Team Tandemonium Travelog #7

RAGBRAI day 7 and everyone was ready to be finished.  Aaron, Austin, and Carter were all pretty sore and tired but they were determined to finish up despite the heat and humidity.  You can tell by the looks on their faces that they were just ready to pump this last day out and be done!  I told them I'd drive them to Davenport to do the ceremonial tire dip and we could head home, but Ace wouldn't take me up on that offer.  Crazy man!

Austin and I met up with them in Wilton, which was the halfway point of the day.  We enjoyed once last morning of finding shade and watching the masses of bikes roll through town.  

Everyone seemed a bit slower today and more spread out than earlier in the week.  I can't say as though I blame them!  This was one rider I don't remember seeing throughout the week :)

Check out the tan line on that man!  Yes, I said man.  Needless to say, he drew a lot of attention coming through town in his fluffy leotard.  You definitely see all kinds during this week.

I finally had the pleasure of seeing the banana mobile roll through town.

Carter and Ace were happy to make it to the halfway point.  It was hilarious when Carter realized his little legs were done peddling for the week.  He started dancing up and down and cheering!  Both boys had so much fun, but they were definitely shot by the end of it.  

Austin was ready with his fresh set of legs to help Ace push onward towards the Mississippi River in Davenport.

Of course, Carter was a bit jealous that it was Austin that got to do the shopping with me yesterday.  So, finding a mall in Davenport was a priority before meeting up with the bikers.  Thankfully Kelly's sister was able to guide me right to a mall so I could satisfy my shopper, even though he had his hair gel shopping earlier :)

I never realized that Carter could hang out in a mall for almost two hours looking at things.  He had quite a variety of stores that he insisted on going in.  He was scoping out ideas for his next pair of tennis shoes and picking out of few new shirts for school, but most importantly, he is turning into his Uncle Tim with wearing a ball cap all of the time.  We ended up spending 45 minutes in a store called Lids which is simply full of caps.  I think the boy tried on every single one in the store and would stand in front of the mirror and prance around, wiggle his shoulders, check it out from every angle before finally deciding on one.  Holy cow that was an experience.  Then, when we went to pay for this precious commodity, the guy told us about the sale going on.  Hmmm....it took another 15 minutes to pick out hat #2 and finally get out the door.  His reaction and profuse thanks was worth every minute and penny spent in that store! Finally, his shopping need was satisfied.

Ace texted he was about 5 miles out, so I knew we needed to find a good spot to pick them up.  Aaron made me promise NOT to make him bike uphill once he had made it to the river :)  Thankfully we found a spot about a block or two from where they dipped and waited patiently for them to come to us.

The ceremonial dip ~ they did it!

All in all it was a great week.  We got to spend it as a family, and Ace and I each got some terrific one on one time with each of the boys.  Now, I get to do laundry as quickly as possible and get the boys packed up to leave for camp on Sunday afternoon.  Oh my...I hope they aren't too worn out!  

Team Tandemonium Travelog #6

RAGBRAI day 6 means we are nearing the home stretch.  Austin had the early morning shift with Aaron and was up and at 'em ready to go.  How any of the riders still have the ambition and desire to hop on their bikes at this point in the week is beyond me.

Carter and I got them sent off, and I got to enjoy a leisurely breakfast and shower at the Honold household before heading out.  I'm learning as we go that I don't need to head out as soon as the bikers do.  Apparently even though I have to travel more miles than the bikers do, the van goes faster :)  Hmmm...pitiful it took me the first half of the week to figure that one out!

As we were leaving the house, Carter asked if I would drive him to Trainland since he didn't get to go yesterday.  It broke my heart to telling him it was WAY out of the way in the opposite direction of where we were headed.  He handled it pretty well when I promised him we would take him there sometime, and we made our way to Marengo to meet up with Aaron and Austin after getting ice to refill the cooler.

Aaron and Austin had a pretty good morning. On their stop in Victor, Iowa Aaron had the pleasure of being a lady again!  Those boys must have quite the power over him.  Austin wanted to make sure that you noticed where the "man" had his hand placed!

Let me tell you, being the support vehicle driver was extremely ROUGH today!  My van seemed to have a mind of it's own and drove here

and here.

