July 25

Today I rode 93 miles, averaged 14.7 mph with 6.5 hours riding time.

Our route ran along the RAGBRAI route today. This is a ride across Iowa that has been going on for years, having grown to thousands of riders. People come from all over the world to participate in this event. We had some fun conversations with many of the 20,000 riders as they were riding their sixth day of seven. Stuart and I talked with Retha, who was riding bandit (unofficial rider) from a local community. She and her husband rode across the country East to West a few years ago unsupported together. It was great to talk with her about all the unique challenges and blessings of a ride like that.

We also talked with a couple at one of the larger rest stops in Mechanicsville. Both were very interested in the purpose for our riding sea to see and we received a $20 donation on the spot.

At the end of the day today we encountered a real detour and had another detour on that route. It turns out that everyone else rode through the first detour as it was passable with a bike and had only 75 total miles. As you read at the beginning of our blog, we rode 93 miles. That proved to be a costly decision for us.

We are hosted tonight by two churches in Muscatine, Iowa.

One more day of riding this week and we will be enjoying a weekend visit from Ronda and a few of Zack's friends.

Talk to you later.

Dan