RAGBRAI XXII July 24-30, 1994 The 1994 ride began in Council Bluffs for the third time on July 24 and ended in Clinton for the third time on July 30. Overnight stops were Harlan, which had hosted riders in 1976 and 1983; Carroll and Perry, which each put out the welcome mat for the riders for the third time; Marshalltown, which had not seen the riders since RAGBRAI in 1974; Marion, which hosted the riders for the first time; and Maquoketa, the beautiful eastern Iowa town which hosted the riders…

In my work life, occasionally, I get to travel.  Travel involved my great co-worker and best friend Roberta. Trips were monumental adventures.  I've been telling Roberta all about the great fun I'm having on a bike.  She's interested.  She decided that she needed a bike of her own.  She bought a beautiful maroon bike.  Almost the next day, something was mentioned about a trip to Iowa.  Roberta and I were going to be on the road again and we were thrilled. I told Roberta that I wanted to take my bike…

We are in the early 90's.  Cell phones are on the verge of being invented at a price a regular person could afford.  They were a little bit bigger than what we are used to now.  In fact, they were a bag phone. They came in a soft bag and you could plug them into the cigarette lighter in your car.  Cell phones came into our lives and nothing was ever the same again.    My husband bought my phone for me as a surprise.  His thought was that I…

I discovered another trail in the Johnson County area. This trail was totally flat.  This trail is north of I-435. I'm having to take my bike somewhere else to ride. What does that mean?  I have to transport my bike in my vehicle. Vehicles are a little crampy for a bike.  No problem!  Buy and have a bike rack installed!  Another happy bike store and presto, "Have bike will travel!" Although I've made it sound like I'm nearly as good as the pre-drug Lance Armstrong, that would be a lie.…

I had gained a bike rider co-worker friend.  I was not yet up to riding with him, but we chatted about bike stories.  He told me some of his favorite stories.  Number two favorite story was when he swallowed the biggest insect in the world while he was riding, and it got stuck in his throat.  He had to stop his bike and gag for a while to get the bug to go down the throat hatch.  Number one story was the mud ride.  He had the click-in shoes and pedals.  He…