Hot, Hot, HOT!!

In spite of that, we’re having a great time!

I always have intentions of blogging everyday, but every year I forget how unbelievably difficult it is to find internet access or a decent signal on my aircard.  The system is so overloaded with the influx of 20,000 cyclists and their electronica – we get text messages from one another the next day.

The drive up was uneventful, considering the bus, the passengers, and the mission.  We met 5  team members in 3 places near Davenport.  So we were finally assembled as a team of 16 and headed across the state to Glenwood, the starting town.

The ride up gets interesting

The first morning is always so exciting — we’re like racehorses waiting for the gates to open.  Everyone is in clean, new Team Fly jerseys, our bikes are cleaned and tuned and we get up at sunrise ready to roll.

most of the team starting out

The weather forecast has been for mid to high 80’s, which sounds lovely until you factor in the heat index (which, by the way friends, Rush Limbaugh says is a left wing conspiracy).  We’ve had such high humidity a couple of days have been ridiculously uncomfortable.  It has finally (on day 6) leveled off a bit, but it’s still toasty.

musician in a tree doing yoga?
hanging around the campsite in the evening
Slacklining for cyclists
Chef Dustin and our salmon feast
typical campsite shot
temporary tattoos
sometimes it happens
some small town in Iowa
not sure
all of Iowa has this good of reception
Bobbing for beer - not as easy as it looks
tequila, especially expensive tequila, helps with the heat
sweet Sam
another typical campsite shot
lots and lots of this

I know this blog is heavy on the pics and light on the words, but I’ll go back and fill in.  Hopefully the pics tell a lot of the story.  I’ll try to have more pictures on my Facebook page and on the Team Fly Facebook page.

For now, I’ll end this blog at about the halfway point of the ride and do a followup post when I can get internet again.

We are having a blast, as we always do on this magnificent bike ride.  We are enjoying each other and all of our new friends in spite of the atrocious heat.

Thanks for reading!!