Goodbye Rosie

     Today we  rolled Rosie up the ramp of our trailer, and tied her down for the last time.  Her new owners live out of state , between us and them, an agreement had been formed,  we would deliver her to Terra Trike, and receive our payment, which had been sent there.  The buyer had made arrangements to have the trike shop, break her down, box and ship her to him.  

   
     I made sure to include the medium sized boom, and the S & S coupler wrench that is needed to break the trike down into 2 pieces.

   
 Our girl has big adventures ahead of her once she arrives at her new home.  She will be riding in Ragabrai.  The name,  stands for the "Registers Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa."  It started in 1973 and now in it's 40th year.  It is the largest, oldest and longest bicycle tour in the world.  Mileage for the 7 day ride is around 470 miles, with the average day being about 67 miles long.  The ride has a different course each year, but usually begins somewhere in Western Iowa, and ends in Eastern Iowa, by the Mississippi river, where many riders dip the front wheel of their cycles in the water.

     The ride draws 8500 riders and has an entry fee of $150.00.  The tour began when  an avid cyclist, and feature writer for the DesMoines Register was challenged to ride across the state of Iowa, in a week,  and write about it in his column.  The writer invited the public to join him, and the 1973 ride had around 300 people riding.  There were  requests that the August date be changed to July, to allow teachers and others to participate,  and the ride grew from there.

      In the mid 1970's it passed through the small NW Iowa town where my parents lived.  My Mom called me up to tell me all about it.  She said there were bicycles and people all over town, but especially at the school house, where many church organizations had set up tables to feed the riders, but there were so many, that the churches ran out of food.  She was in awe of the whole thing.   She and my step-Dad ran one of the local restaurants in town, she was too busy to take any pictures.  This years ride starts about 20 miles from there, in Sioux Center.   Mom and Dad are no longer with us,  but my niece is going to go and watch the start of it.  Who knows, perhaps, she'll see Rosie.

     After dropping Rosie off we headed over to the place where we had bought our flatbed trailer, a few years earlier.  We have been looking for an enclosed cargo trailer since we got Rollin, but haven't been able to find one.  Tony had called Hill Top Trailer this morning,  he found out that there were 2 in our price and requirement ranges.  There was a gleaming black one, that towered above our car, and a shorter white one that had been owned by a cyclist, who hauled his bikes all over the US to ride.  We bought the white one, and decided to name him Herman.

     Herman has both a side door and a spring loaded ramp.  he also has 2 shelves in the front, that will be great for our gear.

     I will post pics of the inside, later.  We traded in our flatbed trailer, and paid the money we had been saving , hooked up Herman and headed north.   Upon arriving home I got to the top of the driveway OK, but ended up parking at the bottom, because I am going to need someone to give me a lesson on how to back Herman into the site next to the garage.  It is pretty tricky to do on the top of our hill.

     Very excited about having this new addition.  Now we can take one vehicle to the start of PALM, with all the trikes/bike in it,  our son-in-law will drive the car and trailer back to his house, after he drops us off.  Another family member will drive the car and trailer to the end of the route, when we finish, and we will load all up and head for home.  So easy.

     Rollin and the other trike and bike in the trailer will stay nice and clean and our gear will be dry when we arrive.  Herman has a light inside and a roof vent.  Welcome to the family, Herman.  You will make our lives so much easier, and it will happen soon.