"A Less Than Pleasant Ride"

We're in Fontenelle, IA currently - six miles from the overnight stop (Greenfield). Current conditions: WET. I'd say today is not the best day I've had on a bike, but it's not the worst either.

We got started under heavy, gray skies around 7am. I kept waiting for the rain, but a few hours in it looked like we might get lucky and see it blow over. No luck. By the time we got to Corning (the half-way town) and got out of the United Methodist Church's basement, it had started to sprinkle. We did get lucky and got some of the last pie available there (in addition to a heavy plate of mashed potatoes and pasta).

We're ready to get these last few miles out of the way and set up our tent before it gets too wet tonight. Fingers crossed for a dry day tomorrow.

RAGBRAI DAY 1

We made it through Day One: Council Bluffs to Red Oaks.

We left from Cedar Rapids yesterday around 10:00AM, and arrived in Council Bluffs around 2:30-3:00PM. The best story if that our host family moved without informing Lonnie, our ride director. So, we drove up to the house (about seven miles from RAGBRAI central) and no one was home. Neighbors came out and said Wyatt have moved over a month ago. Fortunately, the neighbors were nice. Jamey and I camped on the lawn of Barry and Diane. They were so friendly and generous, and they told great stories. They'd just returned a few hours before we arrived from a week of camping. Jamey and I were commenting that we hope we're just like Barry and Diana in 25 years.

The ride today was nice, a little hilly, but the weather was good. We took off around 7am (after chasing a cicada off of Jamey's bike that wanted to ride along), and we found Farm Boys Burritos around 8:00. Perfect. We shared a burrito, and a new item, Vanilla Mocha (not recommended) and rode on. We were at the last pass through town by 11:30, so we decided to hang out for awhile and find some lunch. Found corn on the cob, kinky fries, and lemonade.

Now we've showered and set up tent and it's time to find the next meal! First, we'll take advantage of the Red Oak hospitality; they've set up a whole carnival for us! Jamey's intent on riding the zipper. I'm feeling more like the Ferris Wheel.

Tomorrow: 77 miles...a few more hills. Yikes!

The Questions

On a recent morning bike commute, Willa asked all of the following questions:

• What if birds had to follow the stop signs?
• Why aren't there road signs for airplanes?
• How do those airplanes actually stay in the sky?
• How do the birds stay away from the airplanes?
• Who invented the first bike?
• How do they make these bikes, anyway?
• Why doesn't everybody ride their bikes to camp in the mornings?
  
• Are we at the top of the hill, yet? (we have a rule: I don't answer questions on an uphill climb)
• Why do you and daddy do RAGBRAI?

Of course, there were probably more that I simply do not remember, but that last one sticks in my head. Why do we do RAGBAI? I gave her an answer then that satisfied her need to know, but the question stays with me. The first time, we did RAGBRAI it was because we lived in Iowa and we biked. It seemed logical that we should join, and being non-natives in this state, it seemed like a good way to get better acquainted.

Now, going into our third RAGBRAI (plus two other rides: SAGBRAW and TRAM), I can think of no better way to spend this week each summer. We leave in two days, and I am just starting to prepare for the preparations (I'm washing clothes at least...). Here are a few 'why-i-do-it's' that float to the surface today:

• Because the details of living for a week on a bike ride are so completely different than the details of our daily existance here, it's possible to leave Willa and Cam for a week with no guilt or regrets (it's also ONLY possible because I have parents willing and able to spend a week caring for them). Each year, I realize how lucky I am to get a week with Jamey free from parenting...free from work, email, voicemail, mowing the lawn, putting out the garbage, washing dishes, etc. etc. etc.
  
• There is no rush, no agenda, no plan other than to get on my bike and go. We get there when we get there. If we want to stop we stop. No obligation other than to keep the pedals moving.
• I love being part of the slow-moving mob of people with a common love of bicycling, yet thousands of differences sharing one road. I've had great conversations with people from all over the US, and sang TV theme songs for an hour one year with a bunch of Brits. I don't remember names or know where these people went after they passed me or stopped in the next town, but that's not the point.
• Each of the towns we pass through has something interesting to offer, and I'm learning a lot about the history and heritage of our state with each new route. Riding a bike between these towns affords a glimpse of the state I never get when we drive through. I stop at the rural churches and at the historical markers. Cows, trees, fields, farms and windmills get noticed with much deeper detail.
• Farm Boys Burritos, Pastafarian, Lemonade Guys ("the special") and this year I might even try Mr. Porkchop if he's ever on the route later than 9am. And pie. I'll continue my search for the perfect cinnamon roll.

Lastly, the sense of accomplishment I feel when I dip my tire into the Mighty Mississippi next week will be incredible - just thinking about it is making me smile already.

Better start the real prepartions!

