Finding Innocence America

For seven years now, I have joined a group of friends during the last week of July to participate in RAGBRAI. The (Des Moines) Registrer's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa is a bike ride for 10,000 people. The ride lasts for seven days and covers between 400-500 miles. Iowa towns receive a nice economic impact, and the riders get to experience what I have now realized as "Innocence America". The event is hard to describe, but most of the 10,000 riders travel in teams with team busses and vehicles that support the riders by scouting out camping spots and hauling luggage to the overnight towns. The riders begin their morning at their leisure, but for most this mean beginning their pedalling between 5:30-7:30. Along the way, there are designated towns every 8-15 miles that are prepared for the surge in population. These towns provide food, water, entertainment, places to rest, and most importantly they give the soul of their community to the event, and this is truly the special piece of the event. Rural America shows how welcoming, open, and giving that people are at the core. They create an environment that is innocent and pure and reeks with the sense of community that we long for as Christians. It isn't rare to have families opening their homes for people to camp, rest, share a glass of lemonade, or just lift their spirits. The residents of Iowa pour to the edge of their property to watch the parade of 10,000 bikes zoom past their houses and farms. There are signs and multiple generations of families that sit waving to all that pass. As a rider, you have an opportunity to talk and be with riders from every state in the union and many other countries. These conversations aren't about status or career, but they are the simple conversation that fill the morning trips to rural coffee shop. They are about the weather, the beauty of the countryside, family, and the joy of not being plugged into our media IV. In the evenings, the final town of the day takes on a carnival feel with food and music. The music is local bands that vary in quality and the food is local and it is awesome. The cattlemen and the pork producer provide great ribeye sandwiches and pulled pork. The farmers have tremendous sweet corn, and each local church and organization bake some of the best pies in the world. For food people, this is heaven. Well, maybe not heaven, but it is a piece of how innocent, gentle, and caring that our America can be. Many people can't take a week to check out and experience RAGBRAI, but changing our routine while immersed in natural beauty with caring people should be a part of our Christrian journey as it allows us to have new perspective and time for reflection. Explore the possibility of unplugging and searching for the innocence of America. National Geography Adventurer calls RAGBRAI the seventh best American Adventure, and the website www.ragbrai.org keys you into the pictures of the this year's event. The pictures do truly speak 1000 words about the event. I'll be there in 2010, and if your ready to experience the innocence, there is room on the bus for you too.

-Bob Dillon... Dr. Bob Dillon