I started the post some pictures from our bike ride on the July 26 post and decided that I need to add some more to show you just what the ride looks like and what a good time we all had.
Sometimes the roads get busy and here’s a snap shot of one of the towns we went through. We always try to keep track of what each other is wearing and we do kind of a good job keeping each other in sight which in itself is amazing isn’t it?
We passed through a lot of windmills today and I think they look so cool when you’re riding on a bike near them. They are so huge and you can only hear a whisper when they’re running. 
We joke a lot about that we used to sleep in tents with about 10,000 of our closest friends. Now don’t get me wrong, that was also fun – just a different kind of fun. Where we’re staying tonight has a lot of lakes around it and this is the scene off of one of the houses that we stayed at. We met so many nice house owners that literally left us come into their house and take showers and spend the night with them. It’s unreal how friendly and how cool they all are. 
Today’s photo of the day is that of the World’s Largest Bullhead. Now you don’t get to see that everyday do you?
People are on bicycles everywhere
And soon we found ourselves at the Surf Ballroom in Mason City. Now if you’ve never gone to this ballroom you should really try to make a point to visit it sometime. The original ballroom burnt down in 1947 and was rebuilt in 1948 and has been having concerts ever since. The most famous concert was that when Buddy Holly, Valens and Ricardson left a concert there and all died in a plane accident near by the town. There is a lot of history in this old ballroom and it definitely is worth the drive sometime to visit it. 
One of our friends takes his guitar along for the bike ride every year and this was a great stop for him and some of his buddies to play a few songs
There are a lot of times during the ride that you have opportunities to just relax. And there’s no better way to do that then to catch a few naps along the way. 
We stopped at the Wapsipinicon Mill in Independence along the river and took a tour of the largest grist mill remaining in the state of Iowa. It’s 6 stories tall and has a lot in it to look at. 
Again we were grateful for all our host houses. It doesn’t matter if we have a large house or a smaller house – we are so appreciative of them all! 
Next on our list is Strawberry Point. This is the home of the World’s Largest Strawberry. I think it probably got photographed the most that it ever had today.
There’s quite a few times along the ride during the week that we’ll get free stuff. So we weren’t surprised that we got handed some free candy today. But I was surprised on how good the candy was and that it was started in a small town of Hull that has a population of 2100 people. They have a lot of different candy that they have produced and it’s crazy that you might know most of them. If you get a chance – look up how this business started in this small town. It’s really fascinating.
Well about by now you’re probably getting sick of all the pictures. But the next one is the one that is the tradition at the end of the ride. It’s went you dunk your bike into the Mississippi River to symbolize that the ride is over and you made it! Whoo Hoo!! 
So now that the ride is over can you guess what Daryl and I did the next day after it? Well you eat so much during the week that on Sunday we were starving! So we took out the Chevelle and went for a drive along the Mississippi river.
We went more North into Wisconsin and then went out for dinner.
And how did we end the afternoon? Well ice cream of course! 