RAGBRAI - Day 3 Jefferson to Ames (56.8 miles, 1,377 feet of climb)

Tuesday, July 22nd - After two of the hilliest days of RAGBRAI and knowing we had a short day, I wanted to leave a little later from camp. Leaving at 6:30 am we ended up in a mass of people but it seemed to thin out more as the day went on. We had some fun pass through towns like Ogden and Boone and the weather was perfect - no wind, sunny but not hot. The only hard part of the day was one GIANT hill - evdiently the biggest hill of the week. We got to our camp early, probably too early as we were probably about 7 miles north of the main RABRAI activity/route in Ames. Shortly after we arrived in camp a few others came in. We checked out a winery across the road from camp with some of our fellow ShuttleGuy campers - enjoyed the wine tasting followed with a glass of delicious sangria! Tym, the manager of ShuttleGuy, shuttled people in by van to Ames. The only problem was we were dropped off in a parking lot of an apartment complex and we had to walk about 1 1/2 mile to the RAGBRAI activities. Ashley and I joined George from our camp, and we talked and walked for over an hour, wandering around trying to find the hub of the activities. We were around the campus and then took a bus to the downtown. The street was blocked and there was a stage, but no one was around. After a nice micro brew in a cool bar, we split up from George and Ashley and I wandered a bit more and grabbed something to eat. I called a taxi and we went back to camp. It was a disappointing evening but after talking with several others who stayed in various different areas of Ames, I found most people were disappointed. One couple even heard locals yelling profanities at the bikers.