I could hardly deal with the air conditioning and sale prices :)  It seemed as though many of the stores had extra bags that they were looking to fill for customers and my wallet apparently agreed. It was by far the most difficult day of supporting these riders that I've had all week.  With these detours to shopping centers and crazy traffic they were lucky I made it to the meeting places on time! Make it on time I did though.  I would NOT want to be accused of not holding up my end of the bargain this week!  Hee hee hee ~ get it, bargain :)  

I found a lot of them!

We met up with Johnny T in Marengo and a fresh set of little legs was ready to go with dad.  They had a ton of fun in the afternoon even though it was hot.  Of course, when it's hot, you must find ways to cool off.  

Carter found an old fashioned fire truck hooked up with hoses spraying all around! Needless to say, he enjoyed every minute of getting drenched.

They also stumbled across Carter Ford somewhere along the way.  Who knew my son had his own Ford dealership?  

All in all it was a terrific day that ended with terrific hospitality.  Thanks so much to Nate and Kelly for hooking us up with some amazing friends of theirs for our overnight.  I'm blaming it on them as to why this didn't get posted last night.  Put two teachers in a room together and blogging doesn't happen ~ teacher talk does :)  We had a great night of food and friendship!

Day #7 ~ here we come!

  

Team Tandemonium Travelog #5

RAGBRAI day #5 was an eventful day.  We spent the night at home again, which makes this mama a happy lady! Aaron wanted to be out the door by 6:00 am.  No problem! We left the house at 6:15 ~ pretty good ~ and were toodling down I35 when Ace asked,  "Where are my bike shoes?" 

"You mean the ones I saw sitting by the door to the garage?"  Hmmm...thankfully it was HIM that forgot something and not the kids or myself :)  By the time we turned around and headed home to pick these babies up, we were now at 7:15 leaving Ames!  So much for heading out by 6:00 am.  It just allowed us all a little more bonding time together in the van.  Just what we need at this point in our week long journey!



Carter had the first leg of the journey today and was rip roaring ready to go!  Check out his new "bad boy" look.

Austin and I saw them off and then headed on our own merry way.  We were to meet up with them in Baxter as the halfway point today.  Of course, we have to take a different route than the bikers, so on my round about way, we stumbled upon Trainland USA.  Let me tell you, I had one excited boy on my hands begging to stop.  Since it was only 8:30ish, I wasn't sure it would be open.  I whipped the van around and we went to check it out.  I think the look on his face here says it all :)  It was open!



He was thanking me profusely as I was trying to pay and asked if we could stay there ALL DAY LONG!  My heart absolutely melted as I watched him hang out and explore every nook and crany for over an hour.  There were interactive buttons to push and make things move, which was right up his alley.  His favorite was titled, 'cop chasing hobo'.  Austin is just at that age where he's really wanting to be a teenager (yikes, that's scary) and then pops back to wanting to be a playful little boy.  It was an amazing hour of watching and interacting with an excited little boy.  Thank you Trainland USA for being open early so I could enjoy this perfect moment with my son!

Meanwhile, Ace and Carter were off on their bike journey.  They ran across some pretty cool things on the route this morning.  One was a man carving this ice sculpture in Colfax.

The other was the crazy bananas treking across the state on bikes!

I was afraid Austin and I were going to be late to Baxter since we had a nice little pit stop at Trainland USA.  However, the ride was apparently a bit hilly and it took them a good chunk of time to reach us.  This was all fine and dandy because it allowed me to stumble upon the best pecan bars ever :)  They had just come hot out of the oven and were to die for!  Yeah me :)

I hate to even say these words, but it started to rain on us a little bit and I was actually COLD for the first time this week.  I am not complaining, just saying!  Those little chilly moments can come back at any time.

Austin hopped on with Ace and they headed off for the second leg of the day. We have all been amazed by the "big wheel bike" as we call it all week long.  Austin got a chance to sit atop of this fancy little bike during his ride today.



You know I still had one more "requirement" to fulfill with Carter to make him happy...shopping.  So, I asked him what he was wanting to shop for.  His answer, "You know, souveniers and anything else we can find!"  Hmmm...that doesn't narrow it down a bit.  However, I can now check this one off my list as I made my other son extremely happy today too!

Hair gel for his "new" do!

Do you notice the "new do" in this picture?  Me either, but it's supposed to be the "puff" in front :)  He's working on a new style he tells me.  Yikes!  What's he going to be like as a teenie booper?  ...and there's hardly any hair there to work with.  He's not sure how well it will work with wearing a hat either :)  Oh, the worries.

