were quiet
older folks and did not seem to be photogenic). however...
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here are Darcy (l) and Kelly (r) from Harlan. i like them a lot, in that
intuitive way that you can look at someone and know they are cool.
they are bright and articulate people who went out of their way to make
us at feel home, without making us feel imposing or them imposed upon. they
have a delightful relationship with their teenage daughter, Amanda,
who arrived late in the evening. she seemed to enjoy asking for permission
with household of guests listening, especially when she already knew the answer.
i hope Deb and i have the same sense of humor when we have a daughter.
Darcy and Kelly used their excellent parenting skills to treat team Tropical
Fish plus team Diego (about 30 people altogether!) to a cookout
of grilled burgers and bar-b-que chicken. yum yum yum.
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way thank you, Darcy and Kelly! you're the best!
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after dinner we used our last energies to visit RAGBRAI city. this is the
camp for people who did not plan as well as Papa John. RAGBRAI city has
tents, showers, mobile home parking, beer gardens, and vendor areas
wherein one can purchse all bicycling supplies known to man, bicycle
maintenance, and any of a hundred, different yet official, RAGBRAI shirts.
i bought two shirts in 1986, and the same for 2000 ... so far.
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around eight thousand cyclists are sleeping in this deceptively sedate camp.
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