The team at the beginning of the ride in Council Bluffs:
Ken, Jim, Barb, and Sue
It looks to be a good day. At the very top of the hill I met some IPR folks. Lookie HERE and listen to their report on the first day and listen to some banjo music at about 15:10.
There is a “limited edition” of the Ragbrai banjo:
For display purposes only
This is yet another home-made banjo fabricated with recycled furniture and cooking pot technology. The old Remo head was initiated on the 2005 Ragbrai and used until the end of the 2009 ride.
Here Leo is taking care of the historical artifact and getting it ready for all to see.
Now on display at the Iowa State Historical Society!
Note: The banjo on display is just ONE of the official Ragbrai banjos. The parts of this particular banjo have been on the ride at least one time, but not all in one piece as shown here. For instance, the banjo head and tail piece survived the ride across Iowa five (5) times. The pot from an aluminum pressure cooker had been on the ride twice and the neck only once. The brackets and tuning pegs have been on the ride four times and have been on various banjos for as long as I can remember. The pegs came from an old right-handed instrument that was over 100 years old.
This just has to be the LAST RAGBRAI POST:
Sitting around reading the Des Moines Register
You might be able to see on the front page of the Metro Edition an article about the 40th run of the great feast of the RAGBRAI, also known as the Registers Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa. A detail of the pictures is shown below:
On the front page of the Register
On the left is a picture of John Karras – the co-founder of RAGBRAI with eight other riders who have been on every RAGBRAI ride for the last 40 years. On the lower right is a picture of some guy eating a melon and then on the upper right is a left-handed banjo player wearing a CSU cap and a Chicago Urban Bicycle Society jersey. Thank you, Mr. Purdy– That’s one hell of a good shot!
Anyhow, here’s what I remember from each day:
The Team called “Flygirl and Tag-a-longs” out of Denver ready for the adventure of Iowa. We have Keven, Ken, Jim, Rachel and Chris
As in past drives through Wyoming and Nebraska, it seems something gets loose on the top of the van. This day was no different: Here Ken is someplace on the side of the road in Nebraska trying to make sure everything is fastened down tight. We took 2 days to drive to Iowa, staying at the Cozad Nb. Roadway Inn before leaving the next morning for Sioux Center, Iowa.
The first night in Sioux Center at the Fedder’s Farm
The Fedder’s family included four little boys, some cows, goats, cats, dogs, rabbits, pigs, chickens and probably some other animals I didn’t see. The boys tried to convince their mom that they could spend the night in the tree house, but the lightning storm that night made them change their mind rather quickly. I slept in a hammock on the porch. The cool breeze at night made me forget that the weather forecast for the next day was a high of 103. No tent camping on the first night- might we be lucky again?
On the way to Doreen’s house in Cherokee, Iowa
Of course there was Mister Pork Chop’s bus. It was very hot that day, and there was very little shade. This year was no Peanut Butter Jam so finding a place to jam was not easy. I hope the P-B Jam can return next year; it’s not the same without them. Doreen let us sleep in her air conditioned living room: YES!!!!
Jamming at Twilight Acres Nursing Home in Wall Lake, Iowa
OK, so this day was maybe only 101 degrees and 80% humidity. Still, why should we sit out in the sun when we can play in an air conditioned room? I met up with John and Teressa Condon of the Buck Hollow Band and we played a few songs for the residents. That night we slept in the air conditioned basement of Lloyd and Avis’ house in Lake View. Another night without pitching a tent!
The crematorium at Foster Funeral Center
OK, not the best place to spend the night, but it was air conditioned. The place was crowded with several clubs including the C.U.B.S. who were nice enough to let us squeeze into the funeral home with them. Thank you! If not for you, we would have had to stay in our hot and humid tents in the main campgrounds with the riffraff!
Just another Ice Cream stop, this time in Story City
Story City was a pass-through town and meeting place. It was an optimum location to get some pictures of team buses as the organizers lead them to a large parking lot on the outside of town. Someone from Story City noticed that the person in the Register’s article (top of this post) was from Fort Collins so they mailed a copy of the paper to a relative who lived in Fort Collins. This relative tracked me down, so this is how I got a copy.
The “Roadside Boys”at the Farmers Insurance Agency’s Conference Room in Marshallton, Iowa.
This was strange how it happened, but the folks at the insurance agency were real nice and let us use their conference room to tune up and rehearse some songs for our big “Gig” in Monticello, Iowa. There was a large picture window to the right that allowed us a perfect view of the riders coming into town. I think the high temps for that day were round 105. I don’t know how long we were there, but they didn’t kick us out– We finally left after a few hours because we thought they forgot about us and locked us in.
That night I found a little coffee house across the street from the wireless internet van so I could entertain customers and update my blog (all of this in air conditioned comfort). It was a perfect day and perfect evening.
Speaking of Coffee houses, here we are again in Anamosa
Tom of the “Roadside Boys”and I were a big hit with the Register’s reporters. There is a little video reported HERE.
The “Grounds and Goodies” was of course air conditioned and they had these nice couches to sit on. There’s some youtube video of Von Ketelson who stopped in for a latté HERE.
A Funny Sign
It’s about pie. Rachel took this picture and it reminded me that I found another fine place with A/C in the town of Lehigh, Iowa. The Methodist Church was serving pie and ice cream so I spent some time there getting free pie and ice cream and meeting some riders like Ron from Chicago (a great guitarist) who, like me, really missed the Peanut Butter Jam this year.
