We MADE it!! 2007

Yes, we made it to the "Mighty Mississip" this afternoon. Our final town was Bellevue. You can see the four Flamingos who flew across Iowa with RAGBRAI this year. Theyy are (fom the left) Big Bird (Mike Knapp), Whiny Bird (Mica Lorenz), Weird BIRD (Juanita Williams), and Z-Bird (me-Leigh Zeitz). We are dipping our front wheels into the Mississippi to signify that we made it. What a trip!

Early Start on the Last Day

it's the last day and we got an early start. That means that we woke up at 5:30 but for some reason we still did't get on the road until 7:30.

Heading into Dyersville

Here we are with Steve & Liz Kilgarde. Liz used to be Deb's principal and they kindly opened their house to the Flamingos and Team Oz. We had the opportunity to swim in a pool, steam in a hot tub and enjoy S'mores. Rained a little last night but not enough to smear the artwork on the Flamingo truck.
We got off to an early start. This time it included Mike, Mica, Deb, Heather and Juanita with Bev & Kathy as the valuable support team.
We rode to the small town of p???? Where we saw a band named "The Second Shift.". This cleaver and innovative band really ROCKED.

Leaving Cedar Falls for Independence

Cedar Falls was by far best stop of the trip. I don't just say this because I live there. I have heard this from other riders too. You can see the troop of riders that left from our house. Balding Eagle and Betty joined us in CF. The rest of the gang slept at home and met us in Denver. We left @ 7:40 and covered the 18 miles to Denver rather quickly. Made it to Denver by 9:20. Met the rest of the gang there an had a great trip. It was hot and had a bunch of headwinds, but it was the most beautiful terrain of the trip. We went through the Amish country. Also went through some tiny towns. I went through Clinger and didn't even know it. Pulled into Indendence where they had an awesome fair ground. Stayed in the lovely home of the Kilgardes.

Things may look a little crazy

This has been an interesting week.

I had some problems with the blogging from my phone so you may find that
they are not in sequential order as I post them from my phone. Bear with us
and I will fix them when we return.

Keep riding!!!

Z-Bird

Rock Rapids take off

We actually left at 7:30. Had a wonderful evening at the Ditsworths and their lovely kids: Xander, Accai, & & Adelinne. LOOK OUT WORLD, Here we come!!!!

How many flamingos does it take to empty a chinese restaurant?

The team stopped in Charles City at the Human Buffet (I think that was the name.) Nice thing bout RAGBRAI is that all bets are off...so are any aspects of modesty. We entered the restaurant and it was half full. We were a bit rambunctious but fun loving. The stories ran wild and it was obvious that the RAGBRAI craziness has set in.

Team Flamingo takes off!

Well, we're off. It was our typical belated...no...beleagured start. Meant to start @ 8 but didn't hit the road until 11:30. Here's a photo of our illustrated truck with the usual cast of characters: Biig Bird, Z-Bird, Whiney, 'Lzy Brd, Kat Bird, Mama Bird, Weird Bird, & Crafty Bird. What a CREW!!

Birthday Ride for the Flamingos

RAGBRAI will begin in one week. We need to continue with our training. Weird Bird, Splat, Big Bird, and  Z-Bird made the flight. Here we are at a break @ Cup o' Joe's. We had a number of people recognize us from the KWWL broadcast last night.