Category Archives: Western RV/Alpine Coach

Trouble Comes in Threes

I mentioned the spacious grass area in our site at Lazy Acres RV in Center Point, Iowa. Our’s wasn’t the only one – almost all of them had plenty of room.

Lazy Acres site 42

While were at Lazy Acres, they had an issue with their water supply. On Sunday, the water pressure would drop and we only had a trickle. Donna heard the owner say he was having trouble with the pump on the well.

The water issue continued on Monday – in fact, the water was completely shut off for a while. We had used just over half of our onboard fresh water tank – I hadn’t refilled it yet. There was probably close to 50 gallons in the tank leaving us with about 40 usable gallons. The fresh water tank is a rectangular tank that’s flat and long and only four or five inches tall. The water pick-up is in the left rear corner. When the water level drops below the pick-up, it can’t deliver anymore water.

We were faced with this situation a few years ago and needed water when none was available to us. I manipulated the leveling jacks to intentionally have the driver’s side and rear of the coach low. This pooled the remaining water in the tank in the left rear corner and we got through another day before filling up the tank again.

I had intended to fill the tank at Lazy Acres but on Tuesday morning, I saw the owner going from site to site with a five-gallon bucket. He would run water at the spigot into the bucket and then dump it out. He did this several times at each site. When he reached our site, I went outside to see what was up.

He told me they had to replace the well pump. This was not so easy as the pump was at the bottom of the well casing 180 feet below ground. A well company had to pull casing tube and insert a new one with the pump attached. This left a lot of detritus in the water supply. I saw what was in the bucket and it wasn’t pretty. I decided to wait until we reached Amana to refill our tank.

We were checking out that morning – they have a relatively late checkout time of 1pm. We planned to travel about 40 miles to Amana, Iowa so we had a leisurely morning preparing to leave. I never like to push our checkout time to the last minute – you never know what might come up.

I went through my pre-flight checks and the last two items are to retract the jacks and disconnect the power cord. When I came back in to coach to fire it up, I saw the right rear “jack down” indicator was lit. This is not good. I went outside and took a look.

We have an HWH leveling system. Our jacks extend hydraulically and retract under spring pressure. Two powerful springs bring the jack back up forcing the hydraulic fluid through the solenoids and back to the reservoir. The springs are attached to the foot or pad at the bottom of the hydraulic ram. The foot had slipped off of the ram and hung uselessly by the springs. This happened to us once before in Hamburg, Pennsylvania a couple of years ago. At that time, our roadside assistance, Coach-Net sent a mobile tech out. Two strapping young guys attached it with pry bars and put it back in place.

I called Coach-Net a little before 11am. I went through the usual runaround – first you talk to someone who fills in the blanks on their computer, then they tell you a technician will call back. This took about 10 minutes plus five minutes of hold time. Then I got a call back 20 minutes later. After going over the problem again, he said he would find someone to help me out and call back. He called back half an hour later. He said he might be able to get someone out by the end of the following day, if not it would be three weeks! Unacceptable.

I started looking up mobile RV services and made a few calls. Two of them had to see if they could juggle their schedule and come out that afternoon – they would call me back. I went up to office to notify them of the problem. I talked to the owner who seemed to be mechanically competent and knew what I was talking about. He said, “How about we go down to the shop and grab a couple of pry bars and see what we can do?” I told him that sounded good with one caveat – we do it with pry bars only, no one sticks their hands anywhere near those powerful springs.

To give an idea of how powerful the springs are, the first thing we had to do was push the ram back up to force the hydraulic fluid through the solenoid. He applied pressure to the ram and I actuated the solenoid so fluid could flow. More than five minutes later, he had it halfway up, but I could see he was fading. I took the lever and heaved against it. Another five minutes and it was up. The springs usually retracted the jack against this resistance in a matter of a few minutes.

Next we levered the foot down trying to center it below the ram. This is easier said than done. After a few failed attempts, we decided the plan was for me to lever the foot down, then he would use his bar to tap it in place under the ram. Success! It was 12:45pm and time to hit the road.

Right rear jack intact again

We arrived at Amana Colonies RV Park around 2:00 pm. This is a fairly large park at 76 acres. They advertise 75-foot long sites. The problem for us is, they put the power pedestal at the far rear of the site so it could be shared with another site behind. We didn’t have a good option for dropping the trailer – our power cord and sewer hose would have to extend all the way back past our trailer. They offered us a solution – for $10/day additional they would give us the two back to back sites essentially making it a 150-foot pull-through. We went for it.

Before I hooked up our fresh water supply, I opened up the sediment filter canister assuming it needed replacement after the well problems at Lazy Acres. I’ve never seen such crud in the sediment filter – it looked like sludge. Before I installed the new filter element, I rinsed the canister thoroughly. The bottom of the canister looked like it was full of the dregs from an espresso machine.

Old filter element on the left – new polypropylene filter on the right

Donna wanted to take a bike ride and see the area. After getting her bike out, I was feeling punky and laid back on the sofa. I didn’t rise for about 90 minutes and realized then that I was starting to feel really bad. My head was pounding, my sinuses we plugged and my right eyeball had a stabbing pain. My joints ached all over. I was lethargic. Strike three – water, jack and now I’m ill.

After her ride, Donna prepared leftover chicken stuffed with feta and spinach. I could hardly eat. This is only the second time I’ve been ill during our four years on the road. I chalk it up to a healthy environment with plenty of sunshine and fresh air. Being in a crowded office all day or flying around the country exposes you to who knows what.

Last night was rough. I went to bed at 8:15pm. I slept for four and half hours then woke up with a fever. I was alternating burning up or freezing cold. I had a time of it getting back to sleep. Sometime later, maybe 4am, my fever broke. I’m feeling better this morning but will avoid any strenuous activity today.

We plan to get out and see the sights today. The forecast calls for a high of 86 degrees. Tomorrow should be upper 70s with an 80% chance of rain. On Friday, we’ll hit the road again for parts currently unknown – it’s supposed to be cooler on Friday.

