Hot, Hot, Hot and Ready to Ride

Reporting from Missouri Valley, Iowa where it is typically hot, but it is not raining so that is good.

We left Le Claire, Iowa, on our charter bus this morning in the rain but it cleared up 20 miles down Route 80. We (Bob, Sally, and I) found what we hope to be a decent place to set up our tents, but I am not holding out much hope for a good night's sleep because the trains run very regularly through Missouri Valley and sound their whistles the whole way!

We walked through the downtown area, ate a good dinner at the Catholic church (turkey and noodles with mashed potatoes and corn, all mixed in one bowl). And of course there was pie for dessert, so I had a delicious piece of raspberry. We listened to the band outside of the beer garden and then found a great deal on Gatorade at a convenience store. We toured the vendor area and there is one RAGBRAI t-shirt that I like which I may buy later in the week if it is still available.

And on an unrelated note, I see that Greg Norman is leading the British Open after 3 rounds!!! This is wonderfully exciting. I wish him good luck for tomorrow. What an amazing win that would be for him.

Jim was in Buffalo with his Mom for a graduation party for the son of a cousin. They had a good time. Corey was working on the Salmon River, near Watertown, and had a good experience with that and is now in SU with his running buddies.

My time is up for using this computer so I will sign off. Iowa Telecom provides this trailer full of computers and phones for free all week. They usually position themselves in one of the small towns mid-way through the day's ride and then again in the overnight town. So hopefully I can update this blog regularly.

Hope all is well.