The Ozark Cycling Photographer: Ragbrai 2010: July 29, Day Five

Note: Click on photos to enlarge.

Today we headed due south of Charles City to Clarksville, then through New Albion, Parkersburg, Stout and Dike. End of the day found us in Waterloo.
I met a group of European riders today. Two were from Italy, one from Germany.
Ran across Karla in the town of Parkersburg. She and Jason had gotten separated. Told her to stay put, and I'd see if I could find him. The plan was if separated, to wait at the beginning of the next town. So I rode back through town, finally found Jason. Is a bit of a challenge, when there are thousands and thousands of bikes.

I ride with shoes that clip into the pedals, so I don't wear them inside since they could scratch a floor (there is a cleat on the bottom that locks into the pedal). I find sandals very comfortable for summer riding.

My morning routine. I brought a container of powdered GatorAid. I carry 2 water bottles on my bike. Each morning I'd fill them with water, add the GatorAid to one. I carried a couple of zip lock bags with the GatorAid powder with me, so I could make a couple more during the day. There is no problem finding drinks on the route, usually $2 for a 16 ounce GatorAid. Last year, did find one town selling it for $3, but another had 32 ounce for $2. Guess I was being a tight wad. Yes, I know, you are supposed to support the towns you ride through, but I had my share of pancakes, waffles, pie, pizza, burritos, watermelon, etc. from the locals.

Our over-night host, Mrs Johnson, came out to see us off.

Heading out for what became a long day of riding.

Lajunta did a photo of the Johnson's before she left. Mr Johnson had broken his ankle the day before we arrived in a freak golf cart accident.

The photo above and below are at the sight of an accident that took the life of a rider. The victim was 68 year old Stephan Briggs from Waverly IA. The reports I heard, was that Mr Briggs' bike tire touched the tire of another rider, causing him to wreck. Once that happens, it's hard to not crash. Below is an air evac helicopter that transported Mr Briggs to an area hospital, where he passed away. He was wearing a helmet.

A fellow Razorback fan!

Cooking up breakfast.

Iowa's first yellow fire truck.

Jason riding in an area under water. Was a change of scene after miles and miles of corn fields.

Iowa grass is really, really soft. Not sure they have rocks.

Medical assistance for those with minor problems...sunburn, blisters, etc.

See the grooves in the road? You'll find those a couple hundred yards before a stop sign. As riders approach those, they shout out a warning, "Rumbles!!!!". If you hit those very fast, it will jar your teeth out. Could even bend a rim on your bike.

Dill pickle on a stick.

Another piece of pie!

Lajunta stopped and toured, "The Little Brown Church in the Vale". Lots of history here, check out the link:
http://www.littlebrownchurch.org/

Nearing the town of Parkersburg. It was hit by a major tornado a few years ago. More on that later.

The "SAG Wagon"...SAG is for "support and gear". If you break down either mechanically or physically, you can catch a ride to next over-night town.

Enjoyed visiting with these folks.

Notice something here. This is an old town, lots of older homes, lots of trees.

Photo above and below. This is where the tornado came through. Notice there are no trees and the houses are new. Read a news report below the next photo.

from

From www.mahalo.com:

A tornado about a mile wide ripped through Parkersburg and surrounding towns in Iowa on Sunday, May 25, 2008, killing seven people and injuring 67 in Parkersburg.
The tornado struck between 5:30 and 6:15 p.m., moving across the towns of Aplinton, New Hartford, Waterloo and Dunkerton then bearing down on Parkersburg which suffered the brunt of the storm.
Most of Parkersburg has some damage but the southern half of town was devastated by the tornado. Homes, banks, the high school and restaurants were destroyed.
Final assessment of the tornado rated it a low EF-5, with estimated wind speeds up to 205 mph.
On May 28, 2008 it was announced that all of the town's records were lost in the storm. Computer backups may be salvageable, but official's first priority, it was said, is organizing the massive clean-up and reconstruction effort.

This fellow seemed to be enjoying taking a photo.

Veggie pizza, yummy!

Can someone explain this? A field of corn, but there are four rows of shorter corn, then a row of taller corn. This pattern continued for whole field.

Jason met a young man who attended the same university where he graduated. UMR stood for "University Missouri Rolla". It's now known as "Missouri University of Science and Technology".

Kids standing by the road getting "high 5's". If the parents knew how nasty those riding gloves get, they should probably get out the Germ X wipes....lol

Photo above and below. This pleasant lady was 83 years old and doing the whole ride!

On hot days, some towns have sprinklers set up if you want to cool down.

John Deere tractors welcome us to Waterloo. The tractors are manufactured in Waterloo.

I had a little miscommunication with Lajunta today. Her text message was a little vague, on the directions to our over-night host. The location was a few miles before the end of the day's route. But I missed the turn off. Cell phone connections were unreliable, but finally figured out where she was. We had to back-track, probably rode and extra 5 or 6 miles. Not a big deal, unless you've already ridden 85 miles for the day. I used a quote from the movie, "Blazing Saddles", to apologize to Karla and Jason for taking them on a wild goose chase, I told them that Lajunta and I were "just simple folk, people of the land, you know, morons".