Four Years Down the Road

I ended my last post as we backtracked to Waukon after the finish of RAGBRAI on Saturday. Team RV There Yet? went our separate ways.

Our destination was southwest of Waukon. I programmed our destination into Nally, our Rand McNally RVND 7720 GPS. She directed us on a route that took us south, then west in a stair-step manner utilizing mostly county roads. I trust the GPS most of the time – there have been a few occasions when I had to override her directions. The thing is, the RVND is an RV-specific unit. I entered our vehicle height, length, weight and other parameters such as how much propane we have on board. When the GPS calculates out route, low clearances or bridge weight limits, etc. are factored into the route.

We hit IA150 at Independence, Iowa and went south to Interstate 380. We were on 380 for about a mile and half and exited at Urbana where we found the Lazy Acres RV Park. The designation 380 for the north-south Interstate that runs from the Waterloo area to Iowa City seemed strange.

Primary Interstates have a one- or two-digit designation with even numbers designating an east-west route and odd numbers indicating a north-south route. Auxiliary interstate highways have a three-digit number with the last two numbers indicating which main Interstate route it’s attached to – in this case I-80. When the first digit is an even number, it means the auxiliary interstate is a loop. When the first digit is an odd number, it means it’s a spur. In this example, I-380 is spur from Interstate 80 to Waterloo.

The Lazy Acres RV Park is geared toward family use but it’s very quiet on weekdays. Even on the weekend, quiet hours are strictly enforced after 10pm. We were assigned to a long pull-through site – it has to be at least 100 feet long. The graveled parking lane is relatively narrow but the site overall is spacious with a large lawn area, picnic table and fire ring.

It was nice to find a quiet place to rest and unwind from all of the RAGBRAI activity that had us packing up and moving every day for an entire week. After we set up, we rode the Spyder about 10 miles into the countryside near the town of VInton where we found Donna’s nephew’s house.

Mark and his wife Jamie have about eight acres and a nice home of about 5,000 square feet – a big change from the 350 square feet we now call home. After the grand tour, Jamie put out some appetizers and then Mark grilled burgers and brats. It was nice to sit and talk with them.

On Sunday, we decided to extend our stay here until Tuesday. We’re in no hurry to be anywhere so an extra day of quiet time was nice. I even got my fishing pole out and fished the pond here. The office had photos of large mouth bass and catfish taken from the pond.

Fishing for fish

I didn’t have much luck. I had several bites, but they were small fish – not even big enough to take the whole bait in. They took nibbles and stole my bait. It was relaxing anyway.

Today we’ll move on a short distance to Amana. We’ll spend two or three nights there. We’ve been told there are interesting historic sites to see and they have a brewery!

The weather forecast calls for 80s there today, cololing to the mid 70s for the rest of the week. Thundershowers are likely on Thursday, so maybe we’ll stay until Friday.

By the way, I neglected to mention that the first day of RAGBRAI, July 23, marked our four-year anniversary on the road. And in case you’re wondering, we feel like we’re just getting started.

 

*Just so you know, if you follow one of my links to Amazon and decide to purchase anything, you pay the same price as usual and  I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!

RAGBRAI – Last Day

I mentioned the challenges I was having with my internet connection in my last post. The Verizon signal was fine – the trouble was the number of people trying use the cell tower all at once. I finally gave up uploading the photos for that post, so I’ll post a few here the really should have been in the last entry.

This shot gives an indication of how many riders stopped at the Iowa Craft Beer Tent. This is less than half of the bicycles that were parked there while we were there.

Bikes in the farmer’s yard by the beer tent

Tom, Deb and Donna at the Iowa Craft Beer Tent

After we returned to the fairgrounds, I took a walk around. I found way more tents in the area than I’d seen before. One large area had tents lined up in neat, orderly rows with the tents all numbered.

Numbered tents

I talked to a couple there and they told me what the deal was. A company provides a tent for two people with cots – you get the same tent and cots each night. They set up the tents and take them down to transport to the next site. The cost for the week long RAGBRAI event is $800/person or $1600 if you want a tent to yourself. They thought it was well worth it.

Off in the distance, I could see vehicles parked along the edge of a road with tents set up alongside for half a mile or more.

Long line of tents in the distance

I saw another colorful schoolie too.

Colorful schoolie

On Friday evening, Jeff Spencer grilled boneless, skinless chicken thighs. We set up both of our Weber Qs to handle the volume of food. The dinner was excellent as usual – we cut up our chicken and served it over salad.

Both grills in action

I put the grill in the trailer and secured both of my bikes before bedtime.

Saturday morning started out just like the previous six days – alarm clock went off at 5:30am followed by coffee and breakfast. Then Donna and I prepped the coach for travel and everyone was ready to roll by 6:30am.

Day seven – Waukon to Lansing

After our riders headed out, we caravaned in our usual fashion – Deb took the lead, I was in the middle followed by Fred. We had our route planned but ran into a snag a few miles down the road. The route we wanted was IA9 east to Lansing – a short drive of about 14 miles. But we hit a barricaded IA9 at Lycurgus Road and had to detour to the north. This route took us along ridges where we could see foggy valleys – we ended up in the fog for several miles. The riders went south, then east through the Yellow River State Forest – with significant climbs – to Harper’s Ferry. Then they followed the Mississippi River north with two more long hills leading to Lansing. It was a relatively short route at 45 miles, but the total ascent of about 2,900 feet made it a difficult day.

We entered the town of Lansing from the north on IA26. Traffic was bumper to bumper and crawling for the last few miles to town. Once in town, it was chaotic. The parking situation was not good. We were directed through residential streets skirting the downtown area and vehicles were parallel parked on the narrow streets. We kept going hoping to find a large lot somewhere.

On the west end of town, Deb realized that we would soon be on IA9 heading back to Waukon, so she pulled into a large concrete parking pad in front of a house. It was large enough for all three of us. But there was a problem. The homeowner came out on his balcony and said something to Deb. She told him we were trying to figure out where we could park. His reply was, “It’s not here!”

