Up again at 5:15 on the morning of Day 6. We left the fairgrounds on our bikes around 6:50. Today’s ride is 65.6 miles long with 1,521 feet of climb. On the way out of Fairfield, we stopped to see their Freedom Rock.
After riding 13.7 miles, we pulled up to the first pass-through town – Stockport.
Stockport
Here we bought some egg bowls for breakfast. While we were eating we watched this young rider trying to extract a kitten from underneath this truck.
He said he was going to try to take it on the route with him, but the cat wanted nothing to do with RAGBRAI. He was really good at wriggling away every time the young man thought he had him. Good thing for the kitty!
I loved this artwork: flowers with bike spokes as the center. That’s Lynn on the left and just some random rider on the right.
Salem
About another 16.5 miles down the road, we stopped in the meeting town for the day – Salem. We weren’t real hungry yet, so I got a pickle and some water, and Lynn had a smoothie. Our time there was so short, I didn’t even take any pictures.
Houghton
Houghton (pronounced Huffton according to a sign on the roadway) was about 6.5 more miles after leaving Salem. Their theme was “Bin There Done That”, so they had 3 Grain Bin Beer Gardens at this stop. They were also raffling off a RAGBRAI Grain Bin Bar. Don’t know what a grain bin bar is? Neither did I. Here’s a picture of one.
And just in case you want to see more silos…
While in Houghton, I had a pulled pork sandwich for lunch and a coconut cream hand pie for dessert. While we ate, we watched many of the riders take a dip in this hay bale pool that was behind the covered area where we were sitting.
After lunch, I refilled my water and Gatorade in preparation for the long stretch to our next stop.
Geode State Park
It was an 18.6 mile ride before we entered Geode State Park. I had a great conversation with another rider named Ellen from Atlanta, GA. We rode together and talked for an hour or more. We discussed family, friends, life, loss, moving on, fitness, RAGBRAI prep…you name it. I felt like she and I would be good friends if we lived near each other. The people you meet along the way are a big part of what RAGBRAI is all about.
The downhills inside the park were a little nerve-wracking for me. Especially the steep one that as you were going down, you saw all the riders with their bikes congregated at the bottom. I managed to maneuver down without running into anybody, though. Whew!
They had geodes that you crack open and keep for $5, so I did that. I also bought a couple of bath bombs for the granddaughters that were made to resemble geodes. Here’s a look at Lynn’s geode after she cracked it open.
We left the park and rode another 5.4 miles to Middletown where they were selling hand-cranked ice cream. I was hankering for that ice cream, but the line was super long and in the sun, so I just got a water and we moved on.
Burlington
It was only another 5 miles to the overnight town. On the way to Burlington, I visited with a rider named Kristin from Round Rock, TX. I met her husband Brett, too, as we caught up to him just before entering town. They were a really sweet young couple who were doing RAGBRAI with many other family members.
After entering town, I met up with Lynn, and we rode out to the mall where Mike had parked the camper for the night. While we waited in line at the shower trailer, we chatted with a rider who is a nurse. We had met her the first night of RAGBRAI also in the shower line. Funny! We compared notes with her about how the week had been for the three of us.
Once cleaned up, Mike, Lynn, and I took a shuttle down to the riverside area where the night’s festivities were taking place.
This was the entrance to the area where all the fun was.
While perusing the food vendors to decide what to eat, I ran into Fred and Jen again. It was neat how you would run into some of the same people during the week, even with the 8500 plus who were participating in the ride. I decided on a brisket salad and ate it while listening to the band on stage – the Spazmatics from Chicago. They were good!
The ironic thing about running into some of the same people throughout the week is that all week I had been keeping my eye out for a particular group of people to no avail. I knew that my daughter’s friend Ben was doing RAGBRAI. In fact, I had exchanged texts with him in the hopes of meeting up at some point. So this night I was really happy when I finally saw a rider wearing his team’s shirt!
This fella directed me to the team captain who informed me that Ben had stayed in Fairfield the night before to visit his parents before heading home.
So I got to meet two of the members of Ben’s team, but no Ben. (sigh)
After enjoying the band to the finish of their performance, we shuttled back to the mall. We were in the camper and in bed for the night by 10:45. It was hard to believe that we would be waking up to the final day of RAGBRAI.