Day One of Ragbrai XXXV
Rock Rapids to Spencer
This was our wonderful host family in Rock Rapids. We met Faith in 1999 and she wanted us to come back and stay again this year. We had a great barbecue and a fun time - it was if we had never left. What a great time we had again in Rock Rapids.
Lacey - our RV Driver took this picture on top of the RV across from Faith's house in Rock Rapids, of all the bikes going by. From 5:30 am - 9:30 am you would be able to see bikes going by on their way to Spencer, Iowa. Fifteen thousand bike riders rode across Iowa this year.
OOOOOPs....... We were all ready to get on our bikes and go when someone yells out the dreaded words "FLAT TIRE". One nice thing about the dogs, is when anyone needs help, everyone comes over to help out with the problem. NO Dogs left behind - We are a team and our team stays together and helps each other.
AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGG - As you can see, another flat tire with another person helping out. We all care about each other and as I said before - we all help out. Of Course TD is the fastest tire remover in the world. He's in the Guinness World Book of Records (Page 1036, second paragraph down).
Finally everyone is ready for the road. This is what we all have waited for, for the past year. We have a whole week to ride with these great people and we are anxious to get started so here we go!
For those of you who don't know this person, well let me introduce you to our Fearless Leader. This is TD (Tour Director) Now you can see why we are such a fun group. Look at that face - how can you not love being in his group. He makes everyday fun!!!! Every Night, he will come to everyone's tent just to tuck us all in and say good night and tell each one of us that he loves us.
Sorry - Picture out of order - Here we are after our Team Picture with the Host Family. We are just breaking up to go across the street and get on our bikes to start the day's ride to Spencer, Iowa. As you can see, it is real hard to leave our host families because we have so much fun.
Here are the RedDog Angels. From left to right: AmyDog from New York, DraftQueen from Florida, and LouDog from Canada. That is SaltyDog just behind DraftQueen.
This is what it is all about..... on the road with your bike and riding with the Dogs. This picture tells the story.
Hydration Stations - Dogs stop at all of these hydration stations along the way. We Dogs are all social people. If there is a conversation going on, there will be a dog in the conversation. If there is a person to meet, there will be a dog introducing themselves to that person.
From left to right: Semi (California), Wabbit (Atlanta), Woody (Colorado). If there is one thing you can say about the RedDogs, is that we come from all over the United States and beyond. Here are three of the nicest dogs you can meet.
RedDogs have been known to Dance when needed. This party needed to be spiced up a little so the girls decided to take on the challenge. DraftQueen, and LoneStar started to shake their thang.
SaltyDog, Semi, Haus, Jr, Woody, RoadRunner all enjoying the girls dancing up on the table.
Haus, Woody, ButtDr., Wabbit, Juice. We are all talking about how great it is to be on this ride and know that we have a whole week of being together.
More to come as new pictures come in!