Stormy Night

I am a bit tired today after not getting much sleep last night. Two big thunderstorms came through Waukee while we were camping there. The first one was around 11:00 in the evening. I stayed in my tent during the storm, watching the lightning and the people who were running down the sidewalk for cover. That storm seemed to last a while, but I don't think it was more than 20 minutes or so. Then right around midnight, a announcement was made over loudspeakers that another storm was coming in about 15 minutes and the emergency shelters would be opened. I opted not to go to the shelter, after all, it was just a thunderstorm, not a tornado, but I did leave my tent to sit on the bus, which was located a few feet from my tent. The storms seemed to miss us for a while, but after a couple more announcements about storms, one came through around 2:30 a.m. that lasted until around 3:00. It was then that I finally got some sleep. My tent did withstand the 20-mile-per-hour winds that came with this storm better than my tent survived the big storm on last year's RAGBRAI. I just heard that more storms are expected for tonight. Great!

The ride today hasn't been too bad. There aren't as many hills, but we have had head winds much of the day. Right now I am in Elkhart, after passing through Granger and Polk City. I am about 30 miles into the ride today with another 40 to go. Stay tuned for more coverage of RAGBRAI XXXIV from Mathman.