RAGBRAI Day 7 - Burlington to Keokuk

Max has been away from home for five weeks. He mentions this to me often. He was at a 3 week Center for Talented Youth class before our two weeks of bike riding. So he is very eager to finish RAGBRAI and get an early start on the long drive home.

He was so excited to be heading home he rode the first 36 miles of the last day of RAGBRAI without a break. We were into Keokuk by 1:30, it was 66 miles.

See how happy Max is? At this point, after four RAGBRAIs, he is a total veteran. He does all the things RAGBRAI riders do as a matter of routine.

It was a beautiful day for riding, sunny, not too hot. Lots of headwinds though. Nonetheless, there was lemonade, cookies, and unicorns.

That unicorn is a sprinkler. Many people deploy sprinklers, misters, and kids with super soaker squirt guns along the side of the road to give the bike riders some cool refreshing relief.

I told one row of kids with super soakers to soak the kid riding behind me. The all blasted me instead. It's like the post-Millenial generation is one giant team.

Our first stop had this very cool rat rod parked out front. Note the GPS system on the radiator cap.

Even though we got in at 1:30, we were not on the road until 3:00. There are certain chores that need doing before we could leave, like loading the truck, organizing our stuff, and buying all the Moose Drool in Keokuk, Iowa.

Max did not consider buying all the Moose Drool to be a productive use of time.
Max: "Why are you getting a shopping cart?"
me: "I'm going to buy all the Moose Drool. It's possible we will need two shopping carts, but if we do, we can always get another one."

Sadly, all the Moose Drool is only a single six pack, so I got some other stuff too.

Max: "You don't need so much beer."
me: "It's not like I'm going to drink it all at once."
me: "I'm going to savor it."
me: "Over a period of several hours."

We made it to Champaign, Illinois, tired and happy. One more day of driving and we will be home.

Here is the Strava track.