I don’t know how they do it. They ride bicycles for miles, spend the evenings eating all different kinds of food and drink, party and play, pitch a tent in someone’s yard to sleep, then get up the next morning, get back on their bicycles and ride for miles to repeat the process. All the while being surrounded by thousands of people doing the same thing. Or they drive the sag wagons – those who take a different route away from the bicyclists but heading to the same destination to set up camp and have things ready for when the bikes start rolling in. For seven days straight. But those 20,000 plus people who do it every year love it!
I’m not sure how many people we actually had here. I didn’t get many pictures and no good pictures. We had two buses and I think five tents in our yard. The one group all slept in their bus while the others pitched tents and/or stayed in our camper. They ate supper, had some shaved ice, socialized, played bocce ball and ladder ball, had s’mores around the bonfire. We had beautiful weather, almost chilly by nightfall. It was all very low key and totally away from the crowds in town where they had food vendors and entertainment, concerts and I don’t know what all going on. It was great to spend some time with family. Joe’s sister didn’t ride this year but her daughter, son, and two of their kids did so she drove down and spent the night in the camper with them. We sat around the campfire until midnight and enjoyed each other’s company. And they were up and gone by 7:30 this morning. Some were gone a lot earlier than that. Off to Iowa City, their last stop before dipping their tires in the Mississippi River on Sunday before heading home.
I think I’d like to be in the group that stops to do fun things! Oh, and drive the set up vehicle not bike!