Missouri River flooding

A few weeks back, I drove to western Iowa for work and stopped in Missouri Valley to fuel up my car.  Next door to the gas station was my favorite restaurant, Pizza Ranch, surrounded by sandbags.  The sign outside read: "Yes, we're open."

Missouri Valley is tucked in the scenic Loess Hills of western Iowa, just a few short miles from the Missouri River.

Iowa is anything but flat. It's home to one of only two Loess hill formations in the world.

Fortunately, Missouri Valley missed out on the predicted flooding from the nearby Missouri River.  I stopped in this Missouri Valley McDonald's on the way home for an iced latte caffeine jolt. The drive-thru was closed because of the 3-foot-tall sandbag barricade.

Unfortunately, many western Iowa towns didn't escape the flooding, including parts of Sioux City, Omaha and the small community of Hamburg.  The flooding started in June and continues today.  That means farmers and local residents have been separated from their homes for more than two months, and the flooding is projected to continue through October.  There hasn't been that much in the national news about this flooding, which is too bad it's not getting the attention it deserves.  Many families have lost their homes and prime farmland on an unprecedented scale.

If you want to learn more about the Missouri River flooding and its impact on farmers, I recommend visiting Sara's House HD to see aerial photos of the flood zone.  My prayers go out to all the families involved.  You are not forgotten, and you'll always find friends willing to help provide what you need.

Dried peaches

Aren't these beautiful?  My husband sliced up a bunch of peaches and dried them in our food dehydrator.  I bought our Nesco dehydrator a couple years back as a birthday gift for my husband.  I wasn't sure what he would think of the gift (especially because it was a selfish gift on my part; I've always wanted a food dehydrator).  But he was really excited to get it, and it's truly been a gift that keeps on giving.

My husband has become in expert in making dried apples.  He slices them perfectly, then sprinkles them with a little powdered fruit preserve (you can find it with the canning supplies in the grocery store) and some cinnamon and sugar.  Whenever there's a sale at the grocery store for 99-cents-a-pound apples, I stock up so my husband can make dried apples.  We even gave them away last year as Christmas gifts, to rave reviews from our family.

He's also dried all kinds of fruits, including pears, peaches (again, these were 99 cents a pound a few weeks ago) and pineapple.  Believe it or not, we also love dried carrots!  My husband adds them to his homemade "hamburger helper" -- what he calls his quick-fix supper of hamburger, egg noodles, onions, dried shitake mushrooms (from the Asian food store), beef boullion and dried carrots.  Sounds a little odd, but it's delicious.

We bought our Nesco dehydrator at Amazon.com and highly recommend it if you're interest in a smaller-scale dehydrator.  Do you use a food dehydrator at home?  What are your favorite foods to dry?

RAGBRAI: Part 2

When I learned that RAGBRAI was rolling through the area, I knew I just had to join in.  If you've never heard of it, RAGBRAI is an annual week-long bike ride across the entire of state of Iowa.  It attracts 10,000 cyclists from all around the world.  The event is pretty much a rolling party.  The RAGBRAI route travels along country roads and through tiny Iowa towns.  For the most part, Iowa communities love to host RAGBRAI, because the cyclists often spend quite a bit of money on food and refreshments wherever they stop.

I've never been on RAGBRAI, but it was another item on my "bucket list."  But all I have is an old hand-me-down Huffy mountain bike, so I was nervous about joining in. Most cyclists ride on road bikes, which are way easier to pedal than my clunky ol' bike. But I also have heard that people ride some pretty ridiculous bikes on RAGBRAI, so I figured I wouldn't be the slowest rider on the route.

I rode a half-day of RAGBRAI.  My husband dropped me off along the route on his way to work, then I rode about 13 miles to the nearest host town.  Then I got off the route and rode our local bike trail back home.  Altogether, it was a 24 mile bike ride.  That was pretty far for me!

As I expected, I got passed by almost everyone on the route.  And many people came really close to my bike as they passed me.  There were plenty of farms to stop at along the route, with folks selling breakfast burritos, water and gatorade. Unfortunately, I was scared to stop and pull off to the side of the road. There were so many cyclists coming up behind me, and I was afraid I would cause a crash if I just stopped in front of them. 

I rode 7 miles in the heat before I finally got the courage to stop and get something cool to drink.  (Looking back, I regret that I didn't stop and see more farms along the route.)  I ended up stopping at an absolutely beautiful farm, with a big yard and benches for bikers to sit under the shade of trees. 

 There was a smoothie stand in the front yard. I ordered a "swirl" -- strawberry and peach. It was so good after biking in the heat.



The farm had an antique store inside an old barn.  There were lots of cute lawn decorations everywhere.

Inside the barn, there was a line for the bathroom.  I immediately joined the end of the line.  Free use of indoor bathrooms is a rarity on RAGBRAI, so I didn't want to miss this opportunity to avoid the porta-potty lines!  Inside the bathroom, people wrote "Thank You's" on a dry erase board next to the loo.  So funny!

I got back on the rode and biked another 5 miles before reaching the host town.  It was only 9 a.m., but I was starving.  The crowds were so thick, I couldn't find the pancake stand.  So I gave up and stopped at the local fire station, where they were grilling pork chops as a fund-raiser.

In addition to the typical grilling fare, they were offering free pickle juice!  They said it was good for replenishing electrolytes, but I passed.

I'm so glad that I couldn't find the pancake stand because I ended up having the best breakfast food ever -- pork chops on a "stick"!  Seriously, this was the best pork chop I've ever had. So tender and juicy. It's cut so that the bone extends out from the chop, creating a "handle" for eating the chop without a fork.

Then I spent about an hour just walking around town, gawking at all the bikers.  I couldn't believe the size of the crowd!

Even after eating the huge pork chop, I was still hungry!  I guess biking really works up an appetite.  I ended up buying a homemade ice cream sandwich at a local boy scout stand.  This treat was amazing!

I also ended up finding a free homemade Dutch letter pastry at the Central College stand.  I've never had homemade Dutch letters, only the bakery version.  This was extra sweet and stuffed full of almond paste.  Yum!

After giving my legs a rest, I rode a couple miles along the RAGBRAI route, then met up with bike trail and rode home.  The 9-mile ride home was the hardest.  My adrenaline was starting to wear off.  When I got home, I promptly took a 2 hour nap, then spent the rest of the day lounging.  I was beat!  But I had an absolutely blast.  I'm already looking forward to joining RAGBRAI again next year.  If you've never been on RAGBRAI before, I highly recommend you give it a try.  If I can do it on a 20-year-old Wal-Mart mountain bike, anyone can ride it!