Update from August 6, 2007

“How I Spent My Summer Vacation (RAGBRAI)”…or “A Birds-Eye View of Community in Action” by Lynn Heuss

Not a terribly political heading, is it?  Maybe not at first glance, but our RAGBRAI trip reminded me of the importance and many benefits of true community and why we all need to get or stay involved in politics.  

We haven’t sent an update for two weeks, so this one will be a bit longer.  I hope you’ll take the time to read it and respond.  We’ll return to our shorter version next week.   

Saturday morning before leaving, Ed and I toured the downtown Des Moines Farmers Market with Elizabeth Edwards.  She understands the connection between healthy eating, healthy bodies and a healthy economy. She also appreciates the need to support local economy...and does so in her home state of North Carolina.  After saying good-bye to Mrs. Edwards, we (Ed, Alec, my 19 year-old son, Samantha, my 17 year-old daughter, and I) left for Rock Rapids, the beginning of this year’s RAGBRAI. 

Our first night’s tenting accommodations were provided by a friend (Vicki and Jeremy Knight, next-door neighbors of friends) of our friends, David and Lin Zahrt.  The Zahrts own a century farm (also a B & B: www.ia-bednbreakfast-inns.com/countryhomestead.htm) nestled in the Loess Hills near Turin, and they are restoring much of their farm to prairie.  You would never guess their age by looking at them (and I'm not going to tell!) but they've got a great deal of passion and energy for the work they're doing. 

The next night we stayed with Nate Rutter in Spencer.  Unfortunately, Nate was called out of town for a business meeting, but he told us to make ourselves at home in his bachelor’s pad.  After 82 miles of riding that day, we appreciated a hot shower, engaging political conversation with Nate’s brother and sister-in-law, Travis and Heather Rutter, and crawling into bed early. 

After finishing another grueling 81 miles on Day 2, we spent the night at Elaine and Norm Mason's home in Humboldt.  Even though recently married, they provided hospitality not only for us, but for several other teams as well. 

Our next stop was Hampton, where we stayed with Jan and Berry Johnson.  They, too, have a spacious home and generously opened it to several teams.  That evening we joined State Rep. Mark Kuhn  and his wife, Denise, for dinner.  Later we headed downtown and stopped by the CCI lamb-burger booth to chat with some of our CCI friends – Adam, Tyler, Hugh, Kurt and many others.  They were doing a booming business, which was no surprise to us.  Having a tasty, local product with Adam Mason hawking it was a winning combination! 

Day 4 finally took its toll on me.  We were about three miles outside of Aplington and I felt ill.  The lady whose daughter owned the farm we stopped at asked us to come inside and sit in the air-conditioning to cool off for a bit.  They also offered us drinks, ice and even a ride to town should we need it.  I did, and two of the teenage cousins took me to Aplington, despite the fact that it was be a nightmare trying to drive through over 10,000 bicyclists.  I later found out I was dehydrated and had made the right call finishing the rest of the day traveling to Cedar Falls by sag wagon.  (Ed’s call, actually.)  

After they dropped me off in Aplington, and as I was loading my bike onto our van, a lady came up to us and said, "I'll pay you any amount of money if you'll give me a ride to Cedar Falls."  Ed, in his most compassionate voice said, "Five hundred dollars."  Of course, he was kidding and we didn't really charge her.  In the span of 30 minutes during our trip to Cedar Falls, I found out she supports campaign finance reform, understands the need for responsible CAFO legislation, and tracks with many of the other issues that Iowans know are important (healthcare, global warming, the Iraq war, etc.).  As we neared town, she gave me her card and invited us to stay with her if we ever found ourselves in Denver, Colorado.  Authentic hospitality is not constrained by geographic boundaries and it is plentiful on RAGBRAI.

That night we had the good fortune to stay with our friends Bill Witt and Karen Franczyk in Cedar Falls.  But before settling in for the night, we couldn’t resist taking Alec and Samantha to Rudy’s Tacos in Waterloo.  The owner, Barry Eastman, buys 72% of his ingredients from local farmers, and fresh ingredients make such a difference.  The meal was delicious and affordable. 

