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:
http://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 als o 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 ou r
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 r ode 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 stayin g 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 wa y 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
advocating living within a smaller scale  for any hope of a sustainable
future.  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 se nse 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 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 find local suppliers of goods and services!
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 the upcoming events. 
Please see the Calendar of Events on the front page of our website:
http://www.imforiowa.org.  

Thanks for reading and write when you can!!