There was a mini-storage facility across the street. We walked over to check it out. There was a painted sign at the front entrance that said Lot H, but it also had a No Parking sign and yellow tape across the entrance. Behind the storage buildings, we saw a large fifth-wheel trailer support vehicle. We looked around and there was enough room for us, but I wouldn’t be able to get turned around if I entered from the back side.

So we came up with a simple solution – Fred pulled the yellow tape – Deb and I rolled in the front entrance and drove around the building to park with the RV in back. Fred replaced the tape. He parked on the street with his passenger side wheels right at the edge of a ditch and his driver’s side a few feet into the street. It was a quiet street with only a handful of houses on it and cars could easily get past. I put out orange traffic cones in front of and behind his rig.

Meanwhile we saw a few other people try the large concrete pad and the homeowner quickly kicked them out. Fred and I walked to a gas station/convenience store a few hundred yards away and bought breakfast pizzas. When we were coming back, I saw two volunteers in orange Lansing shirts removing the yellow tape and no parking sign. I asked them what the deal was. They were holding the spot for one team with a schoolie! I asked them how that worked and all I got was a shrug.

A woman in a black car showed up and started berating our group for parking in her neighborhood. She demanded that Fred get his RV off the street. I was feeling pretty fed up at that point and told her what nice people we’ve met all across Iowa and how each town was so accommodating of the RAGBRAI event – except for Lansing. She said, “We’re a small town, we don’t need this!” I told her that they’ve all been small towns and walked away. Apparently the woman called the police. An officer on an ATV showed up. He said we can’t block driveways or the street. I asked him if we were blocking anything. He looked around and said, “I’m just trying to keep the peace” and rode off up the street toward the complainants house. We didn’t hear from him again and settled down to wait for our riders.

All four riders found us by by 11:20am. We quickly packed our stuff and said our goodbyes until next time. All three of our RVs had separate destinations. That’s how RAGBRAI XLV ended for us. It was a great week, lots of fun with good people. I’m not going to let a couple of sour people in Lansing spoil my memories of great time. Donna had a quick shower and we were on our way. All three of our rigs headed back to Waukon before going in various directions. Going back through Lansing was not a viable option as traffic was completely snarled. For miles heading west on IA9, we saw RVs and buses lining both sides of the highway plus cyclists looking for their drivers. It was slow going for a few miles but nothing compared to town. I’ll write about our trip in my next post.

RAGBRAI – Days 4,5 & 6

I haven’t had a good internet connection for a couple of days, so I’m catching up on the ride now. The day four weather forecast Wednesday morning was not promising. It called for thunderstorms – possibly severe. Looking at the Radar Express app on my smartphone, I could see a line of heavy thunderstorms just west of us and it was moving east. Donna and Jeff Spencer decided to take a day off and not chance riding in what could turn out to be dangerous conditions. Geoff Harrison and Tom decided to go for it. They took off before 6am and hammered eastward to try and outrun the storm. So, team RV There Yet? was split up on Wednesday.

We headed out from Clear Lake before 7am and made a 46-mile drive to Charles City. The bike route for the day was 57.5 miles. We went to a high school that was identified as the main campground. When we arrived there it was chaotic as RVs were trying to exit and enter at the same time while other RVs stopped in the parking area. It turned out the organizers wanted to only have tent campers there. We were told we should go to the KMart parking lot.

Up to this point, the RV camping had been organized pretty well. Trying to accommodate the number of riders and support vehicles of this event in small towns is a logistical nightmare. The crew at KMart wasn’t prepared for the onslaught of RVs. It was every man for himself. We found a level spot that would allow us to exit without too much hassle and had our three rigs lined up.

A fifth-wheel trailer parked next to me and the woman driving it said she was worried about being able to get out in the morning. I told her we planned to leave before 7am and she should have plenty of room to maneuver once we were out. Then she told me one of the crew directing the parking said he might have to put someone lengthwise across our respective bows. This would block us all in. When she told him we needed to able to leave in the morning he said, “Yeah, everyone will leave in the morning.”

What he didn’t seem to understand was not everyone leaves at the same time. That’s why he was still trying to find space for people two hours after we arrived. We put our chairs out in the area in front of our rigs to keep the area clear.

Geoff and Tom rode hard and they made it to Charles City ahead of the storm. I think Donna made the right choice to take the day off though, I don’t think she could safely ride the pace they rode and would have ended up exhausted and possibly caught by high winds, lightning and heavy rain. The number of riders out was way down from the previous days. Where we were parked we only caught the edge of the storm cells. I could see the severe weather around us on the weather radar.

Charles City is called the “Hump Before the Hills.” It was hump day and eastern Iowa gets hilly from there to the Mississippi River. Fred had flank steak marinating in his special sauce and Jeff grilled it – we had corn on the cob to go along with it and enjoyed another great meal together.

Storm moving off to the east

Deb Spencer and I looked at the route laid out for vehicles to get from Charles City to Cresco on Thursday. The route looked fine if you were leaving from the high school, but we were across town at KMart. It would require us to go through the center of town with heavy traffic and cross the bike route which can be difficult as a line of bikes are streaming down the road. We mapped an alternate route which worked out great. We looped around town on US218 and found IA9 that took us all the way to Cresco.

Heading out for day five

We went to the county fairgrounds. When we pulled up at the entrance, the girl directing traffic in the street asked me if I had a reservation. Uh-oh. When I told her “No,” she said I would have to go to the dry camping area. Whew! That’s what we were planning to do anyway.

We’ve figured out that if we leave in the vehicles before 7am, we can reach the day’s destination early enough to be ahead of most of the support vehicles and snag choice camping spots. This worked out great at the fairgrounds as we found a nice level grassy area and parked together. Vehicles kept arriving after us and within 45 minutes, the place was packed and people were pulling in then turning around to find another place for the night.

