Thursday July 15, 2010 3:55 pm- original post flat tire on trailer...

As we are visiting and passing the mile markers of Iowa...I hear a weird noise and say "what is that noise?"  Turns out, we have a flat tire on the trailer.  Some of the bikes were loaded onto the trailer with all the gear attached, to allow more room in the van for people.  Needless to say, the weight of the loaded bikes was a bit much for the suspension of the trailer...leading to a mess.

I believe someone has a photo of the tire (shredded) and if it shows up I will see if I can add it here.
Here is the photo I was thinking of...very sad.

Thursday July 15, 2010 2:36 pm-original post Picking up Al in Des Moines

On our way to Des Moines we make another stop to air up the tires at exit 201.  As you might imagine, with 2 drivers and 7 passengers...sometimes rounding everyone up at a stop takes a while. :-)

We make it to Des Moines and take exit 136 to pick up Al who has ridden from home to meet us by the interstate.  Thanks Al!  Sorry no photo to insert here.

Thursday July 15, 2010 at 12:12 pm original post-Leaving Iowa City

Mike (from Lawrence, KS), Jim and Shauna (from Bagdad, KY) arrived last night.  Jeff (from Jacksonville, IL) drove in this morning.  We all decend upon Lauree and Toby's home to head out of town.  Our trusted drivers Pat and Steve are in attendance and ready to help load all the bikes for the journey west.

Tom, Michelle and Ella along with Jo and Marty are also on deck helping out and well wishes and last minute words of wisdom. Jo passes out party favors and numerous travel items for the trip. A bottle of champagne is opened and a toast is made...

It appears the van tires need air...so we stop on our way out of town. The air compressor we use does not do the job as well as we had hoped...and we get started anyway.

IOWA CITY!!!!! Deadwood

Tailwinds today! Solon...

Ely now

Oh...and Matt hit a skunk...and then Lauree hit the skunk...yikes!

Met Matt (from CR in Walker)who is familiar with the trail through CR. So we came in on the trail and are now in Cedar Rapids...going to find cover here

Center Point

Walker...Pickle Days!!!

When we connected with RAGBRI we have had Al sightings...Jeff left us on Tuesday, this morning we said good-bye to Jim and Shauna

Brandon. Bridge out on trail, county roads and some headwinds...

La Porte City on the paved trail.

Raining here...hanging with houseful of friends...

Gilbertville

Waterloo

Cedar Falls at Toads

Finchford now.

Beautiful paved trail (with some shade) to Shellrock. :-)

Clarksville

Greene...where the documentary 'King Corn' was filmed.

Marble Rock. Beautiful!

And Team Slackers...

Roadside with Team Bad Boys

Have been to Thornton, through Swaledale and now in Rockwell

Hot! Klemme, hot, hot ,hot!

Oops...forgot to tweet in Wesley...now in Britt. Going off route for a while

Algona great band playing!

Whittemore...fun day, like old home day...running into people from all over!

West Bend

Plover

Pocahontas....forgot to tweet in Vienna

I was interviewed earlier today and may be in the press citizen

Storm Lake

Quinby. Earlier...didn't post

Check this twitter
Brian,s blogging for the pc at
Twitter at morelliragbrai

Check this twitter
Brian,s blogging for the pc at
Twitter at morelliragbrai

Tweet..Wasta

We are on RAGBRAI now...

Kingsley

N Sioux City...IOWA

Jefferson

My 3rd flat today...I think the problem has been found.

Elk Point

Burbank.

Vermillion. Tweet tweet...

Meckling. Toby and Lauree are smokin' down the road and have advised the rest of us to take a different route.

Gaysville.

In Yankton...literally rolled bikes into motel before large storm.

when we were dropped off because Al is carrying a computer...honestly I have been too focused on riding/hydrating/sleeping to do much more than what is here.

My apology for the slim blog...it was a concern of mine when I agreed to do the blog...if I would have energy and access to internet. I sent the computer home

Tabor....and we have hit the half way (500 miles) mark of the ride

Hot, bubblin' hot, hot, hot.
Happy hour...cool cocktails...

Some of us stopped for a spell a couple miles west of Tyndall...now we are in Tyndall

Tweet...tweet

HEADWINDS...Avon

Wagner...century day for a couple of us. We stop now.

Pickstown

Nice shoulder on hwy 18

So close to Nebraska, I decided to add it on

Fairfax

Bonesteel

St. Charles...

Herrick...sun is shining.

Burke...Burke Bulldogs it looks like.

Gregory is where we had hoped to get to last night.

In Gregory now...love the towns close together!

We came back together in Colome. In Dallas now...sky is starting to clear and with that said...the air is rather moist.

