RAGBRAI! - long

[MomOnBike]

Thanks for the good words, guys. I'll try to answer the questions, more or less in order.

Yep, Denver, Iowa. It was a pass-through town on the 5th day, about 18 miles from Cedar Falls. As I recall, it called itself the ""Mile-Wide" town. (As opposed to the more famous Mile-High City of Denver, Colorado)

Thanks for the good words, Road Raven. I enjoyed writing it up. Yes, it was offically a wine tasting, so we didn't get very much, but it was very good wine. Or I think it was good, I'm not sure I was much of a judge at that point. The venison was meat the guy had in his freezer - probably deer that had feasted on his corn fields. He cut it up in small chunks, rolled it in seasoned flour and deep fried it. Corn-fed venison is pretty darn tasty.

Hammer, you can do RAGBRAI on your own, and many people do, but it really is easier to use a charter company. We went with Pork Belly Ventures. (Drat! their website doesn't seem to be responding, but they should Google up nicely.) They really helped during the week. They scouted out campsites, had evening events, including a concert by The Elders, had mechanics available in the evenings, and just generally made life easier. We didn't go with the option, but they have a tent service, where you can rent a tent and they'll set it up and throw your duffel inside. They also do your laundry in the middle of the week. We're glad we spent the extra money.

Other people rent/own a bus/RV/whatever, and have someone drive support for them. We met a Dad who had been conned by his son into driving support. As far as I could tell from him, support drivers have a bunch of fun, too. At any rate, he was a great dinner conversationalist.

As for lines, well, lines happen, especially with 10 thousand or so people needing the same thing at more-or-less the same time. They aren't all bad, some of the more interesting conversations I had were in lines waiting for toilets. Pork Belly has a device they call a Shower Thingy which is basically a table with shower heads on hoses attached. You haven't LIVED until you strip down to pants and bra and take a cold, open-air shower with a bunch of men you don't know. More (ahem) civilized showers, with towel rental, were also available. I kind of preferred the Shower Thingy. DH definately did.