RAGBRAI Day -1 Omaha to Blair, NE

It's so nice to be riding the bike. Even if it's 90 degrees out and humid.



I am ensconced in the Super 8 in Blair, Nebraska, which is a favorite stopover on the way to RAGBRAI.



The first trauma of the trip was when I was packing last night, Debra couldn't find her camera, which she was going to let me bring. This was at 10:00, after the stores were closed. So I was shopping for cameras online, and figuring out where there was a Best Buy in Omaha or Iowa near my route.

But look what was right next to my gate at BWI!



It's a Best Buy vending machine with cameras! There was a nice Canon Powershot SD1300IS Digital ELPH, and a quick call to Debra established that it cost just $20 more than what it cost on Amazon. Sold!

There were some nice clouds we flew by on the plane. Check it out, Max! Here is a cumulus cloud right next to the plane, with some cirrus clouds above it.



Later on, there were lots of cumulus clouds way below, over some farms in Iowa.



(Max is obsessed with weather.)

I took a later flight than my traveling companions Jim, Suzanne, and Laura. They had to get up in the wee hours of the morning. Not me. But on the other hand, my flight was delayed, and they rode on ahead without me.

Here is the bike ready to be put back together in the Omaha baggage claim area. Usually nobody cares about this, except maybe a nerdy security guard, who intrigued by the recumbent. This year, though, there were lots of security guards, who were very concerned by this, even though Jim, Suzanna, and Laura had put their bikes together and rode off two hours before.

And perhaps because of my outlaw image created by these security guards, lots of women wanted to talk to me about RAGBRAI, and help put the bike together. Go figure. This has never happened before. At dinner, we came up with an alternate theory that in previous years, Jim and I would both be putting our bikes together, and maybe it was Jim acting as a babe repellent. Suzanne thought that was plausible.



And perhaps because of my outlaw image created by these security guards, lots of women wanted to talk to me about RAGBRAI, and help put the bike together. Go figure. This has never happened before. At dinner, we came up with an alternate theory that in previous years, Jim and I would both be putting our bikes together, and maybe it was Jim acting as a babe repellent. Suzanne thought that was plausible.

Eventually the security guards banished me to the sidewalk outside. Here is the T-Bone, ready to go.



Because Google Maps has awesomely added a bike option, with lots of trails, I discovered this terrific riverfront bike trail leaving Omaha. There were lots of Indigo Buntings along it.



Blair is a small city on US 30, with the railroad running through it. They have a nuke plant and an ethanol plant. They look pretty prosperous.

Jim and Suzanne were hanging out at Kelley's Fish House waiting for me while Laura went to the movies.



We all met up at the Mexican place downtown for Electrolyte Replenishment Therapy.



Here is today's route. It was 24 miles, with some nice bike trail, which costs one climb and three miles of chip seal.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/41556144