I got my mountain bike out of the trailer and then pulled out my Orbea road bike. Our plan was to ride to the Iowa Craft Beer tent later and meet up with the rest of the team. I haven’t had my road bike out in a while and I had to change the tube in the front tire – the presta valve was leaking. Deb was going to ride my mountain bike and I would ride my road bike. Then we found out the beer tent was a lot farther away than we thought. We bagged the plan.

When I saw a text from Jeff saying they were about seven miles from town, I rode my mountain bike downtown. I saw Geoff and Tom come by and shortly after that I found Jeff and Donna. I led them to our site – the fairgrounds are fairly large and by then RVs were scattered all over the place. The volunteers were directing riders to the south end of the fairgrounds – we were on the north end.

One of Thursday’s highlights was Lance Armstrong riding the course. A couple of NASCAR racers were on the ride as well – Jimmie Johnson and another that I can’t remember now. I saw a Featherlite Coach built on a Prevost XLII chassis in the fairgrounds. It was decorated with University of Iowa Hawkeye logos and the license plate was Coach1. I thought it was maybe an Iowa Hawkeyes football coach, so I introduced myself and inquired. It turns out he was a fan, not a coach. His license plate was a reference to his number one coach.

When I mentioned his XLII double slide chassis, he asked if I was a Prevost owner – he said only a Prevost guy would recognize the difference between an XL and an XLII. I told him I was an RV geek – I knew the XLII didn’t have the visible rivets of an XL.

Featherlite Vantare on an Prevost XLII chassis

There are more school buses converted to bicycle support vehicles than I ever imagined. We seem to have gotten into a rhythm with other RV support vehicles that make an early start and arrive at the next destination around the same time as us. But I still see a schoolie here and there that I haven’t seen before.

Colorful schoolie from Georgia

The temperature was cooler on Thursday and everyone enjoyed a great ride. Well, almost everyone. Jeff and Donna witnessed a crash involving three riders just ahead of them. The riders were down and police on site called for an an ambulance. We’ve seen a few crashes – it can happen in a heartbeat when riders are in a pack and someone gets distracted.

This morning we were up and ready to roll at the usual time.

Team RV There Yet? day six

We’ve been driving on two-lane highways through rural farmland all week and today was no different. We encountered some rolling hills, but when we arrived at the fairgrounds in Waukon our elevation was about the same as when were in Cresco and Charles City before that – about 1,300 feet above sea level. Once again we snagged primo parking with an easy exit plan for tomorrow.

Primo parking spot

We were able to track the progress of the riders through instant messaging. When Donna and Jeff left Postville – the last town before Waukon – Deb, Fred and I headed out on our bicycles. Our plan was to meet them at the craft beer tent – we figured it was about 5-7 miles away and we should arrive around the same time a Jeff and Donna. Tom and Geoff were ahead of them.

I rode my Orbea road bike, Deb took my Specialized mountain bike and Fred rode his Trek hybrid. Our route shortcutted the final leg of the riders course and had rolling hills. It was also longer than we expected – about eight miles. We made it there and managed to meet up with everyone.

It was warm out and everyone wanted a spot in the shade.

Shade tree

Tom, Fred, Jeff, Deb and Donna in our shady spot

I had a cup of Des Moines IPA,Donna had a hefeweizen – she also had a bacon and blue cheese bratwurst. The ride back was a little harder – it had more uphill sections than downhill and we were riding into a headwind.

Tomorrow is the final day of RAGBRAI XLV – it’s also has the most hills on this year’s course. I have a couple more pictures to upload, but my internet connection is so poor I’m giving up and hoping I can get this post published. After Donna completes the course tomorrow we’ll be on the road – so I won’t post again until Sunday at the earliest.

 

 

RAGBRAI – Day Three

We finished the day Monday with a group dinner. Jeff grilled pork steaks and everyone brought a side dish. We had a great time telling stories as we sat in the shade next to Jeff and Deb’s rig. We called it a day around 9pm, but Donna was still keyed up and watched an episode of House of Cards before hitting the sack.

Tuesday morning was another early riser day. The RV There Yet? riders were on their way around 6:40am and our three support RVs hit the road only a few minutes later.

Ready for day three

Once again Deb led the way out of Algona, Iowa followed by me and then Fred. We had an easy route – we hit US18 and went east. Fred needed to fuel up. We had a little over 50 miles to cover and figured we would stop when we saw a convenient gas station. About halfway along our route Deb spied a gas station and pulled to the side of the highway just before a four-way stop sign. I went across the intersection and stopped on the other side.

When I saw Fred pulling back onto the highway, I accelerated away from the side of the road with him right behind me. I thought Deb was a few cars behind him. The route I mapped had us turn south before we entered the destination town of Clear Lake, Iowa. We ran around the west end of the lake, then followed South Shore Drive to the Clear Lake State Park where Deb and I had reservations.

When I pulled into the park and stopped at the registration kiosk, Deb was right behind me and Fred was behind her. This was puzzling to me, but I didn’t ask how that happened as I was preoccupied with asking the park ranger what I needed to do to claim our site. The reservation website said check-in was at 4pm – we were there at 8am. A 4pm check-in doesn’t make any sense to me – who wants to check-in that late and then hit the road with a 3pm check-out? Anyway, he just told me to proceed to our reserved site.

Since we were there so early, Fred was able to snag a site – they keep about 1/3 of the sites open for drop-ins – not all of the sites are reservable. It turns out that Deb ran a different route – she came through town on the east side of the lake and our entry to the park coincided. Our first stop was at the dump station. It had only been four days for us, but my thinking is dump when convenient and be prepared to dry camp with empty holding tanks and full fresh water – you never know what might come up.

There were two dump stations – I took one and Deb occupied the other. She had a problem with the electric dump valve on their trailer. She knew how to access the problematic valve for the gray water, but didn’t know how to remedy the problem. I came over to help. She phoned Jeff and asked what needed to be done. I could see a manual screw to operate the valve – we just needed to find the correct Allen wrench to turn the mechanism. We got it to work. Meanwhile a couple of other rigs were lined up at the dump station. I did my best to finish up quickly and move to our site.

