RAGBRAI

 Our Saturday night airbnb guests left about 9am and we had to clean it before the next group came.  We got most of it done and Denny headed to church.  I was finishing making food for the evening meal and getting airbnb ready and it kept getting later and later and I decided to head into IG with my lawn chair to wait for Alisa.  Wonderful morning.  I sat at the corner opposite UBI just watching people.    There were 4 shuttle busses that distributed people around and so I rode the shuttle bus around one 30 minute loop looking at all the happenings.  I met Alisa at 602 4th street where the rest of her group was planting them selves for the night.  It was Jenny S. and Ryan E. house (who are  Matt and Missy's age).   Before we headed out to the farm we drove around IG and looked at ALL the tents and people.  WOW!!  It seemed like every green space was filled.  High school, elementary school, vineyard, Catholic church, City park, Moorehead park. WOW!!  Its looked so amazing and organized and fun!!! At home we visited with Alisa and invited the 5 from her group staying in a 5th wheel to join us for supper. Denny grilled brats while they grilled chicken.  We had sweet corn, sautéed green beans in garlic butter with sliced almonds, arugala salad,  creamy cukes, SO!! GOOD!!  Fun to show them around the farm. After supper I started a fire and Alisa and I prayed for Missy and Phillip.  SO Good!!!  Before heading to bed she and I made a  couple of bouquets of flowers, one for her mom and one for door prize for gals golfing on Monday.  She went to bed and I waited up for the ragbrai group that had booked the airbnb.  Uffda!! They didn't drive in until 11 pm.  We were beginning to wonder because we hadn't heard anything; we hoped nothing had happened, or maybe they had decided to stay in town, or maybe they couldn't find our place, hopefully no accident.    They finally got here at 11.  We knew they were a group of 6-8 couples traveling in a bus.  They said they had shut down the Sportsman.  There were 15 of them saying they could/would all stay in the airbnb.  Really ????  Our contact had booked our place for the 6 ladies saying the guys in their group would sleep in the bus.  (The couple of the travelers that we were visiting with said no one ever sleep on the bus over night.  Well, maybe there was one place a person could sleep.)  We knew they would be wanting showers and Denny had texted them earlier and offered the bunkhouse shower to the guys.  Each of the 15 had a tub they carried down to the airbnb.  As they went down we were visiting with a couple of the group on the patio and there was a loud noise.  One gal fell as she was going up the airbnb stairs.  (My first thought was lawsuit.)  Uffda!!  Luckily, she was ok.  Their group was originally from the same town and had been doing Ragbrai every year since 1999.   They said that after the first year they never registered with Ragbrai because they don't use any of their services.  They said they don't use their campgrounds or sag wagons, or equipment hauling.  REALLY???? What about the route that is planned???  or the law enforcement that protects the bikers as they ride???  or the food trucks that travel and provide nourishment ??  or the music that is planned in each town during Ragbrai??      I was not impressed.  (But Denny said they left the airbnb clean when they left Monday morning.  SO there's that.)    (And airbnb did deposit their $89 payment for the reservation for 6 ladies.  So there's that. )  Now that's about enough ranting from me.  I have pledged myself not to bad mouth any more ... so if you're reading this and have questions, don't ask.  My goal is just to say nothing but to acknowledge we had a group here overnight.  Uffda!!  I finally got to bed about 12:30 am and was up about 5:15 am to get ready to take Alisa  to IG so she would be ready by 6 am. to start the next day of biking to Poky.   What a fun and amazing day!! We loved having Phillips cousin Alisa here!!   I love our small rural town.  Hurrah!!! for IG!  (Actually one of the guys did sleep in the bus and one of the guys did sleep in the upstairs of the bunkhouse.  The rest slept .downstairs .... So there's that.)  But the airbnb was clean when they all departed about 9:30 am. Monday morning to head to Pocahontas. 

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