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Every year since 1973 a traveling city has magically invented itself on the west side of Iowa and over the next week citizens of this city test themselves by riding bicycles across the state of Iowa. (They have been likened to a plague of locusts.)
RAGBRAI is limited to 8,500 week-long riders and 1,500 day riders. There is a lottery to get tickets. That is a city of 10,000
The route changes every year and the riders are supported by a lot of people. These folks set up camp grounds and drive buses and cars and carry supplies.
There are individuals and families and groups who organize themselves into teams.
This year they stopped in Ames and I went out and took some photos to share. You can embigggen them by clicking on the pictures if you wish.
The central camp grounds are out in the area around the Cyclone Stadium. Lots of people.
They seem to party their way across the state.
One of our Masons, Ken Smith has been riding RAGBRAI for about 30 years. He is now 83 and still riding. Congratulations Ken. You are braver than I.
Groups of cyclists can be found all over the city. You have to drive a bit more carefully.
They held a Band Concert at our Band Shell - I am not sure how many Ragbrariers were there but there were a lot of folks gathering in the park for the concert.
This man and his son were collapsed across the corner. It was a little hot but not really to bad. If you look at the clouds in the picture you can see that it is a beautiful day. They should sleep well tonight it is 73 degrees at 10:15 PM as I am writing this.
In other news, I just heard from Jon. He went to Minnesota today to go to an Amusement Park. Valley Fair. He wanted to get out of town for Ragbrai. He had a great time and is just starting back. He really likes some of the rides. I think he said that he rode "The Wild Thing" five times.
He said that the place was full of teeny boppers who have season passes. He didn't look at them too much as they were to young for him
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I went to see Journey to the Center of the Earth tonight. I was supposed to go to a York Rite Practice but it was canceled due to not many people being able to be there. I enjoyed it. The star is Brendon Frasier and I have always enjoyed him. I was kind of surprised that he reminded me of Someone that I know. (Except my friend is better looking) They have some of the same mannerisms. I know this is not really a movie that a lot of adults will go to but you know it was very well done. Almost believable. I would recommend it. Some of the kids in the theater applauded when the movie was over.
A sad note Estelle Getty died today. She was one of the Golden Girls and really was a mainstay of the show. I got rather sad when I think that she had to suffer from dementia towards the end. She was so talented and worked so long and hard to get into show business. Diane has a nice tribute to her at Forks. Click here to Read.
Barak Obama is in the Middle East. I got tears in my eyes when I saw the faces of the troops greeting him.
For the first time in 8 years I have hope for my country. I found this on the Daily Kos. There is more there.
So that is it for today. Except for mone more thing it turns out that Jalapeno peppers are the cause of the health crisis in this country. I knew there was a reason I didn't eat them. Remember - "It is nice to be important but it is much more important to be nice." Be loving, Hugs, jcs
2 comments:
But there are much more civilized ways to enjoy the out of doors with 10,000 or more of your best friends. For example, drive your bike (one with a motor) to a nice scenic place (e.g. Sturgis SD, the first full week in August is the preferred time), pitch your tent in a campground with 10,000 or so other similarly civilized citizens, go out every day to share the windy roads with the 400,000 others who are mostly in other campgrounds or motels, then return to the campground at night to enjoy the concerts, the beverages, and the nightime scenery (which is often every bit as entertaining as the daytime scenery, just with a more adult theme). You can still enjoy fresh air, rain, hail, hot sunny days, cool evenings, mud, dust, and fast food, and do it all without the agony of destroying your leg muscles pedaling. Plus you only have to pitch your tent once.
Last month it was positively tomatoes that were at fault. Now it is Jalapenos. Remember that several years ago margarine was the new preferred food over butter. Now it turns out that butter is actually better for you. Eggs were a certain path to an early death. Now they are recommended again. We were told that the lard used to fry french fires was deadly. So we all forced McDonalds and others to switched to tasteless oil, complete with transfats. Of course, since it wsa so tasteless, they had to add battering so the potato strips would soak up enough tasteless fat to have some taste. And the calorie count and the body mass index all went up. It's all a matter of a balanced diet. Jalapenos alone are not enough. If they are properly combined with Tequila in your stomach, balance is achieved and the e. coli doesn't have a chance.
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