We were all rookies and didn't really know exactly what to expect. One of the things we had learned early on, was that you had to camp in the overnight towns. Makes sense, because a typical town might have a population of a few thousand, while the horde that makes up RAGBRAI may approach 20,000. To us, camping meant bringing your own food and shelter. In fact, you only have to bring shelter - the towns and travelling vendors provide plenty of food. We figured this out after a few days!

Another thing that we figured out is that there is very large "rolling party" component to RAGBRAI. Here's my amateur sociologist take on this. Most people in the US live relatively close to a coast. In the summertime, when the young people want to get nearly naked, party and get it on, what do they do? They go to the beach (the shore in NJ!). In Iowa, they do the RAGBRAI! Just about every town we passed through had a beer garden and dance floor set up with vigorous activity even early in the morning!

	We've just arrived in Schenectady on July 14. Even though Jeff won't be home for two weeks, Jane has brought him a care package which he's going to deposit in his apartment before we grab a bite to eat.		Here are Jeff and I getting ready to have dinner at the Van Dyke.
	The Van Dyke is also a microbrewery!		Here are Jeff and his friend Lisa on the morning of July 15, just before we load Jeff's gear into the Team Groth van.
	We've just got all of Jeff's gear in the van and closed the door. Now we're ready to load his bike on the rack.		Jane and Jeff are ready to go.
	I'm ready too.		Both bikes are on the rack.
	Our original signs didn't survive the thunderstorms on the first day. They got wet and the airflow sucked them right off the sides of the van. It's the morning of July 16 and we're making new signs in our motel room. This time we laminated them with clear contact paper. They lasted the whole rest of the trip.		Here's one of the new signs. Incidentally, this is just outside of Sandusky, OH.
	We made it to Newtown, Iowa (about 35 miles east of Des Moines) on the second full day of driving. Here, I'm getting ready to do a little celebrating in the motel room.		On Friday, July 17, we continued across Iowa on I80 and I680. The road on the left of this picture is I680. The valley contains the Missouri river somewhere. This is a bit north of Council Bluffs, Iowa and Omaha, Nebraska. From here, we took I29 north to Sioux City where we spent Friday night.
	Jeff and Jane in front of the lookout tower we climbed to take the picture of the Missouri River valley.		On Saturday, July 18, we headed for the start of the ride in Hawarden. They were glad to see us!
	One of the team buses camped next to us in Hawarden. They told us they would be having a martini night at some point during the ride, but we never did spot them in the campgrounds later in the week.		Our tent and, to the right, Jeff's tent in the campground in Hawarden. The campground was a high school athletic field.
	Our kitchen fly and some of the rest of our gear. We had a pretty elaborate camp. As it turned out, it was too fancy to take down and set up every day. By Tuesday evening, we were eating in the food courts and just setting up the tents and some chairs.		Here I am checking out my bike. There's another team bus on the left. On the right, the edge of a church is just barely visible. The church is where we went when the tornado sirens went off about 9pm on Saturday night. We didn't get any tornados, but we did get several violent thunderstorms with lots of rain and high winds. A few tents blew away! Not ours!
	As it turned out, my front wheel was bent (probably I had it strapped too tightly to the rack). So we went over to the high school where the info center, souvenir stands, and mobile bike shops were set up and I got my wheel more or less trued at one of the bike shops. We also bought souvenirs and watched some safety videos in this area.		In "downtown" Hawarden, there was a display set up. Cyclists were invited to sign the map which we did.
	Here's Jane waiting to video tape us dipping our tires in the Big Sioux River. Like most things you might want to do on RAGBRAI, you have to wait in a line before you can do it.		Here are Jeff and I dipping our rear tires in the Big Sioux River which forms the western border of Iowa. On the other side of the river is South Dakota. Tire dipping is a RAGBRAI tradition.
	Back at camp, Jeff and I celebrate with champagne and appetizers. New tents have appeared close behind us. By evening, the field was wall-to-wall tents and support vehicles.		Jane and Jeff also share a toast.
	Ed and Jane have a toast as well.		And also a little kiss.
