Louise Desjardins '76 - 7/22/2009

Sitting in the lobby of the Chariton Middle School watching the sunset blaze mauves and pinks across the western sky we've been pedaling away from for 4 days. The one constant for my first RAGBRAI is the warmth and open-heartedness of Iowans, the same generosity that greeted me on my arrival at Bo Battey's gas and bus station in Grinnell in 1972. Would any other state tolerate 18,000 cyclists of all ages, sizes and abilities on its roads, in its churches, schools, homes and back yards? Is there another state where towns are conveniently separated 10 to 12 miles apart -- the ideal distance for the average rider to pedal in one hour? Is there another event in the U.S. Where the organization is seamless, invisible and apparently lacking in hierarchy?

The beauty and success of RAGBRAI must lie in the constitution of the Iowan. Towit, the Mennonite woman with two daughters selling expertly crafted peach, blueberry, raisin and apple turnovers by the side of the road. The man who volunteers to drive a shuttle from the campground to the town square for hours at a time. The Iowan who discovered RAGBRAI as a teenager and returns repeatedly. The veteran rider from northwestern Iowa with his 7 year old grandson. The woman in her late 50's who's never done anything "athletic" before, but is riding 440 miles across her state.

Maybe it's just the pork and the pie.

Mark Butterman '76 - 7/20/2009

I am riding with 8 friends from the Class of 1976 and with the greater group of all alumni, professors, townies and hangers-on. We had a blast today, starting out with a force of 13,000 riders from Council Bluffs and traveling through rolling farm country through several small towns, all of which were excited to be on the RAGBRAI route this year and who treated us with a warm welcome. We arrived in Red Oak to find our tents set up, our bags unloaded and showers awaiting us. With so little work to do, we've been able to joke away the afternoon under a shady tent. The big event of the afternoon was when a dust devil came along and lifted up a tent and deposited it on a church steeple. The Red Oak Fire Department came along and with their ladders at full extension to "rescue" the tent from the church steeple, which engendered a long epistological discussion on miracles and a few bad puns on por"tent"ious omens.