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!