	Here are few members of Team Bad Boys in Ireton, the first "pass through town" of the first day, July 19. Team Bad Boys carries everything on their bikes, rides from Colorado, rides RAGBRAI, and rides back to Colorado! The bike route came from the left and went down this street. It turns out the pancake breakfast we were looking for was a few blocks farther and to the left.		Here's a view in the opposite direction. It shows a bike park, a cable stretched between two tractors (by the way "Tractor Pull" seems to be some kind of sport in Iowa), and a beer garden. It's not even nine o'clock on Sunday morning and the beer garden is already rocking!
	Somewhere along the road several miles west of LeMars. This view is looking to the west, where we've come from.		Looking to the east where we're going. Note that Iowa's not flat! The "wavelength" is about two miles with big variations (I made some observations on the drive across Iowa). So on a typical 70 mile day, there are about 35 hills.
	Why we were stopped to take the two previous pictures. We wanted to try smoothies. Here's an approximate recipe: Put a peeled banana in your blender. Add a similar amount of chopped strawberries. Add a cup or so of pineapple juice. Fill with crushed ice. Then blend until smooth. Of course, this must be the virgin smoothie, which was being sold along the road. I don't see any reason you couldn't add some rum or vodka!		Here are Jeff and I in LeMars, the ice cream capital of the world. I understand the largest ice cream factory is located in LeMars and they make ice cream for many brand names. In any event, they gave away free ice cream which really hit the spot on a very hot day!
	Cherokee welcomed us after 67 hot, humid, hilly miles. The camp sites were on the grounds of a mental institution. Appropriate?		On the second day, July 20, we stopped in Quimby for breakfast. Jeff is somewhere in there trying to get some of the watermelon that was being given away. Earlier, we passed an intersection where an Iowa State Patrolman was counting riders with hand counter. He shouted "If you want to be first, you have to pass 9,381 other riders."
	Here's the view looking south along the route out of town. Note the flag blowing towards us. Monday's ride was listed as 83 miles. Monday had heat, humidity, hills, and headwinds - the four H's of cycling. Many cyclists sagged.		I visited Pancake Man for breakfast. We eventually learned that Pancake Man was one of the regulars who would be set up along the route each day. Others included Pork Chop Man, Tender Tom's Turkey, Chris' Cakes, Big Daddy's Creole, the Smoothie folks, the Dove Bar folks, etc.
	Here's Jeff, pulling off for a little rest at the top of small hill. Unfortunately, Jeff started the week with a cold and had no training in the heat, so the first couple of days were pretty hard on him. In fact he sagged in Schaller (about 40 miles from the start) on Monday. Temperatures that day got to at least 98 degrees. There were so many sagging, that the regular sag wagon couldn't handle them all. The RAGBRAI folks had to go to Rockwell City and rent a bus and a truck and come back and pick up all the saggers and their bicycles. Jeff made it to Rockwell City only about 20 minutes before I did! After Monday, the weather got better and so did Jeff's cold. By the end of the week, he was zipping up the hills!		The welcoming banner at Rockwell City at the end of probably the hardest day of this year's RAGBRAI.
	Rockwell City's theme was Rock n Roll, but I was too tired to do much Rocking or Rolling. On the way out the next morning, we rode through what had been the beer garden. Wall-to-wall empty beer cups! I guess there must have been a few people that had some energy left after the ride.		Riders arriving in Gowrie on Tuesday, July 21. Note the overcast sky. Thunderstorms threatened a good part of the day, and it was much cooler than the previous two days. In fact, for the rest of the ride, it never got as hot as Sunday and Monday. We had stopped for breakfast at Rinard. Thunderstorms built while we were eating breakfast and we rode through the edge of a storm on the way to Gowrie. We got wet, but the biggest effect was huge tailwinds. It was possible to cruise along at near 30 mph on the flats!
	One of the wierder traditions of RAGBRAI is DRAGBRAI on Tuesday. Here's the DRAGBRAI fashion show in Gowrie. You figure it out.		We saw many unusual bikes. Here's a 6.5 person tricycle. Six riders and a baby in the seat between the two rear wheels. What? You think I should have got more of the tricycle in the picture?
	Tuesday's ride was mostly flat, but there was one BIG hill: Pilot Mound Hill. About two thirds of the way up, my right quads started to burn. So I stopped and took this picture. After a bit I managed to pedal the rest of the way up!		Here's a view of Pilot Mound Hill from the top.
	Jeff at the top of Pilot Mound Hill. A little later we came to the Dove Bar/Lemonade Slush stop and helped a fellow fix his chain. It had come apart going up the hill!		After almost 70 miles we made it to our overnight town, Boone, home of the Boone and Scenic Valley Rail Road and a railroad museum. Here's a working steam engine built in China.