All in all it was a terrific day.  I could even say it's been my favorite so far :)  Two happy kids and a great landing place to sleep tonight.  We are being treated like royalty at the Honold household in Grinnell! I think I might just make it :)

Team Tandemonium Travelog #4

RAGBRAI day 4 is in the books for us.  It was actually a routine and fairly easy day for everyone!  Woo Hoo!  Since we slept gloriously in our own beds last night, we did have to get up a tish earlier to head back out to start the route in Boone, but you won't hear my complaining about that.

Austin had the early shift today and wasn't too bad to roll out of bed.  For some reason, Carter and Austin are LOVING this whole experience, which concerns me that they may get a wild idea that they want to do this again...while still under my roof!  YIKES! 

My friend, Kathy, was brave and joined us for the day. This was her first experience riding in RAGBRAI, and I believe it went fairly well for her.  Yeah Kathy!  She told me that the furthest she had ridden in one day before was 30 miles.  Well, she made it 56 miles today.  I find that highly impressive.

Carter got the privilege of sleeping in while I was taking the riding crew to Boone.  He rolled out of bed just before I got home, and we headed to Slater to meet up with Aaron, Kathy, and Austin.  Slater was a hopping little town and a people watcher's haven.  You just have to see one of my favorite shots from there :)

It was a mecca of activity that never seemed to end.  Unfortunately for me, the crew made great time and I only had about an hour of people stalking watching. Even though it was 9 am, we all feasted as though it was lunch time.  Austin has been holding out for a pork chop on a stick.  Today was the day! He was ready for some protein after his leg of the route.

We hung out for a little bit and then Aaron wanted to get going before the heat really rolled in.  

Austin was a chatter box the entire way back to Ames to do a little more laundry before heading out to Altoona.  It was clear to me that he was having so much fun. He also turned into a little fly swatting ninja in the van.  Apparently those cracked windows allow a little more in than just air flow! 

Alleman had some fun photo opportunities for the riders.  Notice again, Ace is a good sport and gets to be the lady :) 

Kathy got to be an astronaut.

I probably shouldn't mention that I detoured off the route on my way to Altoona and stopped at the scrapbooking store...let it be our little secret :)  Even though I didn't stop with the intention of looking for RAGBRAI stuff, I found some!  ...and it made the week just a little bit better for me!  

Aaron had predicted they would be done around 2:00 today.  They hit it almost on the nose!

Gotta love Carter rockin' the pink bandana!

Team Tandemonium Travelog #3

RAGBRAI day #3 was a full one ~ my guys did the entire route :)  They are rock stars!

Thankfully we were able to secure some lodging last night in Carroll for some air conditioning to cool off and take showers, but we had to tent in the backyard due to lack of space in the house.  Let's just say that the couple hours of sleep we got in the tents was not sufficient for any of us.  It's a good thing it was our only night in tents, or I'd be hauling all of their behinds home! Close confined spaces with no air movement and loads of humidity, a concert that went on until midnight, the trains that rock and rolled through town two blocks away, the highway right next door, and an air mattress that was losing steam is NOT my idea of a good night's sleep.

Ace and Carter wanted to get an early start to try and beat some of the heat, so they were off by 6:45 am.

That left me to tangle with taking down the tents and getting Austin and I on our merry way as quickly as possible.  Confession time:  I've never taken a tent down completely by myself.  Ladies and gentlemen, it wasn't pretty, but it got done. Thank goodness no one else was around to see the spectacle or hear the words coming out of my mouth!  Of course, I couldn't get them rolled all tight and neat and put back in their respective packages, so they just got tossed in the back of the van :)

Austin and I showered quickly and headed to meet up with the other two at the midway point, which was Churdan.  Thank goodness for a quick and easy way to get there.  We only waited for a short time before my Panther guys showed up!

They had a great first half of the ride, and Carter was all smiles when he saw Austin and I. (side note: doesn't he look like his Uncle Nate here?  Except, we know Uncle Nate would be wearing Cardinal and Gold!)

