Thursday--Day 5 at Fairbank Library--H B-day to sister Judy

Wet Cheerleaders

"TuTu" Lady

"Too-Too" Lady

Today is a great day. Low winds and a slightly shorter course. Butts are doing well and we are in our third pass-thru town of the day. I know that it is hard to picture, but imagine towns of 89 people trying to host Tulip Time size crowds for an entire day. Every little town looks like Kollen Park on fireworks days, with the cast of characters changing all day long. At any given town, it is a mob scene where walking the bike is a necessity to get through. Amazing volunteers here in IA and we appreciate all the hard work the volunteers do. This town has free water, a cheerleader dunk tank, the usual beer tent, Amish carriage rides and a host of other amusements to help us rest our butts and have some "non-sun" time.

Our dinner tonight will be a "BYO-meat" for the grill with our host group. Pork Belly Ventures is something we can recommend to anyone.

The constant parade of bikes draws crowd along the way. So the folks are treated to an assortment of oddities. The team names are all creative--Team Cuisine, Team Too Old to Walk, Team Old Men Who Get Fat in the Winter, Team RAG-BRIDES, Team Diary Aire...too many to remember. The other standard is helmet ornaments and bike decorations to go along with the costumes. Yesterday we got a picture of Tutu Woman...will post it when we are home. There is a bike with a sail mounted. The folks along the way do some creative things as well. There are fun "people" greeting us from lawn chairs, the RAGBRAI version of scarecrows.

Libraries RULE!! Free internet, AC, and toilets that flush. I'm off to go there. It beats a KYBO any day. Not sure what KYBO stands for, but it could be Klean Your Butt Off!!

Hugs to all from Mary