We had site 153 – this is not a level site. In fact, I don’t think there’s a level site to be found in this park. I jockeyed our coach back and forth through the 70′ pull-through site trying to find the best approximation of level and finally resigned myself to using blocks under the jacks to get us there.

Meanwhile our riders were on the course. It was a windy day with 15-20 mph wind from the southeast gusting higher at times. They were riding a mostly easterly course making for a headwind component. Donna was feeling pretty strong at the start and kept a good pace. They stopped at Wesley about 14 miles from Algona for breakfast.

Biscuits and gravy in Wesley

They continued on battling the wind and split up as Geoff and Tom wanted to hammer through the ride. Jeff and Donna took a break 24 miles in at Britt. Donna went to the Hobo Museum and paid $5  to check it out. She watched a documentary film there and became so engrossed in the story that she stayed for the entire 75-minute production!

Britt also had a Mayberry RFD theme going on – come on now, you remember Mayberry, right?

Aunt Bea and Donna

Jeff and Otis sample a little moonshine in the klink

By the time we’d dumped our tanks and set up, we weren’t too sure about heading back to the meet-up town of Garner. It turned out that Deb had to take care of some business that entailed several lengthy phone calls, so we bagged it. Fred and I took a walk to check out the campground. There is a beach area on the lake that looks nice – we saw some kids swimming but I have to wonder about the water temperature. Later I heard the lake depths are only around 10′, so maybe the water isn’t that cold.

Clear Lake Campground lake access

Deb gave Fred the keys to their GMC Denali truck and we drove into town to see what’s happening. We made a stop at the grocery store then found a bar and grill on the lake for lunch. We dined in the shade just inside the deck overlooking the lake.

View west from The Landing Bar and Grill patio

View north from the patio toward town

Clear Lake, Iowa is a town of about 7,500 residents. The lake is beautiful and the parks are nice. The one thing that probably put this place on the map for anyone over 60 is the Surf Ballroom. On February 2nd, 1959, Buddy Holly played a concert at the packed Surf Ballroom. It was his last.

The story goes that their tour was plagued with mechanical problems on the tour bus and an inadequate heating system in the cold winter weather. When they got to Clear Lake, Buddy Holly had enough. He hired a plane and pilot to fly to their next venue in North Dakota. The plane departed after midnight in the early hours of February 3rd. Fellow band members Tommy Allsup and Waylon Jennings were supposed to fly with him on the three available seats. Allsup lost his seat on a bet with Richie Valens and Waylon gave up his seat to an ailing Big Bopper. The plane crashed five miles north of US18 killing all aboard. That was the day the music died.

After a difficult day battling wind, Donna rode up to our motorhome around 3pm. Tomorrow’s forecast doesn’t have high winds, but it calls for thunderstorms. We’ll see how that pans out in the morning – will they ride or not?

RAGBRAI – Day Two

We had 30amp electrical service at the fairgrounds in Spencer, Iowa. This made it possible for us to keep the windows closed. I had the rear A/C on when we went to bed and changed the fan setting from Auto to Low. This kept the fan running continuously and the compressor only cycled when the temperature rose above the thermostat setting. This gave us some white noise to drown out the sounds of generators running all around us.

Monday morning we were up early again. The RV There Yet? RAGBRAI team was ready to roll before 6:30am.

RV There Yet? team ready for day two

It was a much cooler morning – about 60 degrees outside. Once the riders were off, we headed out of the fairgrounds with Deb leading the way and Fred following me. Our route for the support vehicles made the 65-mile trip to Algona in less than an hour and half. We started out with light fog over the farmland that burned off along the way. One of the designated support vehicle overnight parking facilities in Algona was at Bishop Garrigan High School. We pulled in just past 8am and found the lot to be nearly empty. Deb snagged a choice spot shaded by trees with easy exit access. I pulled in behind her and Fred parked off to our right across the driveway.

Deb and I parked on the east edge of the lot so we had no one next to us on the driver’s side. Over the next hour or so the lot filled. Four semi tractor trailer rigs with Joe’s Bunkhouse painted on the side of the trailers pulled in. Each trailer is outfitted with with four small rooms and two restrooms. Each room has three bunks on each side – six total per room. One of the drivers told Fred that the bunks rent for $800 for the week of RAGBRAI. If it’s totally occupied, that’s $19,200 income for the week. Everyone that reserves a bunk must book the entire week. If you want the room for yourself, you pay for all six bunks.

Joe’s Bunkhouse

The rear compartment of each trailer was set up for different purposes – some had storage for a large tent, tables and chairs. Dinner is included with the bunk. One of the trailers had two sets of washers and dryers. I saw them washing towels – I don’t know if the renters are able to wash clothing.

Washers and dryers in the rear of this bunkhouse

Deb unhitched their GMC Denali from their fifth-wheel and she drove Fred and I to the meet-up town. Meet-up towns are towns designated along the bicyclist route that are set up with ample parking for support vehicles and volunteers to direct traffic. They are the only places along the riding course where support vehicles should operate along the bike route. In one of the support vehicle lots, I saw the Agents of Fortune bus belonging to Rick that we met in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Support van – lower your standards

Today’s meet-up town was West Bend, Iowa – about 21 miles from Algona. We arrived there around 11:30am and found Jeff and Donna. Tom and Geoff decided to take the optional loop making it a century ride – 100 plus miles for them today!

Main drag through West Bend with most bicyclists walking through

Donna told me that most of the small towns they go through end up with bicycle traffic jams and they usually walk their bikes through. After we had lunch from the food vendors on the street we walked to the north side of town to see the Grotto of Redemption. This Grotto is a shrine – actually a conglomeration of nine Grottos depicting the life of Jesus. It is the largest Grotto in world and also considered to be the most complete collection of minerals, fossils, shells and petrifications in one place. It attracts about 100,000 visitors per year.