Riding WITH my Girl

Last week was "Bike to Work" week. Willa and I had been talking about trying a bike commute with the tag-along to Summit, and Bike to Work week seemed like the week to do it. Unfortunately Bike to Work week turned out to be a pretty bad week, weather-wise. The only sunny day was Thursday. On Wednesday night we got the tag-along hitch transferred from Jamey's bike to mine, and Willa and I prepared for our adventure the next day. When we woke up on Thursday morning, we did have sunshine, but we also had very strong gusting winds, and it was only 46 degrees! So, we chickened out. Instead we loaded up the tag-along and locked it into the bike rack at Summit. Then after work, I dropped off the 4runner at home, hopped on my bike and headed to school. We made it home in one piece! This was our first time together on the bike this season.

Today, we went out for a ride and decided to time ourselves on the ride to Summit. We didn't take the most direct route, but this route avoided some of the heavier-trafficked streets. It took us 17 minutes. That's not that much longer than it would take us to drive. Of course, I'll still have the ride to Coe from Summit, but that shouldn't take long at all.

While this isn't putting a lot of miles in my RAGBRAI training log, it's certainly building up my leg muscles! Willa doesn't have the best balance, and she is easily distracted from peddling (today's distraction "Mommy, did you know these pedals pedal backwards and forwards?" - my response "Only pedal forward!!!"), so I'm counting these commutes as mini-workouts!

Buffer Generation

My mom called yesterday on the way to visit my gramma in the nursing home. "Gramma's not doing so well" she said. My gramma is 96 years old and has lived in a nursing home in Tyndall for four or five years now, and it's been a steady decline. Most recently she has simply stopped eating.

She had a 'dip' last summer, too and I told Willa about it. I told her that Great Gramma Fathke's body was giving out on her; that she'd had a very long and a very good life and that now her body was just worn out. Willa wanted to know if she was going to die, and I said "She will, but I don't know when. Her body is really old and I don't think she'll live much longer." Willa wanted to know if she was a hundred (a big number she was familiar with), and I said "almost." I told Willa I'd be sad to have my gramma die, but that I was happy that she lived for so long and that I got to be with her for so long. I told her I was happy that she got know her great gramma, because not too many people do.

Steve and I took our kids to see her last April. It turned into a really nice visit, my cousin Brian and Uncle Don were driving through, and my other aunts, uncles and cousins all stopped by, too. Gramma was with it for most of the day, although I'm sure she didn't know who Willa, Jessen and Garrett were. I can't admit that she most likely couldn't place me, either. I'm glad we went, though.

I'm realistic enough to know that her mind and body are almost gone. It's painful to see her this way, especially because she had once been such a strong woman, both physically and mentally. My mom says she sleeps alot, and no longer even drinks coffee, so I know she's not there. Coffee was the sixth food group for her and my grampa as they worked their farm.

When she's gone it will just be my parents generation before me. I can't quite explain my feelings without sounding cold or irrational, but having Gramma Fathke around means there's one more generation before my parents. I don't have to face their aging because she's still here, and she's the focus. When she dies, it will make me think of my mom and my dad's mortality, and I am just not ready to be thinking those thoughts. So, for now, I'll think about these things:
*my parents are healthy and they're health-conscious: they go to the gym, they eat well;
*my gramma is still plugging away there - maybe not really there, but there. I'll celebrate her life and tell Willa & Cam stories about their strong, kind great-gramma. I'll tell them I hope I can be just like her - I never heard her say 'won't work' or 'can't' or 'don't try' - she just did it.

Home Improvements

After taking a break on the home improvement cycle last year, it seems we're back on task this year. I think inside work is about over (ripping out and replacing the kitchen floor, installing tile back splash, painting and painting Willa's new room might be enough for the year).

Yesterday a crew started ripping off the shingles on the house and they've already got new shingles on the back half. It's amazing how fast these things go with a crew of properly trained individuals with the right tools. We will be re-shingling the garage ourselves with the help of some friends.

The other projects are things we'll most likely take on ourselves and include new sidewalks and steps and fixing our chimney. It is, at the same time, both wonderful and horrible to have a partner that is skilled in home construction. Of course, it can't be debated that we've saved a lot of money doing much of our home re-construction ourselves. But often we do not have the tools and sometimes we do not have the skills to do everything required in a job. And always, we completely under estimate the number of trips we'll take to Menards even for the simplest project. See Willa's Tree House project and just count up the running total of Menard's trips.

It's fun to do some of these things ourselves, but this time I'm glad it's not me or Jamey up on that roof.

Heart Matters

Willa says what's on her mind.

I'm always amazed at how honestly Willa can describe her feelings. On Sunday night, after much time spent holding Cam, singing to Cam, making him smile, etc. she said "you know what Mommy? I think Cam just isn't all the way into my heart yet." Of course I asked what she meant by this, and she said "Well, I've been loving you and Daddy my whole life, so you're in the middle of my heart, but I've only been loving Cam for a little while, so he's not all the way in there, yet."

Of course! It's so simple and yet so complicated. Hopefully Cam wiggles his way into the middle soon.