RAGBRAI 2010 Day 5

Stout to Waterloo 39.8 Miles

We sagged the first 42 miles today, picked up the route near the
meeting town. It is nice to take it a little easy in the morning
sometimes, although it makes me feel like a big cheater since we didn't
do the whole day. :)

Sean, NOT Riding Right.

First stop, Beekman's Ice Cream for breakfast....yeah... only on
RAGBRAI do they get ice cream for breakfast...Gabby pointed out that
it's just milk and cream (conveniently leaving out the sugar).

My little biker chick..

Second stop Tender Tom's Turkey. They were out of the turkey legs so
we had the turkey breast sandwich. It was heavenly, I guess they
marinate it in wine.

Third stop (you can see why most people gain weight on RAGBRAI) Peanut
Butter Jamz. We've completely given up making Gavin have peanut
butter on his sandwich. It's just a sugar sandwich now. And he is
happy as a clam.

I loved the special of the day today! Peanut butter and
bacon...brings me right back to childhood.

Here is a little video about what goes on at the Peanut Butter Jamz tent. They have the instruments for anyone to play and this trio was very talented today. The funny part is at the end when Gavin tries to blow the flies off his sandwich...I pee my pants laughing every time I watch it.

Gavin was obviously exhausted...or maybe just crashed after the sugar sandwich but he slept for over an hour like this...he woke up just as we hit Waterloo and could see the big waterpark....he kept yelling "whoa! whoa! whoa!"....over and over and over. I guess it is pretty cool to wake up to that when you are 7. :)

Gabby having some of the "best lemonade ever" in Hudson.

Got to demo the fabulous Madone again today, they called her Ms. Packman. Isn't she pretty?
Tried a smaller size just to make sure I knew what size was best...I
definitely need a 56cm in case anyone needs to know.

At the waterpark in Waterloo, very fun for all of us!

That's my baby boy going down that big scary slide.

I'm thinking he wasn't sure about it...I think it scared the heck out of him but he was too tough to admit it. I know I didn't like it!

We spent the night tonight at Dave's in-laws where they pampered us with real showers and a fabulous dinner. We got the same treatment 2 years ago...this is what RAGBRAI is all about, the Iowans.

RAGBRAI 2010 Day 4

Clear Lake to Rockwell 20.5 Miles

Boy did it storm last night! All that unbearable heat finally let
loose. I was so grateful to be in the motorhome. I looked out the
window once and could tell the tenters were not having a good night.
But luckily there were no evacuations to the nearest shelter! The
girls got completely soaked but they were still bright eyed and ready
to go in the morning. They are RAGBRAI rockstars.

It is just Gabby riding today. I think we burned Gavin out with all
the riding the last 2 days. Plus he was making big strides on his
Mario game and was becoming obsessed....sadly.

Here is Sean getting a little testy about more pictures while we are
trying to get on the road (I asked Stevie to take them!).

The kids trying to wake up Barry....Mooooooooo! See how is tent is leaning to the right...that's from the wind last night!

First stop, breakfast at Farm Bros. which means them most delicious
breakfast burritos ever.....I mean ever. The line looks horrible but
since it was cool and overcast...it was a breeze.

Very excited for my burrito.

Yum. Doesn't that look good?

Badger sighting.

In Swaledale there was an awesome old guy with all of his hand made
machines on display. Classic. The best one was the manure spreader
(of course I had to be told what that is) with an outhouse on top that
said 'for emergency use only.'

The view from the Burley.

We breezed into the meeting town, Rockwell and waited around for Uncle
Stevie to get there. Then he and Meghan switched bikes and they got
to ride the next 31 miles while we drove to the sleepover town,
Charles City.

They had a great time together getting to see all the crazy stuff we do along the route each day.

RAGBRAI 2010 Day 3

Garner to Clear Lake 36.1 miles

Soooo we sagged the first 23 miles today and drove to the meeting
town, Garner. Gabby wanted to take a day off so we just had Gavin.
Amazing how much faster Sean can go without that extra 70 pounds to
haul!