Two views from outside the south side of the Grotto

After looking around the Grotto, it was time for Jeff and Donna to get back on their bikes and ride the final 20 miles of a 72-mile ride. It was already after 1pm.

Back at the school, generators were running all around. That’s part of the deal when dry camping at RAGBRAI. Donna and Jeff rolled in just after 3pm. They had headwinds and a long grinding uphill at the end of a long day on the bike.

They’ve covered just about a third of the distance in the first two days. Tomorrow will be a shorter ride of about 52 miles. Donna has been expending a lot of effort trying to keep up with the guys and told them not to worry about her in the coming days. If they truly want to hang back and take it a little easier, she’s happy for the company but she doesn’t want to hold them back. She’s happy to just cruise along and enjoy the sights along the way. That said, she’s feeling good about the pace she’s been able to maintain over the long days.

I’m having fun cruising with the support vehicles. These were my first two days of driving a motorhome without a co-pilot, but it was fine. I’m posting when I can, so my posts may publish in the afternoon, evening or night. The mornings are too busy.

 

RAGBRAI Day One

The start of RAGBRAI was coming on fast on Saturday. If you don’t know what RAGBRAI is, please see my previous post. Donna and Deb Spencer took a walk to town with Jeff and Deb’s wire-haired fox terrier, Sam on Saturday morning. They met up with the rest of Team RV There Yet? at the RAGBRAI expo downtown. I rode the Spyder into town and met up with them around 11am. We wandered around the downtown area and checked out all of the vendor booths.

Orange City has a Dutch heritage – orange is the color of the Dutch Royal Family, even though their flag is red, white and blue. The Dutch influence is obvious throughout the town. Streets have Dutch names and many signs are written in the Dutch language.

RAGBRAI Expo tents seen from Windmill Park

We checked out the vendors and had lunch at a place that was named one of the 100 places in Iowa where you must eat before you die –  Woudstra Meats.

Woudstra Meats – Brats to die for

One of the traditions for RAGBRAI is to dip your bicycle tires in the river at the start of the ride and dip them again at the finish in the Mississippi.

Tire dip in Windmill Park

Donna’s getting revved up for the ride

The expo had live music – we saw two stages with bands playing and they were good. At 4pm I went to a presentation for support vehicle drivers and got an idea of what to expect.

The high school parking lot where we’re camped was filled to capacity by Saturday afternoon. This wasn’t too surprising. What surprised me was the grass lot across the street from our location. This was a large grass lot that appeared to be property of a company there. It was empty when we arrived. By Saturday evening it was a tent city!

Tent city

Sunday morning we were up early. I felt well rested – I was so tired when I went to bed Saturday night. Donna had her alarm set for 5:45am . I woke up minutes before it sounded. She had the little rooster crowing again – I love that alarm!

True to form, Jeff Spencer was onsite at 6:30am and Team RV There Yet? was ready to roll. I had the rig ready and was ready to roll out about 10 minutes later. Ozark the cat knew something was up and went into hiding.

It was an easy drive of about 61 miles. I found the fairgrounds with Fred right behind me. At the entrance I was told that I could have electricity and water for $20. I paid for it. Then I went to the northwest area where I was told to go. What I found was a large grass area with electrical pedestals every 100 feet or so. The pedestals had half a dozen 30 amp receptacles. Water spigots were even farther spaced. Half of the grass lot had chalk lined spaces. I went past that to an open grass area and parked next to a power pedestal. I was the only one in this area and hoped I wasn’t breaking rules. Within 30 minutes I had rigs all around me. Most of them didn’t have long enough power cords to reach the pedestals. I couldn’t reach a water spigot.

I found Deb Spencer less than a 100 yards away. After saying hi, I came back and saw a police car behind our coach. I wondered if I was parked illegally. When I walked behind our coach I saw the issue – the short bus with the bull horns we saw in Orange City was parked by us. A rental RV had collided with it. I’m not sure how this happened – there was plenty of open space.

Huh?

I rode the Spyder back along our route to Primghar – the designated meet up town on today’s route. The crazy thing is I got there and parked the Spyder – then I saw a text message from Deb Spencer telling me where Donna was about two blocks away!

The boys taking a break along the way

We found each other and had rib eye sandwiches with Jeff and Tom – eight dollars for a rib eye sandwich, chips and a bottle of water – benefiting the local fire department.

Early lunch in Primghar

I blasted back to the fairgrounds and we waited for our riders to arrive. Deb, Fred and I took chairs into a shady spot and watched riders come by. We had an idea from a couple of text messages where Jeff, Tom, Donna and Geoff were. We saw several interesting bicycles – recumbents and a penny-farthing high wheel bike!

Meanwhile I prepped babyback ribs that Geoff bought in Orange City. Iowa is the place to get first rate pork. I broke out the Traeger. Donna made an Asian cole slaw and cornbread, Deb brought a salad, sweet potatoes, and watermelon, and the guys brought chocolate chip cookies. It was a nice meal to end the day.

Tomorrow is a longer ride of 73 miles. The weather took a turn for the better – Saturday was hot with high humidity but the humidity dropped by the evening. Sunday’s ride had cooler temps by 10 degrees or more, much less humidity and mostly favorable winds. Fingers crossed for this to continue.

 

The Road to RAGBRAI

Our last full day in Sioux Falls was Thursday. I had a busy schedule – first up I rode the Spyder to Madison – 50 miles away. I went west on SD42 and knew I had turn north on SD19 – 456th Street. It was about 20 miles to the first turn. I hadn’t gone more than 10 miles when I crossed 467th Street. I thought, “How can this be? I have more than 10 miles before I reach 456th, but that’s only 10 blocks away.” Then it dawned on me. Outside of the city, the farmland is divided into sections. Each section is 640 acres – a square mile. Each numbered street is a mile apart – there are no subdivisions and city blocks.

