Playing catch-up here, after returning to Des Moines from three days of riding RAGBRAI. I had a good excuse for not posting – cellphone didn’t work much of the trip, the system was overwhelmed by the thousands of Ragbrai riders passing through various small towns.
We had a great three days of riding. In Okoboji, we stayed at a beautiful home with friends on West Okoboji Lake (along Lake Shore Drive, which is full of beautiful lakeside cottages and mansions.) They drove us in the evening to Arnold’s Park and insisted we eat at the best restaurant in town, Maxwell’s – which was indeed very good and owned by a Londoner, to boot. who stopped by our table to talk London with my Londoners Francine and Russ. I had excellent salmon, Russ was happy with his halibut and francine with her pasta with beef tips and mushrooms. Place was hoping, as was most of the area. (Lunch at Taco House was okay.)
On Monday morning, our host very kindly drove us the 8 miles to the start of the ride – and we had a good day of riding, 41 miles. The weather was hot and humid and the wind was very intense at times but scenery lovely. We had coffee and a pastry at an overwhelmed coffee shop in Milford – then on for some church pancakes in a field east of Okoboji.
Before we even hopped on a bike, we did some shopping at Three Sons in Milford (photo above), which turned out to be a half a block from our team’s campground. The discounts on the top floor are well worth a visit!
Francine, Russ and Betsy, Arnold’s Park, Ragbrai 2014
TakeBetsywithyou 