	More of the rolling stock at the railroad museum. The steam engine in this picture looks pretty rusted. I don't know if there are plans for restoration. That's Jeff on the left.		The B&SVRR excursion train returned while we were there. The excursion lasts about two hours (too long for us to try) and the highlight is apparently a spectacular trestle over the same (I assume) valley which one climbs out of on Pilot Mound Hill.
	After fixing up our camp in Boone, we walked to the food court for dinner and found a few photo-ops on the way. I wondered how this sign had the arrow pointed at Boone and if they repainted the sign each day. It was a magnetic arrow!		Here's a good looking team bus.
	I thought this sign was a pretty good description of the entire week!		On the way back from dinner, we wandered into the entertainment area/beer garden to see what was going on. We wound up staying and dancing until it closed (11pm). Here the evening is just getting started. The warm up band is playing. Later we would have the Flying Marsupials and the dance floor you see would be completely packed. A quick glance at the blue shirts and you might think they say Team Bud Ice. Actually, they say Team Butt Ice.
	On Wednesday, July 22, we headed for Eldora, 67 miles away. Jeff's front derailer cable broke shortly after we started. Luckily we found a mobile bike shop set up across the road from a pancake breakfast. Jeff got in the shop line and I got in the breakfast line. His bike was fixed while we had breakfast. The rear derailer cable also needed replacing, but it's a special cable and the shop didn't have it. We found one at the next shop, another eight miles or so down the road. The picture shows the breakfast line. Jeff is in the orange shirt (he's already dropped his bike off at the shop).		Here's the main street of Story City, about 27 miles from the start on Wednesday. This town has Norwegian roots.
	In Story City, donations to Habitat for Humanity were being collected. Donors could sign one of the plywood sheets that are intended to be used as a subfloor in an HH house. The signatures will be visible from the basement. Mine is in the left column about 1/4 of the way up from the bottom.		Ole and Lena - what can I say?
	Story City boasts an antique carousel with hand carved wooden animals. If I remember correctly, it was built in 1913 and moved to Story City in 1939. It was taken out of service in the 1970's and restored in 1982.		Of course, the carousel has the proper organ!
	The carousel is completely enclosed in this building to protect it from the elements.		This couple has a little extra motivation to help them up the hills! I believe this shot was taken in McCallsburg.
	McCallsburg was happy to see us and we were happy to see them. We stopped for a rest and some lemonade here.		Here's Team Groth (Jeff, Jane and Ed) at our camp site in Eldora. The site was just across the road from the high school where we could use the restrooms and showers. One of the two best shower facilities of the whole week.
	On Thursday, July 23, we had the shortest ride of the week (officially 46 miles, I wound up with about 50). Here's Jeff (on the right, I don't know who that is on the left) in Wellsburg where we took a lemonade break.		It's still morning, but the beer garden/disco in Wellsburg is in full swing!
	On Thursday we finally got around to trying a pork chop from Pork Chop Man. The hopper behind the utility pole contains corn cobs which become the fuel being burned in the bottom of the steel box. The pork chops are sandwiched between grills which rest on the top of the box and can be turned over easily.		Here's some of the line of people waiting for pork chops. It turns out Pork Chop Man and his pink bus are a RAGBRAI tradition. This year the bus was rolled and totaled on Sunday evening - nobody was hurt. There were no pork chops on Monday, but Pork Chop Man was back in business on Tuesday. I guess all the vendors know each other. Later we discovered that Tender Tom's Turkey was collecting donations to help replace Pork Chop Man's bus.
	Some of the people eating pork chops. Most were in the shade, but these hearty souls were out in full sunlight next to the road.		Pork Chop Man himself. He collects the money and does his pork chop call. It's pretty much impossible to describe - you have to hear it for yourself!
	On the way into Dike. The flags and the red balloons attached to poles give an idea of the headwinds we had on Thursday. Luckily, it was a short ride.		The beer garden in Dike. Jeff and I stopped for a few beers here. What you're supposed to notice in this picture is the building with the balcony. The next series of pictures were shot from the balcony.