Heading north on SD19, I missed a turn and had to ride about three miles of gravel road before I got back on track. In Madison, I visited the office of our mail service and found our registrations and license tabs had arrived. That was a relief – I did’t want to continue to drive on expired plates.

After I got home, Donna and I took turns going out on the Spyder and shopping – we were stocking up for the next 10 days as we cross Iowa. I also organized the trailer and made it ready for travel. Thursday evening we took a walk through the RV park and got a taste of what we’re heading for. A converted bus with 10 bicycles on the roof was in the park. This is a support vehicle for a team of RAGBRAI riders. We talked with the owner – he came from Richmond, Virginia and is participating in his 10th RAGBRAI. The bus was outfitted with seats and storage spaces for 10 riders,  large quantities of beer, water and sports drinks and they were installing USB ports so the riders can charge their devices. The owner is a Blue Oyster Cult fan and the bus has Agents of Fortune stenciled on the side – that was Blue Oyster Cult’s biggest selling album in the ’70s.

Blue Oyster Cult themed support bus

Friday morning we woke up to rain. I deviated from my normal routine and hadn’t removed the windshield cover the day before travel. So I had to store a wet cover in the trailer. I didn’t want to roll it up and store it in a basement compartment like I usually do because it would likely mildew.

We had a short drive of 77 miles to Orange City, Iowa. As we traveled south out of Sioux Falls, we passed by Lennox. I had relatives in the Sioux Falls area – mostly great uncles and aunts – brothers and sisters of my grandfather on my dad’s side of the family. When I was 10 years old, I spent a week on my great uncle Hank’s farm near Lennox. Our route then took us through Canton where my great uncle Ed was sheriff. I spent a week with him and Aunt Sadie on the same trip when I stayed on the farm.

Donna commented on the rolling hills of northern Iowa. The bike ride across Iowa may not be as flat as we envisioned. We came into Orange City from the north. As we rolled through town, we saw preparations underway for the start of RAGBRAI. We didn’t see the turn for the RV parking and had to make a loop around a section of land – once we passed through town we were immediately into farmland on a dirt road.

Our friend and organizer of our team, Jeff Spencer, phoned us. He was at a high school parking lot that was a designated RV area. He gave us directions and we found him along with a volunteer named Brian who was in charge of the parking area. It was a large, fairly level concrete lot. We were the first RV to arrive there. Brian directed us to park diagonally with our front pointed toward the exit. He was planning ahead for the rush of vehicles trying to leave the lot all at once Sunday morning.

RAGBRAI is an acronym for the (Des Moines) Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa. This event was conceived by two columnists that wrote for the Register in 1973. It has grown to huge proportions. There are 8,500 riders registered along with 1,500 RV permits issued for the 45th event. We’re told some sections of the ride will have more than 10,000 riders as unregistered bicyclists join in. Not all of the support RVs are registered – many will dry camp along the streets. The registration sticker for a support vehicle allows access to designated RV camps.

Our support vehicle pass

There are two routes published for each day. One route is for the bicyclists that will take them on roads closed to vehicular traffic. The other route is for support vehicles to get to the destination city for the that day.

As the day wore on, more RVs pulled into the parking lot. Around 5:30pm, the rest of Team RV There Yet? arrived. It was three people in a class C coach – Tom, his father-in-law Fred and another Geoff. Tom and Fred are from Elkhart, Indiana and Geoff is from Austin, Texas. Fred will drive their RV while Tom and Geoff ride. Jeff Spencer will ride and his wife Deb will drive their truck and fifth-wheel RV. Of course I’m driving our coach and Donna will ride.

Team RV There Yet?

Some of the support vehicles are a hoot. I took a few photos of the rigs here.

Several riders are supported by this bus

Short bus put together with a heavy duty diesel drive train

There are several conventional RVs – we’re on the far end

It was hot and humid out. We set up chairs between our coach and Tom’s where the breeze kept us reasonably cool and visited for a while.

Jeff Spencer, Ozark the Cat, Tom, Donna, Geoff, Deb and Fred

After a while, we walked over to Los Tupilanes – a Mexican restaurant next to the high school. The food was surprisingly good. This city of about 6,200 people will be hopping this weekend as its population triples. This is the first time Orange City has been on the RAGBRAI route – the route changes every year. Everyone in town seems excited to be the starting point of the event and I’m sure the local businesses are happy about the inflow of visitors.

Over the past 44 years, RAGBRAI has passed through 780 Iowa towns and spent the night in 125 overnight towns. It has been in all of Iowa’s 99 counties.

Today the Expo with vendors starts at noon. I’ll go to the support vehicle driver’s safety meeting at 4pm. It’s going to be another hot day – the temperature should reach the low 90s. Tomorrow is expected to be a little cooler. I plan to head out early – be on the road as close to 7am as I can. The route is about 63 miles and will end in Spencer, Iowa. Right now I have good internet connectivity. That may change in the coming days. Even if we have a good signal, I’m guessing cell towers may become overloaded. I’ll post updates when I can.

 

Falls Park

Donna took a rest day on Tuesday after riding 85 miles over three days. She had plans to meet her friend Elizabeth Hagen for lunch. I did some light maintenance on her bike – washed it, cleaned and lubed the chain and adjusted the derailleur.

Other than that, we didn’t make any plans because the forecast called for bad weather. The dire warnings of severe thunderstorms likely to hit Sioux Falls Tuesday afternoon turned out to be a false alarm as the storms stayed to the north. So we went out to explore.

We rode the Spyder over to Falls Park – a city park on the Big Sioux River where it cascades through a series of Sioux Quartzite rock formations. Sioux Quartzite is a very dense stone consisting of silica-cemented quartz sandstone – it’s said to be the second hardest rock – only diamonds are harder. The stone beds at the falls are very resistant to erosion and the rocks in the area probably haven’t changed much in 10,000 years.

We parked in the lot behind the Falls Overlook Cafe. When we pulled in, we saw an Alpine Coach pull into the park ahead of us. We talked briefly with the owner. He and his wife were from Pennsylvania and were on a five-month long trip that took them down to the southwestern US and now they are completing the loop back to Pennsylvania.

