Archive for July, 2011

Davenport

Sunday, July 31st, 2011

Mayor Gluba says “Hi!”

And Welcome to Davenport!

If this is July 31 with any luck we will have finished RAGBRAI XXXIX and are returning home.

Not Coralville Again!!!!

Saturday, July 30th, 2011

Didn’t we stop here on RAGBRAI XXXIV ?

38 Special is playing tonight!

Now I remember! I had to ride on over to the Coral Ridge Mall to buy some glue to fix the banjo and then ride over to the Country Inn Suites where the C.U.B.S. were having a party. Man, that banjo has gone through hell and back. It really is the Timex of banjoes.

Grinnell, the Jewel of the Prairie

Friday, July 29th, 2011

and home to Grinnell College

The Coolest Small Town in America

OH ALTOONA !

Thursday, July 28th, 2011

with Grand Funk Railroad?

Altoona Iowa

Word on the street is that there is a 12 foot high praying mantis sculpture at Altoona’s Heritage park.

Boone Iowa

Wednesday, July 27th, 2011

I remember jamming in Boone back in ’08:

This year they have HairBall

Carroll Iowa

Tuesday, July 26th, 2011

This I don’t get:

The “Let It Ride” in the logo would make you think there is a casino in Carroll

…and the Carroll RAGBRAI page here looks like the strip in Las Vegas. It must be some sort of secret plan. Just have to find out when I’m there.

Atlantic Iowa

Monday, July 25th, 2011

It’s the Coca-Cola Capital of Iowa:

GO to Atlantic Bottling to find out more!

Welcome to Glenwood

Sunday, July 24th, 2011

It’s in Iowa:

The first overnight town on RAGBRAI

Mayor Kimberly Clark says “Have a great time here, and please come back to visit us often!  There is no place like Glenwood.” Also, due to the flooding on the Missouri River there is no bicycle access to the river bank to dip the tires as is the RAGBRAI tradition, so they will have a large tank of river water available for those that want to take a dip!

If you are reading this, and it’s July 24, 2011 then I  should be in Iowa. I’m not gonna update this blog everyday during the great feast  of the RAGBRAI because it’s just too much trouble. However, if something really weird happens and I have access to the internet in the next week I will post it here. I’m between Glenwood and Atlantic right now.

Planes on a Train

Wednesday, July 20th, 2011

Right in downtown Fort Collins:

It’s a plane!

And it’s on the corner of Mason and Mulberry streets and not just one; perhaps six of them! You might see this sort of thing in Renton, Washington but not here!

A Boeing 737 maybe?

Going north for final assembly someplace unknown; All the labels are blocked out. Perhaps they are going to a secret facility in Wellington?

Special parts package?

These special shipping containers had blocked out labels like the plane fuselage. If you Google “Boeing Train” you will see similar 737 train cars but the parts containers don’t look anything like this. These have a “NASA” feel to them.

Spooky Fort Collins, Part First

Sunday, July 17th, 2011

I ain’t afraid of no ghost!

Lori talks of the dead at the old Linden Hotel

It’s part of some new tour in town called Haunted Fort Collins where you can look at and go into some of the more scarier places around town. This week Lori and her two grave digger assistants Jake and Chris took us on a little tour exploring various morgues and jails and underground places where they might be ghosts!

The Linden Landmark Building

It’s where a woman apparently hung herself on the second floor. Children are the only ones who see a woman spirit in the hotel. According to Haunted Colorado the place was recently cleansed of ghosts but things still mysteriously fall off the shelves!

The front “door” to the calaboose

It’s the old jail where James Howe briefly took up residence until some citizens got together and broke him out and hung him… people do seem to hang around in town.

Side window of the old Jail

You see, James Howe apparently slit his wife Eva’s throat in front of his house (where the Armadillo is now) in the middle of the day and landed in the Calaboose when the law caught up with him.

Near the Old Firehouse

The jail is now haunted by a jewelry repair business

But back in the wild days of the Fort the locals found it necessary to find Mr. Howe guilty and to perform a proper ‘lynchin’ which the Urban Dictionary defines as a form of population control that has been replaced by the drive by shooting.

NEXT TIME: We look at the underground world of Fort Collins!