And he's off-Sunday, July 22, Sioux Center to Cherokee

5am comes really early, especially when Jeff is a morning guy, fired up for RAGBRAI, fidgety and raring to go...and I am not.  We had mapped out our route for the drive from  Sioux City to Sioux Center, crossing the Little Sioux River, (everything in this area is named Sioux something which can be a bit confusing) the night before.  This was smart because every wrong turned landed us back in Nebraska.  Jeff was lost in the crowd within seconds of joining the ride and I headed back to Sioux City.  Jeff had 60 some miles on the road to look forward to, I had a nice breakfast and a good book to read at the Hilton-easy to tell who's fit and who's not.

Jeff arrived Cherokee about 10 minutes before me, found me driving up, and we headed for the celebratory beer at the bar.  Nothing like a good old Midwest tavern, smoky smell, locals and all.  The bar "maid" was so short, she could barely set the cans of beer on the bar and collect the cash.  Her helper had to have been in her 70's, skinny, wearing a tight black t-shirt with a silver glittery "Bitch" on the front.      

It's stinkin' hot, a bit windy for a long bike ride, but Jeff said the ride was good.  His ticker is just fine!  The characters are out again this year-one rider dressed like a French Apach with a pencil moustache, striped shirt, beret, and strands of garlic, another rider in dress pants and a button down long sleeved shirt, the really old folks, the really unfit riders, and the riders smoking along the way.  It's truly hard to believe that many of these guys can ride even one day (unless they start a few blocks away from town so they can ride in looking cool).  Jeff looks great-probably more tired from getting up so damned early rather than having just spent 6 hours on his bike.

The weather cools off nicely to a balmy 90's in the evening.  No Hilton for Sunday & Monday nights.  The motel is reminiscent of Mr. Patel's hotel from last year but the AC works and we're close to the next two departure towns and Storm Lake, decent restaurants so we can avoid the Pizza Ranch for a few more days.