RAGBRAI REPORT Day 3

Day 3 – July 22, 2013 – Perry to Des Moines

Recovery!

A mere 49 miles today and after a tall hill coming out of Perry, it was mostly flat.  Even so, we took some nice breaks and so got in a little later than we might have expected.  The temperature was also a delightful  80 or so and overcast – nothing like the 90 and sunny that we had for our 83 miles yesterday.  It was a good day.

Two highlights for me.  The first was seeing one of the many booths along the way offering all manner of food and drink.  But this one, in a yard along the road, was in support of Operation Christmas Child!  So I stopped and talked with the nice lady and her daughter for a bit about this program that we have been supporting at our church for more than 10 years.  Like us, their church is a local collection center and like our family, they also have been up to the regional processing center in Minneapolis.  I got a couple of nice picture and three big, fat homemade cookies – and an OCC button!  It was great to connect with people who have a shared story.

The second highlight was even better.  Through a series of events, I ended in contact with Aimee (Graves) Smith.   It turns out that she is living about two miles away from where we were camping.  So I biked over – the first really painful biking experience of the week as it turned out!  I guess I just wasn’t ready for even two more miles.

I first met Aimee when she and her family took over Dayton Oaks Camp where I served for many years as a camp coordinator.  She was in seventh grade and she was a precious, energetic kid.  Now she is a precious mother of two!  I got to meet her sons, Max (6) and Harrison (18 months) and to see great mothering skills!  I don’t often get to see kids I knew in high school, whether from my job or camp, after they are grown up.  What a great reunion this was.

And it reminds me of the importance of relationship.  One of the sayings on RAGBRAI is “It’s not a race; it’s a ride.”  Part of it being a ride is the relationships of those you ride with and those you meet.  There are people who seem to be racing through RAGBRAI – although that may just be because I am slow!  But I plan on meeting more people over the remaining four days.

In the evening we went to an Iowa Cubs game and sparing the details saw the Cubs win 1-0 on a walk off double in the bottom of the ninth.  Kind of fun!

Tomorrow, another shorter day – 49 miles to Knoxville.