RAGBRAI 2016 DAY 0 - Travel Day

I have been home for a full week now and am going to try to recreate my 2016 RAGBRAI experience because it was so AWESOME!

As I may have mentioned in a prior post, our Southwest flight was cancelled. The best we could do was take a late flight that landed in Omaha at 1 in the morning on Sunday, Day # 1 of RAGBRAI. Here is a photo of my Sacramento Moore-On brothers: Neil, Paul, and Tommy.

While we were waiting for our ride to the host home, who do I see at 1:30 in the morning, but my favorite charter person Ron Oman! In 4 of my previous 5 RAGBRAI experiences, I used Ron Oman's charter services to support me through Iowa. This is my first year with the Moore-Ons.

Anyhow, at 1:30 in the morning, one of the friends of the Moore-Ons came and picked us up from the airport and drove us to the starting town, Glenwood. It was a 35-minute drive. This fellow (forgot his name!) got up in the dead of night to do this for us. Iowans are the best!

So we arrived in Glenwood around 2 in the morning. Luckily for me, my buddy Tom from San Diego (whom I met on the Cal Bike ride last October and invited to join us for RAGBRAI) arrived in Iowa earlier in the day and was able to pitch my tent. I had flashlight and was able to pick my tent out among the 8 tents already pitched in the host home's back yard. Tom was thoughtful enough to also inflate my air mattress. Score! We had access to a bathroom through the back door of the host home. I quietly changed into my pjs, used the toilet, then crept into my tent to try to get some sleep before the first riding day. Alas, it was hot and humid. I was too worked up from all the travel and stress and strain of the start. I laid there for a long time before falling asleep. I think we all started stirring about at 6:00 or 6:30 a.m. I would not say I had even close to 4 hours of sleep that first night...

Here is a photo of the view from my tent the next morning.

Here's a shot of my tent in the process of being packed up.

The gray bag is my bike bag. It contains all items needed for cycling. Clothes, equipment, energy bars, topicals, Motrin, sun screen... I could go on. The navy blue bag on the left is a huge duffel that holds my tent, air mattress, sleeping bag, pillow, camp chair, bike pump, clothes bag, etc....I could go on. I was mocked by most Moore-Ons for the size of my bag, which became known as the "body bag." Yes, I over-pack.  It cannot be helped...