Health & Fitness

Friendly Faces Make Stays In Small Town Memorable

When I woke up this morning, our camp host had already set out a full tray of homemade scones and biscuits.

Robbie and Frank Johnson also opened up their home in Oskaloosa to let us use their bathroom and laundry and shuttled us to the main square for all of the Ragbrai doings last night.

This week, Team Cockroach has had one gracious host after the next. The hosts are typically a friend or friend of a friend of one of the 30-40 people on the team.

Our Des Moines host catered dinner and hired a DJ for entertainment. In Perry, when a torrential downpour overtook the camp, our hosts opened up their garage to stash out bikes and their home for us to escape the storm.

My first nine years of Ragbrai were spent camping in the giant campgrounds. I still tent every night, but getting to know the hosts has offered a chance to appreciate for directly the hospitality of Iowans.


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