At Jim’s Place in Liscomb
In Marshalltown, Iowa our camp ground was to be near the soccer field at the Grandview Heights Nursing Home. I played a few tunes for the residents and the staff fed us dinner. Later that evening we decided to go to “Jim’s Place” in Liscomb to hear Mike McAbee, a regular ragbrai route entertainer. As we were leaving, the storms came, and as we were leaving, I watched as my tent collapsed under the heavy rain (I think I paid maybe $29 for that tent?).
The storms caused some power outages in the bar in Liscomb, but finally Mike got his power back up to his loaded bicycle (amps, mixers, wireless mikes, guitar, speakers, etc) and the show was on. It was an excellent show!
By 12:30 am we were back to find our tent ravaged by the storm. he nursing home let us sleep in the cafeteria for the night. (A/C wins again!)
The KYBOs took a hit
That morning we assessed the storm damage. Most of our stuff was sealed in plastic bags, so we didn’t have a lot of wet clothes. My tent suffered a bruised rib, but it was still fine once I lifted it out of the puddle. My old sleeping bag was wet, and since it was old and I really didn’t need it in the heat I threw it out. My bike helmet blew about 100 yards in the direction pointed to by the KYBOs.
Steam Tractor Show
On the way to Cedar Rapids I stopped in at this steam tractor show. There were at least a dozen fully operational steam powered tractors at this show and since the temps were starting to get down to the high 90’s, it seamed like a fine place to play a little old time banjo. The locals really appreciated it.
Finally we are tent camping!
Here are the tents at Teri’s house in Cedar Rapids. It’s proof that my tent (orange one) was not damaged by the storm. This night was actually cool enough that we didn’t need air conditioning.
Izzy in Anamosa
This was little Izzy, the Basset Hound from hell. We were camping on Deb’s front yard in Anamosa and her dog Izzy would come out and greet the campers. There were a number of clubs camping on the yards, so Izzy had her choice of may items, but she especially favored laundry bags containing sweaty bike jerseys. As we were leaving that morning, Izzy got a hold of Ken’s wallet! If I hadn’t seen her swipe it, she may have gotten away with his cash and credit cards. What a dog!
Camp Courageous in Monticello, Iowa
Tom and I doing a little show for the C.U.B.S. and board members of the camp after the appreciation dinner.
Tire Dip in Clinton
Thus ends another RAGBRAI. At the end, I hung out with a group of neighbors about a half mile from the dipping point until the rest of the crew came in.
More of the RAGBRAI busses to be added to the photo collection:
OK, there’s this old prison in Anamosa (that’s why the have the slogan ‘Ride it like you Stole it’)
It’s almost as old as the Wyoming Territorial Prison
It’s not a museum, like it should be…
There are actual prisoners inside. See the prison guard on the left?
Someplace in Clinton, Iowa:
Tire dip here!
The Ragbrai ride ends today. Of course there’s the ride back through Iowa, then Nebraska, a bit of Wyoming and finally Colorado. The rest of the crew has to find where The SAG vehicle is parked, but I think they will figure it out before it gets dark.
At the Grounds and Gloodies
Jim and Tom and a model wearing the famous “Bike like you stole it” shirt.
Marshalltown loads ‘o fun
The Roadside Boys are alive and well! I met up with Tom H. In Marshalltown and we started our search for a place to jam (preferably in an air conditioned room someplace) as temperatures were reaching 104 with 88 percent relative humidity.
We were standing on the corner of 1st and Church Street when we were approached by an insurance salesman. He told us that his company was having a contest and that we should go upstairs and ask for special poker chips that were required for some complicated scheme where the grand prize was $250 worth of bike parts. We asked if the upstairs office had air conditioning; He said yes, so we made our way into the offices of Marshalltown consolidated insurance company.
We talked to the receptionist about the poker chips contest and she said that we could get a poker chip if we played her a tune (we had our instruments with us) and we said “Yes, no problem” . We started tuning up when the receptionist realized that there was an agent in the next cubicle who was with some clients. She asked if we wouldn’t mind going into the conference room where it would be quieter. We said “Yes, no problem”.
We were escorted to the conference room. It was a great location with a view of the county courthouse and the RAGBRAI cyclists AND it was air conditioned. We started working up for a possible gig at Camp Courageous the evening of our overnight stop in Anamosa.
We were there for so long, we were beginning to think that the receptionist forgot we were in the conference room. What if we get locked in?
The A/C was great, but the insurance company wasn’t serving beer, so after a while, maybe 90 minutes, we decided to say goodbye to our insurance friends and head over to the bars located near the bike route. We found a great location in the shade and played a few tunes and drank Iowa brewed beer until 7:00 pm.
On returning to our camp at the nursing home, we were treated to a free dinner at the home! In return for their generosity I performed a little banjo show for anyone who would listen.
I was hoping to catch Mike McAbee someplace, and I remembered that he was performing his unusual musical act at a bar called “jim’s Place” in a town about 14 miles from Marshalltown called Liscomb. We figured we might be able to get there by 9 but then a rather large thunderstorm started to form from the west. We hurriedly put our tents up only to see them get battered by high winds (up to 70mph) and drenched by heavy rain. We go into the car right as the rain started and drove to Jim’s Place.v
Tom and Jim in the conference room at the insurance company in Marshalltown
Mike and Jim in Liscomb at “Jim’s Place”
This post is a little wordy than most because I have time to kill while I’m at the laundry getting my clothes dry.
With the spotty Internet I’ve decided to add pictures and maybe add explanations later… Hint: sculpture at the old post office in Webster City, A Penney farthing bike, and the crematorium at the funeral home.
This is a bookmark for a post later. Maybe.
We are sleeping at a funeral home tonight. What fun!