	The beer garden in Dike. Porta-potties on the left and bars on the right. In Iowa, potties are called KYBOs which I'm told stands for "Keep Your Bowels Open."		Another view of Dike. The beer garden is to the upper right, the food court to the lower left and the route through town runs from the lower right to upper left.
	Another view of Dike. The bike park and the route out of town. It seems to be a RAGBRAI tradition that the last "pass through" town of the day is the major party town. (Of course, you have to know what's a town and what isn't - we made the wrong call on Friday and missed the party!) In any case, Dike was the party town on Thursday.		Yet more bicycles in Dike.
	Ambulances patrolled the RAGBRAI route. There were enough minor accidents and cases of heat exhaustion to keep several ambulance crews busy. I didn't hear of any serious problems.		Jeff shows us the alternative to a Kybo.
	Cedar Falls was glad to see us.		The University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls was also glad to see us. In fact, we got to use showers in their gym which were tied with the showers in the Eldora high school for the best showers of the week! We also found a laundromat and did laundry in Cedar Falls.
	Friday's ride to Monticello was listed as 92 miles (but we wound up with 95). We stopped in Monti where the residents had set up food and souvenir stands inside the church. The minister welcomed people to the church. When we came out, the minister was covered in Team Graffiti stickers! I have hardly any pictures of Friday's ride because I was having problems with the camera and running out of film.		Jeff and I decided our priorities for Friday's ride should be 1. to finish, 2. to finish in time to make it to the 8pm Oak Ridge Boys concert at the Great Jones County Fair, and 3. to finish even earlier so we could have a few beers at the last pass through town. We left at 5:45 am and arrived in Monticello at 2:40 pm, satisfying all our priorities, except we figured the party was going to be in Buck Creek, but it was actually in Ryan. I guess Buck Creek (pop. 72) wasn't really big enough to host a party - they barely had a lemonade stand going! Anyway, we went to the Oak Ridge Boys concert, seen in this shot. We enjoyed it and the fireworks afterwards. We also had dinner and rode on the carnival rides at the fair.
	On Saturday, July 25, the ride was 67 hilly miles to Sabula - located on a small island in the Mississippi River. We visited Pork Chop Man again and here is a group of riders at the pork chop stop. The fellow in the white shirt and blue cap at the top of the circle is Chuck Offenburger, Iowa Boy, former Register columnist, and one of the prime movers of RAGBRAI.		Here's Pork Chop Man again. I think in this picture, he's giving his indescribable Pork Chop Holler.
	One of the hills we had to deal with on the last day. The smart vendors would always set up at the top of a hill, not at the bottom of a hill. You don't want to start up a hill right after you've loaded up on food or drink!		I think these guys were required to produce a urine sample.
	We made it to Sabula!		Jeff and I (along with several others) dipping our front tires in the Mississippi River.
	The line at the tire dipping. I'm surprised it wasn't more crowded. I think a lot of riders were running late for meeting rides out of town, so maybe they just skipped the dipping (and even part of the last day's ride). The East Central Middle School had a web page where they asked for email from RAGBRAI riders. I had sent them some and I also found a few middle schoolers in Sabula and said hi.		We found Jane in the Sabula beer garden! She didn't have to find a camp site and set up on the last day. It was the first time since the start of the ride that she could wander around in the town in the afternoon.
	RAGBRAI decorations in Sabula. I think this arch marks the entrance to the ferry that sails to Savanna, Illinois just across the river.		Here are Jeff and Jane headed for the van where we will load the bikes on the rack and start our trip home.
	On the way home from RAGBRAI, we stopped in Tolono, IL, for the 59th annual McCormick-Hilderbrand reunion on July 26. (Jane's maternal grandfather Charles Hilderbrand had 6 children and his sister married a McCormick and had 13 children!) Here I'm giving Jane a ride on a swing. What does this have to do with RAGBRAI? Not much, but Jane is wearing what she thinks is the prettiest RAGBRAI shirt available on the ride!		We made it back to Schenectady by Monday evening. On Tuesday morning, July 28, we unloaded Jeff's gear.
	Jeff and I say goodbye after a good adventure!		Jane back in Lawrenceville, ready to videotape some of the unloading (which went on all the rest of the day - fortunately, most of it was not taped!).
	Here I am back in Lawrenceville. RAGBRAI XXVI is over for us. It was quite an adventure. We thank all the people who helped us, especially Mary Kay Rhodes, a RAGBRAI veteran, who showed us the ropes early on.