Marshalltown to Hiawatha

This day began very overcast. There had been some light rain during the night so that the roads were a little wet. The forecast had been for some rain this day so we were kind of expecting these conditions.

The plan was once again Jeff riding by himself up ahead of the rest of us. I was going to go about 25-30 miles and then stop in whatever town that happened to be. I got to about the 20 mile mark and decided to take a couple pictures because the dark sky looked kind of neat. No more than 5 minutes after that it started to rain, and it rained hard. By the time I got to the town I was planning to stop in I was soaked. As I rode through the little town all I saw was bunches of bikers lined up along the front walls of the businesses, trying to stay dry under whatever overhangs were available. I saw no easily accessible food or drink, and I was already completely soaked so I decided to keep on riding.

The distance between towns for the rest of this day was supposed to be about every 5 or 10 miles so I figured I would ride to the next town and probably stop there. Well, I evidently missed that town. After realizing that I had missed that town I decided I really needed to stop at the next town. Turns out I rode 50 miles from Marshalltown that morning before stopping.

I took a nice long rest, eating a bar-b-que pork sandwich and a walking taco, and then using the Kybo.

Have I mentioned our restroom facilites yet? During this weeklong event, about the only restroom facilities are the Kybo’s, alternatively known as Port-O-John’s, Port-O-Let’s, etc. One of the photos on this page shows a bank of approximately 25 Kybo’s lined up near the campground at Hiawatha. When I went on RAGBRAI in 1995 and 1996 with my brother Jeff, one of the things I disliked the most at the end of the week was the Kybo’s. They would frequently not have any toilet paper in them and they would stink. This year I though they were noticeably better. I only encountered one day where the toilet paper was out in a bunch of them. They even had hand sanitizer in most of the Kybo’s this year.

Click on thumbnail image to see a larger version of the same.

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So, after having rested for probably 30 minutes in this town 50 miles from Marshalltown, all the while it was drizzling rain, I was getting cold. I began riding again in the rain and warmed up after a few miles. The rain stopped while I was probably about an hour from Hiawatha, and I began to dry out during that last 15 miles. I didn’t stop riding until I got to Hiawatha, at about noon.

Once again, Jeff was already there, although he had only been there for about 30 minutes. He had immediately found a Wal-Mart where he bought some gear to help us sleep a little better. He bought two foam mats to put under our sleeping bags and try to make the ground a little softer. He also bought another plastic tarp to put under the tent because we thought it might rain some more that night. Turns out it didn’t. The ground was very hard at this campsite. We bent several of our tent stakes trying to get them into the ground.

Brian arrived within 30 minutes of when I got there, then Josh and Ryan followed him some time later.

The concensus of our group was that Hiawatha did the best job of any overnight town in hosting the bike riders. The people of the town came out and completely lined the incoming route, and they were handing out all sorts of goody bags, treats, and yelling encouragement to the riders. Among other things I got was a bag full of pens and mechanical pencils. Vickie and I shouldn’t have to buy any of these for quite some time at home. Another thing that people were handing out were frozen push-up ice treats. We saw these at many places during the week and they were always very welcome. When we finally arrived at the campground, they had lots of food tents, entertainment, and the bike shop vendors, all set up right next to the campground. It was much more convenient than any of the other overnight stops.

We showered at a fire station that was only a couple blocks from the campground. The water pressure was good, but the water was a little on the cool side.

I ended up going to Wal-Mart after showering because I needed a pair of shoes that I could walk around in. I had only brought one pair of tennis shoes, and they had gotten soaked while riding in the rain. I bought a pair of $6 sandals at Wal-Mart and wore them around that evening. My tennis shoes were still wet the next morning but I had to put them on and go anyway.


	[RAGBRAI 2004] [Onawa] [Onawa to Lake View] [Lake View to Fort Dodge] [Fort Dodge to Iowa Falls] [Iowa Falls to Marshalltown] [Marshalltown to Hiawatha] [Day 5 Photos] [Hiawatha to Maquoketa] [Maquoketa to Clinton] [Steve Pope Photos] [RAGBRAI History] [Detailed Map] [Pass-Through Towns] [Ride Overview] [GeoBike Factoids] [GeoBike Climb & Wind]