We came back together in Colome. In Dallas now...sky is starting to clear and with that said...the air is rather moist.

The weather channel told us yesterday we would have some tailwinds...in Colome now and I would not call that tailwinds. Looks like rain.

r and get an early start in the morning.

The sky does not look happy. 4 went ahead with the goal of Gregory (although we heard they were slowed with a flat) and 3 of us decided to rest up here in Winne

Made it to Winner and are doing some laundry. Yeah!!

Hills HEADWINDS and rain (sprinkles). 27 miles of a 45 miles with nothing...doing a roadside stop.

Ok...so it was 12ish to Vivian and another 14ish to Presho. Stopping here.

Vivian...10ish more. Seeing some trees now

In Draper now...20ish more miles to go

Helped a turtle to the side of the road on the west side of Murdo.

em while rolling down the road. They are everywhere...green rain

Nice sunny day...wee head wind...and the grasshoppers, well lets just say for a while now they have been so thick...it is impossible to avoid hitting LOTS of th

Nice highway that parallels the interstate...pics later

Just left Belvadere. The grasshoppers are a bit much

We made it to Kadoka about an hour ago...dodged another storm.

In Wall...raining. Another 11 miles stretch on the interstate with head wind and about 3 miles uphill.

.

We are in Wasta...did a short ride on the shoulder of the interstate. It's legal here and nicely graded (of course). We will be on our way to Wall Drug in a bit

We stayed in New Underwood last night...storm rolled through and we were under shelter.

I did start posting pictures to go with the blog

In New Underwood...nice surface road next to the interstate.

Heading to New Underwood now.

Marching on...in Box Elder now.

In Rapid City.

good!

Back in cell service...have been doing some hills. Rain last night and we were well taken care of. We are a bit behind where we had hoped to be...and it is all

1400 ft upward that is

We are half way up the 1400 next section of the trip...

For those of u who may have made a comment I have not been on line to see. Pat it is hot and not as hot today.

Shauna is not feeling well and has been transported a couple days forward in our ride...we hope she is feeling better and will jump back on.

One of our soldiers is falling

First 17 miles 1400 feet up. Yahoo!

There was a Corvette show going on.

We made it to Spearfish...1000 ft higher. I was pretty sure my brakes were stuck on until I was told that. Kind of hurt on a full stomach.

Not used to 'smoking allowed' in bars...yikes!

First 40 miles...its a bit warm...shoulder is nice and motorists are respectful and getting over. :-)

Ok...so that last post was attempted when we actually started at noon. We are now in Wyoming at a shady spot. Beautiful day!

We are on the road...in Montanta

Stopped for the night in Bella Fourche, SD...about 37 miles from our starting point.

Wall Drug!

OH and by the way...don't call AAA (plus) for help with a flat tire on your trailer UNLESS you have the 'RV plus' addition. Really?

371 miles to go...yes we changed the flat and all is well

flat tire on trailer...tried to do photo

Picked up Al and leaving Des Moines.

Leaving IC now

Another round of thanks to Geoff's Bike

yesterday they helped me with some last minute adjustments. Love those guys!

Biking to Hills with the girls...

Biking to Hills with the girls!

Well the girls made it...I didn't I had a flat (and limited time)...so tried to limp my way back to IC. That didn't work so I changed the tube...

Some good news!

Mike H tells me his camera connection for the iPad arrived...YEAH!  I had not figured out the whole wi-fi memory card for my camera yet and now it looks like I don't need to!  Wahoo! :-)

Another productive evening at Geoff's Bike!

I want to thank everyone at Geoff's Bike for all they have done to help me prepare for this journey!

Some more minor adjustments and some brain storming for light placement (new handlebar bag).

Life is good!

Geoff's Bike in IC rocks!

I spent several hours last night with Kevin. He measured and adjusted me and my bike.  It is amazing what a few minor adjustments to the bike can do!  I left there, on what felt like, a new bike.

Working on the photo thing...

Here we are having fun! Cycle Zydeco was that 2003?

Collaborations with Mike H

Mike is bringing along his iPad for me to blog with...yeah!
I will probably be buying a memory card with wi-fi built in for my camera...amazing what is available out there!

For those of you checking in...

All post up to the trip are me getting used to the format and how to use what is available.  Thanks for your interest!  Laura

Havin' drinks with some girls in NL. :-)

Beautiful day! Out on the bike soon!

Success!

Someone was able to link to the blog! Still need to figure out photos...

Yummo dinner at parents to celebrate Fathers Day

Testing texting to blog

This might take a while for me to get comfortable with...

Let's see...how do I add photos?

Very new to this blog stuff

I am trying to create a blog for others to follow the upcoming bike ride...