Somewhere in Glenwood. Iowa
It’s 6:50 AM. Time to unload the bikes!
It’s also when we heard an ambulance rushing to the scene of the first RAGBRAI fatality; A pickup truck hit and killed one of the riders heading out to the river to dip his tire. Not the best sign on the first day. Also, half a block down the alley was the camp for the TALL DOGS! I didn’t see Lee Dog however.
A Covered Bridge
Not anywhere near Madison County, possibly the town of Delta, Iowa. Lots of old buildings here. Not really a RAGBRAI pass through town, but still some welcome signs around. It was also a “short cut” to Sigourney, Iowa!
Yes, this is in Delta, Iowa
There was a dentist in town named “FEAR” and they still had a sort of museum with his chair and drills, but it looked like it had been closed for at least 20 years. Just a note to the fact that my old dentist in Fort Collins was James Mangle.
Poor Bike
This was not the best Ragbrai for me. The first three overnights had poor cell phone reception and then my pedal fell off (The threads got stripped) and I had to wait for the SAG to get me into town (only 8 miles to go!). The picture above shows this guy on the Big Wheel passing my disabled bike. Having poor phone reception meant I couldn’t contact other musicians on the route and find a location to jam. Poo!
Centerville, Iowa
Centerville was a neat town and I believe it to be the best town on RAGRAI this year! The organizers chose the theme “There’s No Place Like Centerville” from the Wizard of Oz movie and put a lot of time painting a “yellow brick road” and decorating KYBO’s.
Centerville, Part 2
A visit to the Appanoose County Coal Mining Museum where someone took my picture and somehow I found it while searching the internet.
Centerville, Part 3
A photo with the Pancake Day Queen, Miss Madison Mooreman (see here for the Register’s interview ) . The question is about the size of the town square. Just how big is it? Well, OK, it’s not 18 million square feet like the one in Xinghai, China but Miss Madison says it, and there was a sign that said that Centerville has the LARGEST TOWN SQUARE IN THE WORLD. This is defined by the fact that the roads around the square have no stop signs, hence, it’s the largest continuous town square in the world! Get it?
Maybe Unionville, Iowa
This picture was taken by a group of riders out of Texas who publish some kind of fitness blog out of Austin. Imagine, ME in a fitness Blog! ??