RAGBRAI day 5

Patty left earlier than us this morning. She wanted to ride while there was less sun and get a better camping spot. We jumped at the chance to get a breakfast burito on the outskirts of town. No lines no waiting. It was odd that people were not stopping. My hypothesis is that they choose the vendors that travel with  RAGBRAI, because they are known entities. 

We kind of ran through and didn't stop too much. There were a couple places with railroad tracks and apparently one of them took somebody down really hard. 

We got into Ottumwa at about 1230. Patty had already found a camping spot and grabbed one of our bags and saved this space. 

We showered for the first time in the shower truck on the strip. They were OK. It was Patty's first time.

Since we got in so early, we had plenty of time to walk around town. I had some problems with my bike earlier. It had been making a clicking noise, but after a mechanic worked on it, it also had problems with the brake, which leaves me slightly suspicious.

Patty thought it was pretty funny, that people had already staked out spots at 4 o'clock in the afternoon for the Rick Springfield, which was slated to start at 9 PM. 

We returned to the tents, and met Jared, from Austin Texas and Portland Oregon. We talked to him for a while, and then later returned to the downtown area for a bite to eat and then bed.