RAGBRAI XXXVIII

Last month, my family did something really interesting.  We took a trip up to Iowa and my Dad and sister participated in the largest bike ride in the nation:  RAGBRAI, or the Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa.  Sara and my Dad rode 442 miles in one week from the Missouri to the Mississippi river, while my mom and I followed and set up camp every day.  There were over 10,000 bicyclists in the ride, I heard there were 18,000.

We began the ride in Sioux City, where we got to watch the band Smash Mouth, who had a cool opening band called Rockestra that was an orchestra of people of all ages performing classic rock hits.

Rockestra. Yes, they are playing Guitar Hero guitars.

Smash Mouth

Every day we would pass through little towns  (as well as bigger towns), who would come alive with so many bikers passing through.  Some of the towns, such as Washta (population 270, and home of the lowest ever recorded temperature in the state, -48 degrees) had probably never seen so many people within their city limits!

The town of Washta, probably seeing more people than it has ever seen in it's life.

Every town had pretty much the same thing going on:  concerts, food stands, t-shirt stalls, bike repair stands.  It was exciting at first, but got a bit old after a while.  So, I would always try to find something unique about each city we passed through, such as the pretty lakes in Storm Lake and Clear Lake.  There were also lines for EVERYTHING, especially the toilets, which was pretty annoying so you had to be really patient.

The Line for Dairy Queen in Algona

The fountain in Storm Lake, caught with a rainbow just as the sun was getting low.

The Storm Lake Lighthouse

Sailboats in Storm Lake at sunset

The beach at Clear Lake

Or the AWESOME Grotto of the Redemption in West Bend.  A Catholic priest built a shrine to the Virgin Mary after he prayed to her and was healed from a critical illness.  He collected stones and rocks and shells from all around the world and created a grotto next to his church with scenes portraying the life of Jesus.

The sign on the gift shop for the Grotto

The riders were also very entertaining to watch as the rode by.  Some riders wore some crazy outfits, and there were some pretty crazy team names out there!

A Pie Hunter

Team Flamingo

Every day, my mom and I drove along the vehicle route while my dad and sister biked through the heat (and rain on one day).  We met in a meeting town every day, as well as met them along the bike route when we weren’t really supposed to do that.  We would set up camp every day before they arrived in the host town for the night, which would usually have a big concert and activities going on downtown.  Except for a couple of nights, when we got to stay at the houses of relatives that lived nearby, which was nice to get away from camping for a bit.

Typical RAGBRAI campground in the Manchester high school football field.

At the end of the trip, everyone got to dip their tires into the Mississippi River in Dubuque.  It is a big accomplishment to bike 442 miles, going 60-80 miles in a day.  It was a very interesting experience and I’m glad I got to take part in it!

The Mississippi River

Dad and sister at the dip site

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