Bike Ride Report - RAGBRAI Day 4 - Hampton to Cedar Falls

Day four was only 68 miles, but it got hot and humid about 10:00, and it was rolling hills instead of flat. Combined with being up all night last night reading Harry Potter, I was dragging.



About 1/4 of the tents in camp have a copy of Harry Potter in them. Nobody will talk about the book because they don't want anybody to give anything away.

After I got in today, I was sitting with my fellow campers in a stackable plastic chair under the tent canopies (aka "marquees", a term I've only heard Jodie use to describe a canopy, until it appeared in the last Harry Potter) drinking beer with my copy of Harry.

Across from me was a girl with her father. She was talking on her cell phone to a friend. She said "I'm up to about page 400. Can you believe [minor spoiler from Chapter 1] ? She immediately received looks of horror, fear and hatred from all around. I told her father "Make her stop that!" She finished her call away under a tree somewhere out of earshot.

When she got back, we had a conversation that went something like this:

Drew: "I think you're a little farther along than me."
Girl (looking at book in my lap): "I think I'm at about the same point."
Drew: "Have you gotten to Hermione's wedding?"
Girl (speechless)
Drew: "I haven't either!"

hahahahah. She said that was a good one, and I had her there.

Here's the campsite, with the marquees in the background.



Political hype report:
* For some reason, there were Biden signs all over the place today. Yesterday it was Ron Paul. Will it be Kucinich next?
* Somebody got a free water bottle that says "ED in '08". None of us could figure out what candidate is named Ed.

The Des Moines Register had a picture on the front page (which I can't find online) of Lance Armstrong with Mr. Pork Chop. Lance is holding a big fat juicy one in his hand. I can't believe Lance figured out this most obvious way to pander to Iowans before any of the presidential candidates.

** Special update - here's the photo thanks to the help of random people on the Internet **


(Credit Justin Hayworth, Des Moines Register, original is here)

ROADKILL REPORT: Nothing recognizable.

Here's the MotionBased page.