Joe was looking forward to a easy
recovery day but Theresa had studied the elevation and direction for
the day and knew that there would be lots of climbing. Kevin was
feeling much better (after being fueled by a Double cheeseburger the
night before) and looking forward to trying to get in some miles.
Off by 6:45 Joe and Theresa headed for “breakfast on the bridge”
only a few miles down the road in Czech Village. The vendors were
all lined up on one side of the bridge while the rest of the space
was bikers flowing across the bridge. The town was very cute and had
a grey haired Accordion orchestra playing in a small gazebo. Joe and
Theresa chowed down on breakfast burritos that weighed about 2lbs and
was about the size of a water bottle. They sat on a bench and looked
out at the river and the many bridges that crossed it as they enjoyed
the monster meal. 
It was now time to face the days hill challenges.
Once clear of bridge and the clumps of cyclists warming up after the
initial stop, Joe declares, “Here we go” and accelerates to gain
some momentum to pick up the pace a bit. Theresa reluctantly
responds as she has learned over the past days that this is Joe's
signal to get going, enough of this slowness, let's go! The first
climb was all that was promised 5-6% climb of about 1 mile. Theresa
only does well on 2-3% climbs as those she can keep a bit of a spin
going, anything over 3 she bogs down, puts it in granny and grinds it
out oh so slowly. Joe was a good biking buddy and waited at the top
of this and every climb today. 
After 14 miles of hills and a tail
wind we rolled into Mt. Vernon home of Cornell College. This was a
vibrant town with lots of trees and old well kept scholl buildings
that looked more Ivy league than midwest. It was offically “College
Spirit Day” as declared by RAGBRAI so there were representatives
from several Iowa Colleges there handing out wristbands and other
school color paraphernalia. U of I, Drake, Upper Iowa, UNI were all
there. Theresa made sure she got a wristband from her alma mater
Iowa State. They sat in some shade on a side street and enjoyed the
fall like temps and a beverage. The last stop would be Springville
which was 10 miles straight north. The hills continued and now were
accompanied by a 10 mph head wind. Theresa tucked in behind Joe as
often as she could to help maintain some speed but was lost on any
>3% climb. Just as we were entering the town we heard “Rider
Up” being shouted in front of us. Theresa looked up and was
surprised to see it was Kevin! She yelled and he acknowledged and
found a safe spot to turn around. 
They were all ready for a stop,
especially Kevin who had not eaten yet and needed some fuel. He
found a grill where we all could sit down and enjoy a brief rest
while Kevin powered down a pork loin sandwich plate. Kevin was
indeed feeling much better as he powered up each hill with very
little effort. Theresa and Joe were feeling yesterdays long days and
todays hills. The legs just did not respond! Fortunately the route
turned back east to give us a slight tail-side wind that at least
made for nice coasting down each decent.
Kevin had secured one of
the first spots at the Anamosa Walmart for the RV. He had all the
windows open as temps were quite pleasant and a nice breeze was
blowing. By the time we climbed into the parking lot every open area
of the large lot was filled with RVs, busses (including the Cutters) or cars. Walmart knows that
allowing camping will bring in the business and this day should set
some record sales for this store! We all got beverages, sandwiches
and took fast showers in the RV and napped a bit! That was great!
The plan for tonight it to do some
shopping at Walmart and explore what is going on in Anamosa, known
for the State Prison and the National Motorcycle Museum.
It is hard to believe tomorrow is the
last day of RAGBRAI. Normally this is a short milage day, however a
70 mile route is in store to Clinton. 
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