RAGBRAI... (Part 6)

DAY 5 (Thursday) - Cedar Falls to Independence 64.75 miles
Even after going to bed late I was still able to rise without an alarm and get on the road by 4:30AM. Steve and Phil, however, were not awake. So it was just Tom and I heading to the next destination. The ride was pretty uneventful. The passthrough towns didn't seem as active as the other ones on prior days.

We arrived in the northern part of town past the fairgrounds. On past downtown we found our camp ground on the southeast side of town on the grounds of an elementary school. The outfitters, who had arrived the night before, told us that the weather reports gave a high percentage of thunderstorms this evening. Using this knowledge I staked out my camping spot just on the edge of the school building. This was in hopes of defeating most of the wind and rain.

Tom and I then headed into town for some breakfast and found a quaint little cafe called the R&R Cafe. They had a very limited menu because of all the people that would be coming in this day. I had a couple of eggs, hash browns, and some sausage patties.

After breakfast we headed over to the local Fareway, this is a grocer if anyone is wondering, to get some meat and veggies for grilling. The outfitter was providing large grills this evening for us to grill our own grub since our campsite was a tad distant from downtown. We rode back to have them store our grub in coolers until it was time to cook.

I decided I would walk into town and find the local library. My original intent was to log onto the internet and maybe post a quick update to the blog. I know, I know, I had said that I was going to stay away from technology the whole week. Consider it a moment of lapse in judgement. Anywho, I found the library and proceeded to the computers. They were only allowing individuals only 15 minutes at a time to use the computers. This definitely was not enough time to provide any sort of viable update; so instead, I just looked through other peoples blogs to see what I was missing back home.

After my time was up, Dr. Somnambulance was prodding me towards the children's section. There, on the floor were beanie pillows. Snatching one, I proceeded to lay down on the floor and absorbed the air conditioned atmosphere in wonderful sleep.

The pillow must have had mold or mildew in it because after 2 hours of perpetual bliss I awoke with a heavily congested head. It was time for lunch too, so I headed on out of the library and headed back downtown. Thankfully I was prescient enough to have brought tissue with me because my sinuses just wouldn't stop draining.

I found a nice little restaurant to eat, Bill's Pizza and Smokehouse. It was okay, not bad but not great either. There I had a taco salad which sure hit the spot. It seemed to be a popular place, many people were there. After consuming ample sustenance I decided to head back to the campsite. While leaving the restaurant I noticed I was down to my last tissue. Having a fear that this drainage was not going to end I needed to find a drug store and get more tissues and drugs. There, just one block away was the Fareway store. After soaking the last tissue with fluids and throwing it away I moved quickly towards the store. There I purchased some more tissue and some antihistamine, the latter of which I took before even approaching the counter. In case anyone is wondering, there is nothing worse than riding a bicycle with a runny nose. Trust me when I say that if you have no tissue, it can be rather nasty.

Back at the camp I hooked up with the usual crew. The coals were ready for grillin', so we grabbed our stuff, threw it on the grill, and ate well that day. After eating we found a television in the school and decided to check the weather report. It wasn't looking good; however, from the direction the storm was tracking, it looked like I pitched my tent in the ideal spot.

Around 8PM the storm appeared to be on the edge of town, so I decided to head to the tent and get to bed early. The storm hit and it made me fall asleep rather quickly. One of the key effects of the storm was that it kept people from gathering outside and talking loud while people were sleeping. This was the first night that I sleep without interruption.

Tomorrow...finally some hills, home of the field of dreams, spaghetti and meatballs, a really expensive pizza joint, last night of camping...