RAGBRAI 2012: Day 7

Elwood to Clinton: 39.4 miles.

Last day...that means a shower in my own shower at home tonight!  And no more KYBOs, at least until next year.

Dropping us off in the meeting town, Elwood.  We have had so much fun with these guys!

 Gavin starts in the Burley with the boom box.  I can't imagine how long it takes for his feet to fall asleep!

 A little support goes a long way!

 The biggest KYBO ever!

 I went to get my pie and discovered two kids playing in the sand...

 Mmmm pie. This is why I do RAGBRAI.

 Can't believe this is the last day.

 Gavin discovers rumble strips....I was afraid his bike would fall apart!

 Snack time!  How they love the icees!

 We did it!  Hello Mississippi! Okay we didn't do every mile...but this was the  first tie I rode all 7 days...and the kids each rode 6 by themselves.  We were pretty impressed!

 Our team.  These kids are awesome!

 See the crazy people waiting in line behind us to dip their tires in the Mississippi...

Such a great year! 

RAGBRAI 2012: Day 6

Cedar Rapids to Anamosa: 42.2 Miles
Gabby rides a full day!
Gavin SAGs.

Good morning !  Only one more day after today!  It goes so fast.  But Gavin needs a break so he stays with the camper today.

 Another beautiful morning getting out of Cedar Rapids.  New Bohemia was super cool.  Wish we had more time to stop.

 Almost out of town...

 This college town, Mt. Vernon was pretty cool but super crowded.

 Gabby happy to have us all to herself today.  She is really becoming an awesome rider!

 Apparently sick of the camera in her face.

 So sweet and happy when she sees this monster of a slip-and-slide!

The sunset where we camped in Anamosa was so pretty I had to hike up the hill to get a panorama!

RAGBRAI 2012: Day 5

Shellsburg to Cedar Rapids: 25.4 miles

Nice to be able to take it easy in the morning...especially after being up so late with the storm last night.  We SAGed to the meeting town and had a very short ride today.  It was very nice that the miserable heat finally broke with the storm so today was fabulous!
 

 Another day done....ahhh.

 We went out to dinner tonight in Cedar Rapids!  Fun!

 Thrilled to ride in the back of a pick-up for the first time!

 We camped just outside of the big ice arena...so of course we had to do some skating!

RAGBRAI 2012: Day 4

Webster City to Story City: 33.2 miles. Gab SAGs, Sean rides to Marshalltown 77.1 miles.
Holy hot today.  Unbearably hot.  Gab was the smart one and decided to SAG.

 Gavin doesn't mind having all of our attention at all.  He often grabs on to the Burley for a little boost!

 Farm Boys breakfast burritos...my favorite RAGBRAI breakfast!

 The rainbow of spandex and bikes...always a sight to see!

 Beer carrot. Really helpful on a miserably hot day like today.

 Creative bike racks.

 A pretty quick 33 miles to the meeting town, Story City. We had lots of time to play while we were waiting for our ride.  Sean went on to ride the whole day and Gav and I SAGed to the sleep-over town. Of course we ran into Dave in Story City.  

 Fun in Story City...Gavin loved getting dunked!

( Please don't let him get some nasty eye infection!)

 Back at Marshalltown, it was so hot we couldn't even stand it outside.  It was too windy to have the awning up for shade.  We were super happy to have AC in the camper! 

 Around bedtime....the storm rolls in and we are told to evacuate to the shelters...fun!

We were pretty sure this tin sided building at the fairgrounds was not going to do much good in a tornado...but we didn't let the kids know!  After an hour or two we got to go back to the camper...everything was fine for us...but there were many people missing their tents..and our friends had their big tent torn to shreds with a lake inside! Just another fun RAGBRAI experience that makes you wonder what the heck you are doing here!  So glad to be in a camper this year!