RAGBRAI 2013 – It's a Wrap!

Big Red has come home to rest in his own driveway, the washing machine is on its fifth load, and two weeks worth of mail awaits scrutiny. The Merrows have all returned safely to their original starting places with warm memories of big-hearted Iowa, its' beautiful corn-field dotted landscapes, its friendly people and its many innovative ways to serve pork. RAGBRAI 2013 is a happy memory.

Our three-day journey east via Dodge Ram diesel prairie schooner, aka Big Red, was smooth and unmarred by automotive calamity.

After two truck stop nights, one in Illinois and one in Ohio, we were looking forward to the first actual bed in eight days. It was provided by an old chum from my days as a teacher in Bloomfield some 43 years ago. Fellow teacher Peggy Newberry Toluba’s life has taken her to Lewisburg, PA, home of Bucknell University and nearby home of the bed & breakfast which Peggy and her husband Tony run. Peggy reached out to me last year to renew our acquaintance. When she said, “If you are ever passing through central Pennsylvania…..,” well who could forget a proposal like that. And here is where we stayed.

Their 130 –year old Victorian mansion has all the original woodwork, pocket doors, marble mantels, and high ceilings that any old house lover could ask for. Coupled with a wonderful evening of reminiscing and blueberry pancakes for breakfast, this interlude in Amish country was a wonderful way to postpone the entry into the real world.

One diversion when crossing Pennsylvania: collecting unusual place names. Here’s this year’s list: Gipsy, Turkey City, Barkeyville, Whiskerville, Pecan, Leeper, Boot Jack, Export, Drifting, and Jesrsey Shore.

So much changes in two weeks away during the summer…the weeds became bodacious [Copy editor's note: this huge lawn of weeds would not have been well received in Guthrie Center, Iowa, where a mowing ordinance requires you to keep residence grasses "...not more than 8" high..."], the days are noticeably shorter, and the katydids are hinting at fall.

We of course are much the same, but as we now pick up the threads of life here in East Haddam, we are at the very least reminded that we might be getting older, but we are still strong and competent enough to take on a 3000 mile road trip and a 410 miles-of-cycling RAGBRAI adventure!

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IMAGE CREDITS: 1- Sue Merrow; 2- Field Katydid from Thomas J. Walker's North American Katydids