Day 5 found us spending the night in Independence with Rex and Carolyn Jones, whom my kids now consider honorary adopted grandparents.  Rex and Carolyn would probably be considered "seniors" by some folks, but they're enthusiasm for living is contagious and we had a blast with them. 

On our final night we stayed with Jens Sogaard and Mary Ung-Sogaard, along with their kids, Christian and Kirsten.  One unique aspect of this stay was dinner, called an Earth Dinner.  We went to the farm of Jude Becker, who provided a very tasty meal produced entirely from local goods: wine, beer, prosciutto, pork, pasta salads, bread and cherry pie.  It can be done!   And it was delicious!  We spent a bit of time in conversation with Jude and learned that his passion is to increase the local market for local products.  It is, as you can imagine, taking colossal amounts of effort and energy, but Jude seems to have an abundant supply of both (he's a very young and very talented entrepreneur). 

The next morning, with yet another promise to keep in touch, we rolled out for our last day.  Sixty-four plus miles later, we were looking at the Mississippi River in Bellevue!  We did it!  Ed rode every mile, I rode all but 30 and Alec rode every mile on 5 of 7 days!  But we couldn’t have done it without the help and contribution of so many people – Samantha (our faithful sag wagon driver), the folks at the Aplington farmhouse, the two guys who stopped to help Alec with a flat and each of our hosts. 

Every single town we stopped in, and literally hundreds of homes along the way went out of the way to extend some offer of friendship to RAGBRAI riders.  Did they profit from it?  Absolutely!  But so did we.  And so did our state.  On nearly every mile of the trip there was someone working to provide food, beverages, medical help or advice, a spray of water from the garden hose, a ride in an Amish buggy, or a spot in the shade and some interesting conversation.  And each of our evening hosts offered exceptional hospitality.   

RAGBRAI was an important microcosm of some of the best and worst things about Iowa, and a reminder that it’s worth staying in the fight for better political solutions to some of our biggest challenges.  The people of Iowa continue to prove what a great place our state is and how much potential we have for doing even more good work. 

The landscape of rural Iowa is diverse and among the most beautiful in the country.  But it is changing, and some of those changes are not positive.  Recently, there were several letters-to-the-editor in The Register discussing the smell of CAFOs along the RAGBRAI route, and in at least two counties there was propaganda put out by the Pork Producers trying to convince riders that CAFOs are the safest, most humane way to raise pork.  As many of you know, the smell is only one aspect.  The danger to the animals, the land and water, our economy, and ultimately our health are other huge components of this problem.

If we really want to find correct and sustainable solutions to pork production and other challenges, we must find a way to return to living in true, authentic community.  We have to embrace the golden rule – we need to re-learn what it means to live in a way that is compatible with the needs of everyone and everything, including other species and the land itself. 

It seems that everywhere I turn, I’m reading yet another perspective on community.  In Sunday’s Des Moines Register there was an article about a group of indigenous grandmothers who’ve come together in order to emphasize the good aspects in each of their respective cultures and encourage a return to living communally within their traditions.  Bill McKibben’s latest book, Deep Economy, also calls us to consider more sustainable ways of living. 

Often it seems people confuse sustainable living/community/a return to being good neighbors, with some sort of nostalgic quest.  But that’s not it.  It really does make good sense on a number of levels – economic, quality of life, environmental, safety, health, job security and recreation.

At I’M for Iowa, we always want to contribute to being part of the solution.  I truly believe that most folks want to do the right thing.  But we lead such busy lives that sometimes the biggest prohibitive factor is we don’t even know where to begin.  On our website we have a section titled, “Shopping Locally.”  If you click on that section, you’ll find all 99 counties listed.  Each of the counties in bold font means we have some local businesses listed, from restaurants and hotels to shoe stores and gift shops.  It’s a great start, but we have a long way to go before it becomes the vital resource we envision it becoming.  So, I’d like to ask you to do two things:
1)    Use this site to shop!
2)    Send us information on local businesses you know about, in your own city or county, or from other parts of the state. 

Because of the length of this update, I’m not adding all the upcoming events.  Please see our Calendar of Events at our website: www.imforiowa.org. 

Thanks for reading and write when you can!!

Lynn Heuss