Feel free to start singing the Abba tune "Waterloo" right now. I've tried getting it out of my head, and have been entirely unsuccessful.
Today was a longer day: 82 miles advertised, 86 in reality. Which is fine-I like biking long distances. But within the first 2 miles, I encountered Chat Man. You know, the guy who just wants to talk about anything and everything just to hear himself talk. Nothing is ever in-depth, and you find yourself wishing for some route to escape, but there was none for about 10 miles. Because the first 10 miles were downhill and easy, he had no trouble keeping up with me as I was getting warmed up for the day. Finally, we encountered some hills and i was able to ditch him.
Today's first stop was Clarksville. Clarksville is the home of the first yellow fire truck in all of Iowa. Yes, the entire town was this exciting...
After leaving Clarksville, we headed towards Stout. Stout's motto should have been "We're not even going to try!" So, I didn't stop
Soon I began to see signs for Parkersburg. Parkersburg is a town knit together by tragedy. Two years ago, half the town was obliterated by an F-5 tornado. Then, a year later, a student gunned down the high school football coach. When I biked into town, the first person to say hello to me, and chat with me for more than 5 minutes was the mayor. He was very grateful that his town was chosen to be on the RAGBRAI route. It was really cool to watch him talk with people who had come into town. When I turned the corner into town, the Lions Club was tallying up people from different states. I was proud to represent Idaho in the tally, bringing the total up to 37 states represented at RAGBRAI. I'm sure all 50 are here.
After biking through old town, there was a definite shift to new houses and developments. It's too bad that when something is destroyed, the first instinct is to put up crappy styrofoam Corey Barton-esque homes. I stopped in at the Lutheran Church and had a slice of pie, and went on my way.
Next stop? Dike!
Dike very awesomely recognized the full potential of their town's name. I got a nice "I biked through Dike" picture, although I opted not to buy the T shirt. Dike routed us through a neighborhood, which was very neat. Families were gathered on their front yard to say hello to and cheer on RAGBRAI riders.
After Dike, we went to Hudson. While the town itself was none to exciting, they did earn valuable bonus points for the theme "Pirate Island!" I got some neat pirate ship photos, but somehow missed out on the pirate tattoos that were advertised.
The day ended in Waterloo. I still haven't explored Waterloo-that's the next order of business. But there is supposed to be a Beatles tribute band, which should be fun.
Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for more updates!
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