I am in Lake View, Iowa

.... at RAGBRAI (www.ragbrai.org, I believe). This is the end of day 1.

Getting here: Seven older guys, one other lady (Brigitte, an administrative geriatric nurse), and me. 7:30 AM on Friday. It's amazing watching eight older guys get their acts together and get out of town. They've done this before; they are organized; they don't have pissy fights about who's in charge.

I arrived tired and cranky and had a big-city yankee moment about my food. ("These are my special bagels. Please do _not_ eat them.") (I really was cranky-- I slept for most of the 20-hour drive to get here.)

I got soundly teased for that. When I broke out the oranges I brought, and started eating one, the teasing redoubled.

Lesson one: Food is collective. Oh, _now_ I find this out.
Lesson two: Learn to give as good as you get.
Lesson three: Buy some oranges and stash them in a prominent location.

Brigitte, watching this, absorbed it all. When the guys asked her what she did, she explained that she was a geriatric nurse and was therefore qualified to treat any of them.

"Oh no, we're way too young for that!"
"Actually, no," she said, "Geriatrics technically starts at age 45."

There was a moment of stunned silence as the guys (who range in age from 50 to 74) absorbed that information. Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen, Brigitte managed to sass every guy in that motorhome all at once. I tip my hat.

Oh yah, about the cycling. We went 70 miles today. Iowa is not flat like you would think.