Day 3 of our RAGBRAI week involved the shortest distance of the week with only 39.9 miles to ride and 1,374 feet of climb.  Since it was such a shorter ride than all the other days, we didn’t feel the need to start out super early. We left camp around 7:30.  Two of Lynn’s nieces, Jamie and Cortnie, joined us for the day.  They had slept in a tent outside of the motor home.  Here they are at the roadside of our first stop for the day.  It was the Iowa AG Oasis at Howell’s Farm, 16 miles into the ride.

 

IOWA AG OASIS at HOWELL’S FARM

Here’s the scene out by the road before entering the farm property.  A lot of riders, including us, just lay their bikes down in the grass before heading in to enjoy the break from cycling.

The AG Oasis was a great stop, as were the other two stops today on the way to the overnight town of Indianola.  They had a lot of fun activities, neat photo ops, and good food.

The first thing we did was take advantage of this photo op, which put us inside of a snow globe.

We saw this cow slide as we walked farther into the property.

You go up the stairs into the cow and walk toward it’s head where the top of the slide begins, then go down the slide.  I didn’t try it out, but Lynn did.

After the slide, we came upon an area where they were shooting cantaloupe through a cannon.  It was pretty amazing how high and how far the melon flew.

Further down the lane, we watched some of the cyclists participating in goat yoga!

Here we are taking advantage of another photo op.

We had breakfast while we were there before heading back to our bikes.  These signs on a pole near the roadside speak the truth.  You had to stay pretty alert while cycling to avoid cracks.  We saw one female rider go down because her tire got caught in one.

CUMMING

Next we headed about 7 miles down the road to the town of Cumming.

In Cumming there was live entertainment in an open area.  Across the street and down were the vendors and beer garden.  We met Cortnie’s sister-in-law and her friend there.  They were riding fat-tire bikes for the week.

NORWALK

The last pass-through town of the day was Norwalk, only 5 miles down the road.  They had an amazing park there with live bands playing.  We grabbed some lunch, pulled pork on top of mac n’ cheese for me with a Thelma’s mint chocolate chip ice cream sandwich for dessert.  Afterwards we sat on the grass in a shady spot and listened to the band.  Before leaving we signed the wall they had set up there.

We pulled over on our way out of town to see the Warren County Freedom Rock.

INDIANOLA

The overnight town of Indianola was another 12.2 miles down the road.  As you enter the town, there is a pretty fast downhill.  Before I arrived, there was a bike accident near the bottom of the hill.  Two cyclists had gotten tangled up and ended up on the pavement with serious injuries.  One was a 22-year-old female, and the other was a man in his 50’s.  The first responders were on the scene, and everyone had to get off of their bikes, off of the road, and walk on the sidewalk to get around the accident.  It was a pretty sobering site to witness and a strong reminder of the need for caution and alertness while riding.

Mike had parked the motor home in a school parking lot.  While Cortnie and Jamie relaxed on a blanket in the shade behind our RV, Lynn and I walked a couple of blocks to a shuttle stop and rode the shuttle to the showers.  There was no line at the showers, so that was sweet!  After getting cleaned up, I walked with Mike up to a nearby Casey’s and we bought pizza to take back to the camper for dinner.

After dinner I started planning out a time table for the next day.  It was to be the longest distance of the week, and I wanted to be sure we would make it to the overnight town before the route support stopped at 6 p.m.  As I was doing that, hot-air balloons began to appear in the sky.  Indianola was preparing to host its annual National Balloon Classic, so some of the balloons were beginning to arrive.

Even though it was a short distance that day, we had spent so much time at each of the three pass-through spots that the ride still took all day.  I hadn’t packed my extra application of sunscreen in the morning, because I didn’t anticipate being in the sun as long as we were.  So yep, my face got pretty burned by the time we finished the ride.

Despite the accident we witnessed and my face getting sunburned, it had been a really fun day.  It was made extra special by having the company of Jamie and Cortnie.

Day 4 coming soon!