Today Ragbrai rolled through our little town. We knew that it was coming, but did not realize the magnatude until it happened. I have known about this Ride Across Iowa for many years, since it began, really. It has in fact come before, in 1998. Wow, have things changed since then! Wow! Did I say, Wow? Larry and I went up town to see what was happening. This was shortly before 8 a.m. I meant to wake up earlier to go riding my bike, but alas, did not make it up by 6 a.m. Anyway, when we got up there, it was already hopping. There were more vendor stands than I expected. Somewhere I read 27 in all. That in itself involves a lot of people! As we stood there, the bikers were coming in. Some were buying, some kept on going, some just wanted a cup of coffee. (which no one seemed to have at the time, but went and made some soon after.) Why no one had thought to make coffee is beyond me. We should all know that there are always people who drink coffee, warm weather or not! I hope that woman that asked me about it got to have a cup. Then there were many visits I got to have with the riders as they walked their bikes, parked their bikes, or put them behind a bush or under a tree. The main shock to me was the average age of the riders. I talked to one of the support vehicle drivers and was told that the average age this year was about 54.2 Wow, not too far from my age group. Amazing! And good news. We heard that 2 riders had gotten hit by a car leaving Lake View or Auburn, I can't remember which for sure. The entire day is a jumble of memories right now. Perhaps I will be able to get it straight in my mind and this story later on. I stood there watching in total Awe as the various riders came in, stayed a while, or left. The people I connected with were respectful, polite, and very willing to have a conversation along the way. There was more sweat than I have seen in my Lifetime so far! As we watched the people milling around, I glanced up at the clock near the Bank. It was already 78 degrees shortly after 8. It was going to be a hot one as everyone predicted. I had thought to grab my camera, but when I went to take a picture the first time, blah, no SD card! I had left it in my laptop. So, home I went to get the card and get back to get some photos. I wish I had thought to get a photo with some of the people we talked to. Hindsight! I am not much of a person to get into a crowd, but I have to say I was flabbergasted and enthralled. Since dh and I have been riding our bikes for a while now and are riding somewhere between 6 and 10 miles 2 to 3 times a week, I began to feel a kinship of sorts with the folks as they entered town and stopped for a while. I am still in a bit of an euphoria from the entire day! As the day went on, more riders came. Then more, then more. Pretty soon they were 4 or 5 deep walking their bikes down the street! It was a sight to see. A good one. Every person I talked to was polite and respectful and seemed genuinely glad to be there and to talk to us. I did finally get some good pictures, and so thought I would share one of them here. I will probably get some more posted soon. Probably on Facebook. For now, it is late and I need to get some rest. I am a tired woman! Encouraged, reved up and happy. Maybe riding across Iowa should be on my Bucket List that I plan on writing soon. Goodnight all.
Just before 8 o'clock last evening the Tornado warning went off. It seemed like it sounded for forever. We did not know if a Tornado was coming or not because of the change in the Warning system a while back. So, we turned on T.V. network channels, no news of the storm yet. A few minutes later, they started scrolling what was going on. It said that it was a storm warning with winds of possibly as fast as 70mph. We ran around looking out of windows to see what was happening. In such a short time to see the weather change rapidly was a sight to see. My husband was watching out our east window when we heard a terrific cracking sound. He saw this branch fly through the air after breaking off. It went about 15 ft. before it landed, just brushing against the tin roof of our garage on the way by. No real damage was done. Just lots and lots of cleanup. A few minutes after this happened ad dh went to the front of the house to see what was happening there. He heard another loud cracking noise and then a clump, screeching sound. Yep, another tree hit. He got there just in time to see the two major branches of this tree break off, hit the roof, and end up on our large window air-conditioner. We have not used this air conditioner since putting in central air a couple of years ago, thank goodness. We spent the entire morning cleaning up branches, limbs, leaves and other debris. Last night after the main part of the storm moved through, we were able to drive around town to see the damage. It was a mess everywhere. I have a feeling it was more than straight winds, but cannot prove it. There are places out in the cornfields that are like crop circles with the corn flattened in a circular area and the rest of the area is flattened. You decide, I cannot. This tree branch down does not look nearly as large in the photo as it was. Dh had to get the chain saw and trim the downed branches so that they would fit in the back of our pickup. We made 4 trips to the burn pile north of town before we got finished. Then raked and cleaned up the rest of the debris. I just learned that some folks had trees break clear off. I am sure the dry conditions contributed to the damage. The fields around are a total loss. What the drought did not get, the storm did. I doubt they will have a crop now. Corn laying flat to the ground cannot be good. The corn was so dry from no rain that it was an easy target for the wind and rain. We only got about a half inch of rain total, but there was a lot of run off that did not get counted, I am sure. We were glad Hunter had not had a sleep over at our house. I would have been much more scared had he been here. We would have spent time in the basement, for sure. We had a bad storm go through last summer when our other grandson was here, and that made me a basket case. I don't worry so much about myself, but when they are here, it is frightening. This time I was smart enough to know to grab my purse and medicine, and the flashlight and to be ready to hide if need be. Oh, and I got my shoes on as soon as I heard the sirens. Can never be too prepared. I will have to make up an emergency kit to have down there waiting. Have always meant to do that, but have never done it. Bottled water, bandaids, etc. That is it for now. What a night!
