Glenn's Memoirs

Memorable Moments from RAGBRAI 2004

Riding the first morning and freezing until the breakfast stop. Discovering Farm Brothers' Breakfast Burritos. After the first night, Scott pitching his tent in his self-declared no-snoring zone. Riding about 40 miles out of the way to get to our overnight in Iowa Falls, only to discover others took a short-cut that led directly to the house from the route. Sampling rocky mountain oysters for the very first time. The fantastic pasta dinner in Hiawatha. Getting covered with muck while riding gravel roads in pouring rain coming out of Anamosa. The best-organized mass breakfast feed organized by Dean in Preston. The reaction of the anonymous couple who were at our lunch table when John explained that the native American translation for Maquoketa was "town where kybos tip over." Finishing the ride coming into Clinton behind John & Tawney and having every other citizen along the route yelling "Hi, Doc!".

What I enjoyed the most about RAGBRAI 2004

1. The weather! What a change from waking up hot and sticky. The first 4 days were cool, the first being downright cold when we began riding in the morning. We had some rain and some wind, but with the overall lack of heat, it was weather to remember.
2. Biking with Scott. At first I wasn't sure how it would work out, but it couldn't have been better. He made riding RAGBRAI twice as enjoyable.
3. The camaraderie. I only see this group once a year, but for 7 days it's like we never parted. What a great group of individuals to share a week of bike-riding with.
4. The laughs. Didn't know that a bunch of old farts could be so funny.

3 Funniest things on RAGBRAI 2004

This list could be the 285 funniest things, but I narrowed it down to 3 items (Jack is involved with 2 of them).

1. The goings-on at the Onawa VFW the night before RAGBRAI began. This included Kelvy's advertising the breakfast in Maquoketa in the women's room, but featured Jack's blinking beer sign that he proudly displayed out the window.
2. The 2nd morning in Lake View, when Dean tried flagging down riders to warn them of the van backing up..."Car up! ... Car up! ... Old man with his hat up!"
3. Jack's ice cream attack the windy day into Marshalltown where he dropped $18 at one sitting for more ice cream than I eat in a month.