We only hung out in Churdan for a little bit because Aaron wanted to get on the road before the heat got too terribly unbearable.  This meant my little blonde one wanted two things: soft serve ice cream and shopping!  I was able to make one of those requests happen today :)

He must have been on quite the adrenaline rush for our ride to Boone because he was singing at the top of his lungs and dancing along to the radio the entire way.  His facial expressions were absolutely hilarious.  All of the other drivers on the road can be thankful I didn't try to capture some of them on camera :)  My hubby tells me I have enough issues driving with two hands on the wheel.

Since Aaron had made such good time in the morning, I figured Carter and I shouldn't dilly dally too much before getting to Boone and finding a nice shady spot to watch everyone come into town and be ready to meet the guys with cold Gatorade.  Well...I could have come home, done some laundry, taken a nap, and went to the grocery store or taken Carter shopping :) Who knew? We hung out in Boone for many, many hours before they finally arrived.  I was actually starting to get a little worried that the heat had gotten the best of them.  What took so long you say?  Apparently Twister Hill near Pilot Mound got the best of everyone!  There was a sign somewhere along the hill that said, "You're almost there.  Just 1.3 miles to go to the top."

Aaron tells me the pictures don't do it justice, and he's going to drive Carter and I there personally to see the monstrosity that it is!  We were just glad they made it safe and sound.  Today was the day for the century loop that could be done to make it a 100 mile day, but Aaron said "no way Jose" to that one! Seventy miles was enough for him in one day.  

We noticed  Johnny T had on his Drake jersey today, so we had to capture the moment of the two Missouri Valley Schools schools, and we even let our little ISU guy in there :)  Aaron was saying that he received no grief when wearing his UNI jersey and even got a lot of "go Panthers", but when the ISU colors come out, the trash talk is on with the riders.  I always knew the Harvard of the Midwest would get respect someday :)

My favorite part of the day...coming home to sleep in my own bed, which I'm about to go and do!  Home sweet home :)  We've got an early morning ahead of us to get the crew back over to Boone for an early start.

I'll leave you with a few sights along the way from today.

This last bike just amazes me.  I'm going to capture a picture yet of the unicycle guy yet!  He's doing the entire ride on a unicycle that he's installed breaks on.  These people are simply crazy!  Until tomorrow...

Team Tandemonium Travelog #2

RAGBRAI day 2 started off by cheating in Manning.  Yes, I know we stayed in Atlantic overnight, but if you remember, the heat and hills nearly killed my hubby yesterday. So, being the brilliant man that he is most times, he wisely decided to skip the hilly part of the ride and start at the halfway point.  That might have saved him a trip in the ambulance from actually riding, but my hands wanted to reach out and strangle him many times before we got there!  Let's just say that I am the support vehicle driver and do just fine WITHOUT his guidance :)

We were all happy to have arrived in Manning, especially Austin who could hardly contain his excitement for his first official ride.  He was game for anything so long as it meant he got to ride today.  It didn't matter to him at all that they were riding the second half of the route. Check out my ISU cuties!  ...yes, even in their spandex bike pants.

Carter was my co-pilot today since he wasn't riding.  I'm not quite sure what he thought it was going to be like, but the two major things that he wanted to do was eat soft serve ice cream and shop!  Hmmm...not exactly the thing RAGBRAI is made for.  He might have been a bit disappointed, but he survived.

The first stop after Manning was Templeton.  This was the one stop that Aaron was looking forward to.  He wanted to check out the distillery where Templeton Rye whiskey is made.  

While we were in Templeton, we met up with a buddy of Aaron's from work, Johnny T or Marathon Man as we lovingly refer to him as!  He's a triathlete and has plans to run a marathon in all 50 states.  Let's just say  this little ride is NOTHING to him. We saw him running in Atlantic last night after a killer ride yesterday.  Super nice guy, but absolutely crazy I say!  

Even though the picture isn't the clearest, you'll notice a nice little bottle of Templeton Rye. Before we left, Ace snagged himself a bottle (thanks to a terrific neighbor) and trucked it along just so he could swig some on the hallowed ground in Templeton!  

In addition to being crazy, Johnny T has the most amazing solar powered speaker on the back of his bike fully equipped to play some amazing tunes.  Ace and Austin were so happy to have him hanging with them for the remainder of the ride!  He was even kind enough to push them a bit going up a huge hill!  Who does that?

After Templeton, Carter and I headed to Carroll to check out the activities and watch the riders come into the home stretch for the day.  Of course I was instructed to look along the way for some soft serve ice cream or any good shopping places :) We didn't find any.

