RAGRBAI recap Y'ALL!!!

I would first like to say a HUGE thank you to my hubs for being the mommy and daddy while I was gone for the whole week last week for RAGBRAI.  It was very hard on me being gone y'all but at the same time it was a lot of fun!  Now don't get me wrong, being up at 2:30 AM some mornings was FAR FROM fun but the whole experience was great!

I would like to thank the Christensen family for asking me to go and help them.  If y'all have not stopped at their stand either on RABGRAI or at Downtown Farmer's Market you are really missing out!  They serve some of the best breakfast around and it is always with a smile! The crew we had this year was a blast and I got to know most of them pretty well! 

We started out the week by working market on Saturday first and then meeting up to get everything loaded for the week.  We left Des Moines Saturday afternoon around 3:00.  This was very hard for me y'all!  I worked market, got home around 1, finished packing for the week and got to spend about an hour with Big B before leaving him for a WEEK!!!  To make things a little easier on mommy, Big B and I had a little "date" the night before with pizza and a movie!  We took him to his first theater movie and he did GREAT!  Anyway back to my week y'all!

B and mommy date night!

We left town and headed west to pick up the rest of the crew.  We met up with the other truck and trailer as well as the refrigerator truck and the remaining crew members to make the long trek up north to "God's Country!"  Wow y'all it is a LONG and BORING drive up there, I am telling you!  Plus we all followed each other of course so it wasn't like we were going very fast. 

We FINALLY made it to Le Mars where we were spending the first night around 9 I think after a few stops here and there.  I was in the ice cream capital of the world and didn't even get to enjoy it! :(  Oh well, there will be other chances I am sure.

Day 1  Sunday morning not so bright and early we were up and at um to set up camp for the first time.  I think the alarm went off at 3:00 AM that morning because we had to pack up and leave the hotel that morning also.  We headed to Hull to serve some great breakfast.  I am tell'n y'all there are some little ass towns in Iowa that I have NEVER heard of!!  But they have the nicest people in them!!

This wasn't my first taste of RABGRAI but I haven't seen it in about 15 years so to see the wide variety of riders was amazing to me!  I can't believe how many little kids go with their parents and wide for the whole week!  That was pretty cool to me. 

Day 2 we head to Terrill.  The whole time we were talking about RAGBRAI in the weeks before I thought everyone was saying Carroll.  Um, not even close and this town was little y'all but I have said for years, there is something to be said about small towns!! They really are the best!  I should know, I am from one!! :)  Terrill had midget wresting, a slip and slide and LOTS of beer (for a breakfast town) because there was LOTS of drunk bike riders "trying" to ride their bikes out of town around 1 when we were heading out. 

This is what is amazing to me y'all, how do you ride a bike when you are drunk?!  It is hard enough to ride one when you are sober........but drunk!??!!?

Day 3 was the long hall to Bancroft.  Some of the hotels we stayed at we could be in for two nights if they were close enough to where we were going to be.  This one was like that except it was about an hour and 20 min drive for us to get there!!  So I think the alarm went off at 2:30 that morning y'all! 

This was my favorite day y'all because I got to see a celebrity! Dallas Clarke stopped at the booth for breakfast not once but twice that morning!!  He was nice enough to take a picture with us too!!

Morgan, Dallas, and I at Bancroft.

After we all went back to the hotel to rest and relax a little bit and get some dinner we decided to head into Northwood and do a little bowling and play some pool.  It was nice to just get to know each other a little bit and have some fun.  I felt like the mom of the group since I was "ALOT" older than most of them but it was still a lot of fun!

Day 4 and the crew is really working well together.  We are in Clear Lake and the weather couldn't be more beautiful!!  The bikers are really enjoying their rides which makes everyone's mood better when they are in better moods!!  This was the day we had some entertainment beside us as far as other vendors go!  They were quite the site to watch is all I can say!!  I am sure the rest of the crew knows exactly who I am talking about on this day!! :)

Day 5 and things are running like a well oiled machine! Thank goodness because we were set up and serving food in about 40 minutes this morning in Nora Springs!  What a cute little town this was too!  They had a mechanical surf board here and there were quite a few bikers enjoying the board!  Looked fun but not for this mom y'all!! 

We headed to Waterloo to the hotel this night.  First thing on the agenda was for us girls to find a Starbucks!!  I love small towns y'all but this mama needs her coffee!!!!  Later that night I got to enjoy some adult drinks with some of the older guys and get to know them a little better!!  What a great crew we had with us on RAGBRAI this year!!  I am so happy I got to go and I hope I get to go next year too!

Day 6, the FINAL day!!!  I must say this was NOT my favorite day.  I know this is shocking to y'all but it didn't start out very well at all!  We were heading to Tripoli to set up and it was about 3:45 and raining pretty good.  I was driving the last car of the caravan because it was an SUV and everything was a truck.  Out of no where we were rear-ended.  All I can say is everyone was on and the SUV was still drivable.  It wasn't a good experience and I hope it never happens again!  I was just glad no one was hurt!  We eventually made it into Tripoli and set up shop.  Well y'all the day just got worse in a hurry!!  It stared raining and the wind picked up and it was lightening really bad.  It just went from bad to worse in a hurry!!!  Lets just say it was not a great day y'all! 

All in all, the week was AMAZING!!!  I had a blast and my boys back home did great without me!  There wasn't a better feeling however, than the ones of Big B's little arms around my neck on Friday afternoon when they came to pick me up!  He just kept laughing and saying Mommy!!!  It was the cutest thing in the world!! 

Next year I will get more pictures of the riders and our crew for y'all!  The next big thing is the State Fair stuff.  I will keep y'all posted on how projects are going and things go at the fair. 

Thanks for reading y'all!