We walked along the paths in the park and checked out the falls. The Big Sioux River is contaminated with decomposing organic matter and agricultural runoff – swimming in it isn’t advised. At the falls, I noticed some of the water was the color of tea – probably due to tannins from decomposing twigs and tree branches. Donna noticed excessive foam on some pools of water – most likely another by-product of decomposing organic matter acting as a surfactant. Both tannins and surfactants are naturally occurring when water is exposed to plant matter or peat.

At the information center there’s a small gift shop and a viewing tower. The tower is about five stories high and gives a great view of the park and surrounding area.

Falls Park from the viewing tower – downtown in the background

In the photo above, the Falls Overlook Cafe is the building on the left. Behind it you can see the ruins of the Queen Bee Mill. This seven-story structure was built in 1881 at a cost of $500,000 – a staggering sum in those times. It processed 1,500 bushels of wheat per day, but closed down in 1883 due to inadequate water to power it and a shortage of wheat. It changed hands several times but never was successful. In 1956 it was destroyed by fire which consumed the upper floors and roof. Later, the upper walls were knocked down to prevent them from falling.

A look at the falls from the foot bridge spanning the river

These closer views reveal the color from tannin

Although the heat and humidity was oppressive, the walk through the park and observation tower were well worth the effort. You can take an elevator to the top of the tower and the breeze up there felt good.

We left the park and rode downtown to Woodgrain Brewing Company. This is a microbrewery with a 10-barrel system and a nice pub at the corner of Phillips and 9th in the Plaza Building. We were a little surprised to see they share the first floor with Bluestem Capital – a financial planning firm. One door out of the pub leads you across the Bluestem reception area where you’ll find the restrooms. Now that’s a little different!

Woodgrain Brewing makes their own brews onsite and strives to use locally sourced ingredients including local hops and yeast strains developed by a local microbiology company. I had a pale ale and an IPA – the pale ale wasn’t my cup of a tea – a little green. The IPA was well balanced and I liked it. Donna had a lime kolsch that she thought was a little bitter and a milk stout that she enjoyed.

Wednesday we had more storm warnings for the afternoon. Donna went out on her bike and rode 28 miles. I had errands to run. I had passport photos made at Walgreens, then went to the post office to turn in my passport application – my old passport is expired. I’m a bit worried about how that will turn out. We don’t have a permanent physical address, only a mail forwarding service address. I don’t know what the US State Department will make of that. If they don’t issue me a passport, I’m out $110 – they don’t make refunds if an application is denied – and I won’t be making any plans to cross the border in either direction.

Once again the severe weather passed to the north of us. Donna caught up on laundry using the park’s laundromat and I completed my errands. We hung out and had a quiet evening.

There’s a construction crew on the highway next to the RV park. They start work early – around 6am and they are noisy! A jackhammer at 6am is not nice. Today I need to make a 100-mile round trip on the Spyder – I’m going to Madison to pick up mail at MyDakotaAddress. We usually have them forward our mail whenever we’re stationary for a week or so, but I’ve been waiting for our registrations and license tabs to arrive. So I’ll ride up there and retrieve our mail.

We also have to finish stocking up supplies for the RAGBRAI next week. The ride across Iowa takes us through many small towns and groceries are sure to be in short supply as thousands of people come through.

The forecast for today calls for a high of 90 degrees with thunderstorm warnings again tonight. I’ll pack up the trailer and we’ll head to Orange City, Iowa tomorrow morning.

Sioux Falls Bicycle Loop

One of the truths we’ve found over the past four years of travel is there are many points of interest to see no matter where you are in this country. We are currently in Sioux Falls, South Dakota which is a case in point. Sioux Falls lies in the southeast corner of the state, 15 miles west of the border with Minnesota and even closer to Iowa to the southeast.

Sioux Falls is the largest city in South Dakota with a population of about 175,000 – there are about 250,000 people in the metro area. The city is named after the cascading falls on the Big Sioux River which loops around the city.

The Big Sioux River flows down from the north and runs along the west side of the Sioux Falls Regional airport south of I-90. It continues south on the west side of the city for about 10 miles before it loops around to the east then heads back north on the east side of the city. It flows north all the way back to the east side of the airport before turning east then looping south again into Iowa and eventually drains into the Missouri River.

So, the river flows around the city on three sides – but it actually loops completely around the city. This is due to a diversion channel that was completed in 1961 that diverts water from the river on the north side of the airport and directs it south east to intersect the river on the east side of the city. This diversion channel was made to prevent flooding in the city – water can be channeled back into the Big Sioux northeast of the city instead of flooding the city. The channel has a dam on the west end and a 118-foot spillway on the east end. It’s just about three miles long.

There are 80 public parks in Sioux Falls with Falls Park being the centerpiece. All along the Big Sioux River are greenbelts and much public land. A paved bicycle path makes a 19-mile loop along the Big Sioux and the diversion channel. This is what attracted us to this location. Donna can ride about half a mile from the Tower RV Park and join the bike path. This is perfect for her final training rides before she hits road for the Register Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI). This year RAGBRAI begins on Sunday, July 23rd in Orange City and crosses the state from west to east, ending at Lansing, Iowa a week later on the banks of the Mississippi River.

Donna rode two loops of the bike path yesterday – one in each direction – and put in over 40 miles. It was hot and windy making for a challenging ride. Here are some pictures from her ride.

An oncoming cyclist on a tree covered lane

Kids exploring Falls Park

Information along the trail – click to enlarge

Spillway from the diversion channel

This is not the falls!

Downtown Sioux Falls area

Last night we watched a movie – Sully – which we thoroughly enjoyed. A thunderstorm blew in before we went to bed with high winds and hard rain. This morning it’s clear and sunny but with 86% humidity and the forecast calls for more thundershowers beginning around noon.

Donna is meeting her friend Elizabeth Hagen for lunch. I plan to do some maintenance work on her bicycle.