Getting here

Getting here and getting set up can sometimes be more difficult than the whole week of pedaling across Iowa. This year was not as bad as last year's experience because we at least got our tent set up before dark. But you would think that a scheduled flight leaving Dulles this morning at 6:30am with an arrival time of 10:30am in Sioux City, Iowa, would have allowed plenty of time for all the logistics involved in the start of RAGBRAI.

But the bad news came at the waiting area about 6:00am when Delta airlines announced a 2-hour delay in our departure. Storms the night before had caused late arrivals and the crew that was supposed to fly our plane needed to have some rest because they had gotten in so late. I guess there's no such thing as substitute crews. With a 2-hour delay there was no way to make my connection in Minneapolis. The ticket agent said all flights after that one out of Minneapolis to Sioux City were overbooked. The only solution would be to schedule me on a flight from Minneapolis to Omaha, Nebraska, and then take a taxi to Sioux City. A 95-mile taxi ride! Thankfully, the airlines paid for the taxi but it made for a very long day with lots of frustrations.

Lee and I didn't coordinate very well with getting my bike from FedEx and then figuring out where to meet and how to get bikes and gear to the camping site. But we finally got set up and found something to eat. The campground is outside of town and the bikes were here in town so we had to come back to town to get the bikes. Then we headed back to the campground to get settled in for the night.
In the end, however, we did have time to dip our rear tires in the Missouri River at the Sioux City dip site.





The weather appears to be cooperative. It hasn't been that hot today and it doesn't look like rain. I'm sure once we get pedaling tomorrow all of today's frustrations will be forgotten and we can see what adventures await us as the ride finally begins.