Dave rides the whole day, every day, he never sags...except when his
wheels break..but we won't go into that.

By the time we drove to the meeting town and got the bikes unloaded,
Dave was already there so we rode with him for the rest of the day.
It was a great workout for me keeping up with them! It was fast
riding today since we could go so fast riding in a pack.

First stop was Beekman's Ice Cream....long, hot line.

Waiting in line, nice bike shirt tan Dave.

Can you see the dude watering the corn? He tried to only go in 1 row
deep and everyone yelled at him to go 4 deep! 4 deep is the magic number. This was right next
to us in the ice cream line...ew. PS Men suck because they can do
this so easily.

Phew, the line took about 30 min.

Clear Lake is an awesome little vacation town. But with a 105 degree
heat index today it was hard to enjoy. We dumped Gavin at the pool
with Uncle Stevie and the girls and went back to the motorhome to
figure out why the generator wasn't working (btw you need at least 1/4
tank of gas to run a generator in a motorhome). After filling the
tank, Dave and I parked our butts under the A/C unit until the sun
went down. It was so hot!

Once the sun was down we caught the wonderful, well air conditioned
shuttle to down town for some dinner.

Another downtown Iowa...

We found Barry too.

RAGBRAI 2010 Day 2

Storm Lake to Pocahontas 33.6 Miles

The first town, Varina, was 16 miles out! A very long stretch, and
the lines for food before the town were very long since we got a late
start today. The firehouse had some great omelettes for breakfast...we
got there just as they ran out of all the fixins...but plain cheese
omelettes hit the spot.

The kids compared their pipes after their big omelettes.

Proving once again that I was there.

Lunch was the most juicy, amazing pork tenderloins on a stick.
Seriously, these things were fantastic. The guy selling them laughed
when I said, "cool, meat popcicles!" He laughed again when I came
back for more.

Pocahontas, Iowa is a very welcoming town!

Of course they had their share of tractor bikestands.

Best thing they had was the fireman's slip-n-slide in the middle of the town square. Even Sean had to get in on that action! Nothing like a fire hose powered slip-n-slide!

After a while Uncle Stevie & Meghan picked us up and we drove the next 32 miles to the sleepover town, Algona. We found a great spot next to the pool and had a pretty relaxing evening.

RAGBRAI 2010 Day 1

Sioux City to Washta 40 miles

Stevie was such an awesome help everyday. (Don't worry, we still miss
you George!)

Gavin is ready...

The girls are off! They were back ten minutes later with some
mechanical issues but they didn't let that bust their bubble!

Once we get out of town...the view...it never gets old.

Today Gaby & Gavin took turns on their little road bike the whole day.
They were awesome!

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm our favorite food stop, The PB Jam! It was all about the marshmallow fluff and chocolate chips.

Slip-n-Slide!!! We are always happy to see one of these. A perfect
cool break to the afternoon. It is so funny to watch the adults in spandex on these things!

Proof that I was there too. :)

More views...

Just inside of the meeting town we met Stevie & Meghan by a little
farm animal petting pen some people put up. Fun for the kids but you should have
smelled Gavin's bike gloves when he was finished feeding them with
them on, yuk!

Heloooooo gorgeous...the Trek Madone WSD I mean...not me. This bike was like butta'... like a machine...the most comfortable speedy thing I have ever ridden. It was a beautiful 40 miles. It will break my heart to give it back. Did I mention I am a 56cm...and my birthday is in September?

So we drove the next 28 miles to the Sleepover town, Storm Lake where we hooked up with our friends Team RADPAN (that's Ride All Day Party All Night) and Gabby's buddy Nickki and we managed to get across town to this super cool waterpark. Of course I forgot my suit so I just took a much needed shower while the kids (and Uncle Stevie) played.