1st Half of RAGBRAI

 

Scott did the first half of RAGBRAI this year- from Council Bluffs to Des Moines. He spent the night in Omaha, then Harlan and spent the night at our house before rolling out of Perry yesterday morning. This year he rode with two friends who were new to the ride and I think they had a great time. 

I dropped him off at the beginning of the route yesterday and then took a little scenic trip through rural Dallas County to meet up with them and take some photos. It was pretty fun! 

 

It was fun seeing all the riders whiz past. It was still early, about 8a.m. so most were fairly calm and I heard lots of friendly good morning greetings. I finally touched base with Scott and he said the first stop was swamped and he wondered if I could grab him so food from Casey's in our town. I said sure and sped back over the gravel rounds to pick up a breakfast pizza and some donuts. We met up exactly at the same time and it was good to chat with him and his cousin who he rode with that day. 

Even though RAGBRAI didn't come through our community, it was on the way to the starting point so there was still alot of hustle and bustle on the hwy and at the gas station. It was kind of fun! The year Scott and I got married the route went right by our house...of course, we were building our house then and plus we were out of town so we missed the excitement. I hope it goes by again someday so I can sit out in my lawn chair and offer riders free water and bananas.

 

After they rode off, I headed down to our meeting spot: Valley Junction. It wasn't too busy when I got there at 11a.m. but it quickly picked up. I enjoyed an awesome organic Colombian coffee from a great shop called the Green Grounds Cafe and watched the riders roll in. It was really perfect and just the type of thing I enjoy doing.

 

They finally rolled in and we had a great lunch of pork tenderloins, homemade onion rings and cold beer.  I also had a nice chat with an author who I recognized from his interview on Talk of Iowa on Iowa Public Radio. I think he was impressed and I was happy to flex my dork muscles for someone. :o)

 

After a great nap and playing with Michael, we headed back downtown to watch the Summerland Tour and take part in the RAGBRAI festivities. The concerts were pretty awesome and we enjoyed listening to Filter, Live and Everclear. It was pretty much all hits from the 1990's! We also ran into my brother and his wife. 

We of course, documented the occasion of us going out sans child with a pretty great self portrait. 

It was a great day and now Scott is home for the rest of the week. Have you seen any riders go by? Do you know anyone doing the whole ride? It is such a fun Iowa tradition.