Aaron and Austin headed to Dedham for lunch. Apparently Austin gobbled up two hot dogs and a grilled ear of corn that he was raving about. They made a final stop in Willey before meeting up with us. I love that Ace got to be the girl in this picture!

Once they rolled into Carroll, Aaron's faith in RAGBRAI had been restored.  He was quite bummed about yesterday and not actually pedaling every stinking mile of this entire ride.  However, he felt much better today and is ready to pump out the remainder of the week.  He even nicknamed Austin, "Turbo Boost" after today! Go figure, the tiny little one was a master rider today.  Apparently he was pretty proud of himself and even trash talked Johnny T!  Oh my...that one could come back to bite him in his tiny bum :)

I'll leave you with a couple more of the sights from the day.  The last one is probably one of my favorite riders that I've seen so far.  He's part of Team Flamingo, and it's not real easy to tell in this picture, but his beard is pink too.

The good news ~ tomorrow night I get to sleep in my own bed :)

Team Tandemonium Travelog #1

In the words of Dr. Suess, "Oh the places you'll go and the things you'll see!"

RAGBRAI day 1 started off early from the Hodapp household in Omaha.  Steve and Mary were so gracious in allowing us to spend Saturday night with them so we could rest up in comfort before heading to the starting point in Glenwood, Iowa. Austin and Carter were quite excited for their first official RAGBRAI experience. If you've never personally experienced this crazy bike ride across the state of Iowa before, it's a sight to behold.  Since RAGBRAI had gone through Ames a few years back, the boys had a little bit of an idea of the crazy people they would see, but truly had no idea of the full flavor of RAGBRAI.  

We had to have a diplomatic way to choose which child would ride the tandem with Ace first.  After many unsatisfactory attempts at rock, paper, scissors, we decided to draw numbers from a bowl.  Carter drew  #1 and took the first leg of the journey, which required the ceremonial dipping of the back tire in the river.  Since Glenwood doesn't actually sit along the river and so much flooding has taken place in and around the area, the dipping station consisted of a kiddie pool with river water!

Aren't they cute in their matching UNI RABGRAI jerseys :)  The plan was to send them off on their merry way, and Austin and I would meet up with them at the halfway point, which was Carson.  They made it fairly easily to their first town, Silver City, and partook in Chris' Cakes for breakfast.  It's one of the "must have" experiences of RAGBRAI.

They also found a cool sign along the way for Austin :)  

While Ace and Cart were peddling their little legs off in the heat and humidity, Austin and I were navigating the back roads to our meeting point in Carson.  I'm not necessarily known for my navigational abilities, so the fact that we drove flawlessly there was quite impressive!

I promise it was just a quick picture while driving!  No one was hurt in the taking of this photo - except maybe your eyes.  Once in Carson, we found a nice shady spot to hang out in our lawn chairs and people watch.  The time definitely passed quickly with all the interesting folks we saw!  The most interesting by far was the crazy hillbilly with his hillbilly mobile that was parked next to us.

He was entertaining people with his hillbilly mobile all day long.  It had little areas you would touch and water would quirt at you, interesting pearls of wisdom were painted all around, and the guy had a stuffed skunk on roller skates that sat beside him while he told some colorful jokes!  

Austin was eagerly awaiting his turn on the bike.  He kept waiting and watching with his eagle eyes for Aaron and Carter to roll into town.

Unfortunately for this eager little guy, it took Ace and Cart five hours to trek across 30 miles of steep and rolling hills that never seemed to end.  Once they rolled into town, I could tell that Aaron had met his match with this leg of RAGBRAI, and it seemed to have gotten the best of him.  He was bound and determined that he was going to ride every single mile of this adventure, but  I am so proud of him for making the wise decision to call it a day on the bike at this point in time.  Austin and I had watched multiple ambulance trips with people struggling with the heat and other ailments, and it was clear that Aaron was in no shape to continue.  Austin wasn't real pleased, but he understood and knew that he gets to be the rider first thing tomorrow. I think you can tell by the look on Aaron's face that he was spent!

We loaded up the van and made our way to Atlantic and were so very grateful for the hospitality of the Alexander family.  It's amazing what an air conditioned placed with access to a shower will do for a person after a long day in the heat!  It's almost time to hunker down for the night so we can start the craziness all over again early in the morning.