RAGBRAI

Well, Ames survived RAGBRAI! There were over 8,000 cyclists that overnighted in Ames on July 22nd and I had a front row seat as they all came into town! It was incredible to see that many people on bikes all at the same time! I volunteered by helping out with the concert to raise funds for the people & businesses that have lost homes/businesses to the floods and now have the daunting task of rebuilding. As devastating as these floods have been, we Iowans refuse to be victims! As soon as the waters receded, we dug right in and started rebuilding. We don't have time to wait for the government, as we all know how slow they can be! Just look at what happened with the Katrina victims. They are STILL trying to rebuild!
I had a great time meeting a lot of different people from around this country, and the world, as I handed out tickets to the concert. A few people stick out in my mind, in particular, a gentleman from California, a group of ladies from Arizona and these two guys from Germany! If you are unfamiliar with RAGBRAI it is an acronym for The Des Moines Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa and I had to get involved when I found out they were coming through Ames and the fact that RAGBRAI was my costume theme at our state pageant. You can get more information by going to their website at http://www.ragbrai.org/.