Daphne nodded, but didn't say much. You see, RAGBRAI had been a big deal to Daphne and her mother. My mother-in-law, Deb Gay, had ridden seven RAGBRAIs in a row - no easy feat - and Daphne had accompanied her mom on parts of two of those rides. Deb had passed away the last July, and the loss was still too raw. I think it still is.
Come June, Daphne had decided that RAGBRAI was within our capabilities, and so we started training. When her mom was training for RAGBRAI, Deb would ride a minimum of 500 miles. We rode four 25-mile rides and one 30-mile long trip, so we thought we were in shape for Wednesday's 38-mile route:
On Tuesday morning we pointed our cars north. My car had all the bike stuff, and Daph's car held everything else. We arrived at my grandmother's farm around three o'clock.
A little back story: although Grandma lived on the farm for more than sixty years, raised four children there and countless crops, she doesn't live there anymore. Sadly, her age will not allow it. The farmhouse now sits empty most of the time. Last year Grandma had all the windows replaced, and the house was sided, too. Although she rarely visits her farmhouse, she won't let it go. I think she hopes, and I do too, that someday she'll be able to die there.
I called Grandma last month and asked we could stay there so we could ride the Forest City to Mason City route, and she was really excited. Getting to visit "the farm" was always a highlight when I was a kid, and I wanted to share that with Charlotte. Plus, I was aching to get the farm myself, it's not everyday you get an excuse to visit an empty house filled with 45 years of memories. I bet a lot of people moved away from their early childhood home like I did, but this place has been a constant in my life. The farm doesn't really change.
Considering the high temps on Monday and Tuesday, I figured the farmhouse would be an oven, but the keys Grandma mailed me opened a door to a very comfortable kitchen. Obviously, the window and siding guys knew their stuff. A quick pass with the vacuum cleared all the dead ladybugs from the carpet, and all was well. I brought a fan, but Grandma's air conditioner wall unit had cooled the main floor within an hour. Sweet!
We drove both cars along the bike route, and then planted Daphne's empty car along a street near a RAGBRAI camping ground in Mason City. Then we headed back to Forest City for some RAGBRAI dinner, and then drove back to the farmhouse to get some sleep. Charlotte loooooved the farmhouse. She bounced on the beds upstairs and found markers and a Santa coloring book up there, too. She couldn't have been happier: she's so excited Hobby Lobby is already in full Xmas swing (barf). I was just excited because Char would also have fun memories of Grandma's farmhouse.
We got Char to bed around 8:30, but unlike a hotel, we had another room to go to and hang out in the light. Unlike a hotel, we didn't have any WI-FI. Or cable. Grandma had a VCR hooked up to her TV, but since I left my VHS movies back in 1993, it wasn't much help. I turned on the TV in vain, anyway. Nothing. My laptop was also rendered worthless.
Luckily, I brought a book. One of my best friends had recently dropped off a few items at our house while we were walking to Casey's to get some ice cream. In the stash was a book I won't name by title because it's going to be a gift for another good friend of mine who reads this blog. By page 26, I was wholly sucked in. Daphne had a book, too, and we read side by side at the kitchen table for two hours. I plugged in the microwave to make some popcorn, and I found a pair of bowls in a cupboard. Without talking, we munched and read. Around ten thirty we went to bed and fell asleep to the sound of crickets. It was one of he best nights of this summer.
Without the internet available, it was like my body had hit a reset button. Instead of checking my email that morning, I checked the sunrise. I took a few pictures standing barefoot in the dewy grass. Char and Daphne weren't up yet.
Although the morning weather was perfect, I was still worried. A twenty five ride with a three-year-old wasn't the same as a forty mile ride. What if the bikes failed? What if we had a flat tire? What if Char got sick? What if it got too hot? What if Daph or I got sick? What if... the questions and the worst case scenarios could go on forever, so enough of that junk. We wanted to be on the road by 7:30. Time to get a move on. The rest would have to take care of itself.
By 8:10 we were actually ready to hit the road. Not bad.
The night before in Forest City someone had given Charlotte an American flag bandanna, and she wanted to wear it for the ride.
Char got a bad case of "shy girl" about ten minutes into the ride. I can't say that I blamed her. She was basically riding in a box that was hovering about six inches off the ground, and about every 12 seconds some kind rider would peer into the box from above and ask, "Are you having fun in there?" If you think about it, that would be pretty intimidating. So, for about 30 minutes, Char hid underneath her blanket.
We stopped after an hour of riding for a snack, and she warmed up after that. The blanket was forgotten.
So far I had learned the warnings, "Bike On", "Bike Off", "Bike Up", "Car Up", "Car Back", and "Slowing", but many people were surprised to hear "Stopping!" We had to walk the last half mile to Venutra.
Ventura was pretty busy.
But I was able to snag a skinless, smoked brat and a hard boiled egg. I'm all about protein. Char didn't like the brat, but she ate my whole egg. Little stinker.
Next was the ride to Clear Lake. Char was pumped to find a park. The whole goal (besides actually riding a day of RAGBRAI) was to make sure Char had fun.
I had all these choices for food, and I picked a chili dog. I'm so predictable.
While Mom went to get a walking taco (her favorite), I hung out with Char, and we took pictures. She posed for this one.
And she took these with her camera.
Then Mom came back.
As a side note, I bet whoever threw this Schwinn Traveler bicycle against a dumpster in December of 2010 wouldn't have ever guessed it would be riding a full day of RAGBRAI four years later.
I was so proud of the Traveler. I swear he was beaming as we pulled into Clear Lake.
Then it was off to Mason City. It was cool when other riders would recognize how much work Daphne was putting in. We heard several people yell, "Go Mom!" at her.
The above two photos were sent to me by a RAGBRAI rider who was kind enough to use his smart phone to take the pictures, record Daphne saying what my email address is, and sending the pics right away. Thanks Daniel!
After Char woke up she was really crabby, so we went into town to get her some food. We call this "feeding the monster". Mango on a stick did the trick.
Before I knew it, our trip was done. The three of us had completed the 38 miles between Forest City and Mason City. I couldn't believe it. We had a perfect day. We didn't have high wind, high heat, or high hills. We just had fun.
After finding Daphne's car, I started to break the bikes down and fold the Burley up. To get everything into Daph's car, I had to fold the passenger's side rear seat down, and I spotted this underneath the seat cushion. It's been there for almost a year.
Let's zoom in.
No wonder everything worked out so well...
It's never just the three of us.
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