Company is gone

Hello,

Leroy is still home. I had been hoping that he would be able to ride the last day, but he just came back from a five-mile bike ride and is very tired. So he will rest some more tomorrow. He his over the sickness, but he has no energy. We know several people who have had something like this so it is now labeled the flu at our house.

These biking people are so used to staying at different homes that they just make themselves at home. Mostly they sat around in the backyard visiting or went down to the square.

Unfortunately it rained at 3:30 a.m. with a little hail thrown in. The lightening was brief so that was ok too. It had mostly stopped by 5:30 or 6:00. Many people were up and riding shortly after that.

Leroy, Carolyn (my sister), Gerald (brother-in-law), and I headed off to see the riders get out of town. We were almost through the square when a guy on a bike came up and said, “I will pay you to take my bags to the truck for transportation.”

“I want to see the riders go out of town,” I said, “I will not do it.”

Leroy said, “I will do that, but I have to go home and get the car.” We three walked off and left him making plans to get the job down.

At the side of the rode I became a one-woman send off as I waved, shouted “Good-bye”, and “Have a nice day”. The man standing next to me started waving and shouting “Be Careful”. Many riders waved and shouted, “Thanks, Good-bye Chariton”. I accepted the thanks even though I had not really done that much. I thought it was fun.

It was great that my sister’s family could be here for this exciting time in town. It is something to see a few thousand riders stream silently by. They just keep coming long after you think almost everyone must be gone.

Leroy commented that not so many people had come out to watch the riders unlike the first year that we rode in RAGBRAI when it seemed that most of the population sat in lawn chairs watching the parade of bikes going by. They would also clap and cheer. It was great.

Paula