High Five for Friday

It's Friday! Though it seems like a Tuesday for me. Probably because I took off most of this week. That being said, we're going to do a special RAGBRAI edition of the H54F.

1. We spent four days of this week on RAGBRAI! It ran across northern Iowa, where Adam has some family. We are so lucky we had such great hospitality while we were up there, we didn't even have to stay in a tent! This is good news when you ride your bike all day. We stayed with Adam's aunt and uncle, his cousin, and some of my friend's parents' friends (I'll give you a second to try and figure that out.) Never-the-less, it was great to see and spend time with people we don't see very often.

Me with Adam's aunt and cousin + pups

2. Iowa sweet corn. Iowa sweet corn. It's the best. The best. (Do you think I'm just copying each phrase and italicizing it?) (Do you thi...I kid.) But in all seriousness, folks, Iowa sweet corn is good. And definitely one of my favorite stops on RAGBRAI. You know, those sweet corn stands on the side of the road with coolers full of delicious, hot, (sweet) corn. I just love it. I actually had a bit of a hard time finding that primo sweet corn that I just described. See, I don't want to go into a town and get some off of a cart. I need it to be out of a van, or a truck, or (jackpot) a trailer.

That Iowa sweet corn.

3. One of the towns we stopped in, Terrill, had a pro-wrestling ring set up. I think I'm using the word 'pro' loosely, but it was excellent entertainment. We weren't sure what was going on when we first got there, but it wasn't long before Ricky, the defending champ, took the stage to take on his opponent. It was a great match (according to pro-wrestling standards), and we really enjoyed it. Unfortunately, Ricky lost, but we heard he had another shot at getting his title back. Unfortunately, we had to leave town before it started, but I'm confident he took the gold. He was nice enough to stop and pose for a picture with his newest fan.

Defending champ, Ricky

4. On our first day, we rode into a town called Hull and at the start of town, we passed by a house with a sign in their driveway that said 'Vizsla Puppies', so I slammed on my breaks and rode on in. Our pup, Nellie, is a vizsla, and I think this is something only other vizsla owners will understand (any of you out there?!). We stopped and saw the most adorable little puppy. Who looked just like our pup a couple years back. It was a great start to our 70 mile day.

Isn't she the sweetest?!

5. We're already looking forward to next year's RAGBRAI. It's not looking like we'll have our kiddo home at this point next summer, so who knows, maybe we'll try and do the whole thing. We joked (maybe?) that we have our team name, Big Jon (no h). Which is named for my friend's dad, who, you guessed it, would be Big Jon (no h). Either way, RAGBRAI is a blast, and we've already got some plans in the works.

RAGBRAI may seem like it's just riding your bike across Iowa (okay, well it kind of is), but it's so much fun. How was your week? Leave a comment and tell me about it!