Jeffrey Thompson

Essays: Border to Border

Every year in late July, thousands of people strap bicycles to their cars, vans, trucks and buses and migrate to the Midwest for the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa. The week-long trek through the small towns of the Hawkeye State is the largest of its kind in the country. Riders take to the backroads of Iowa for a vareity of reasons, but in the end, most would agree it's about the journey and people they met along the way.

Members of team Me-Off depart from the Glenwood campground and begin their 475-mile journey across the state of Iowa. Most teams are followed by support vehicles, including buses and campers, during the weeklong ride.
  
Cyclists emerge from the fog during the first day of travel. Over 10,000 people participated in the 31st annual ride.
  
Brianna Blake has a bite to eat as she and other riders stop for lunch in Blakesburg, Iowa during the fifth day of travel on Ragbrai XXXI. The event's meals are provided largely by vendors that set up in the daily stop-over towns. The fare included everything from walking tacos to homemade apple pie.
     
  
Jeremy Ovington, left, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa and Tony Eeds of Dallas, Tex. catch up on some sleep during their stop in Clarinda, Iowa.
   
Jose Mondragon, left, and Luis Innes, both of Mexico City, celebrate after winning a free night's stay in a hotel during a raffle drawing in the Oskaloosa, Iowa campground.
  
A group of riders blend into the landscape of Chillicothe, Iowa during a midday break. Most rural communities on the route embrace the travelers and welcome the brief economic boost the event provides.
     
  
Riders celebrate with a group of evening entertainers during a stop at a bar in Drakesville, Iowa. For many, the journey thorugh Iowa is as much about socializing and partying as it is about traveling.
  
A rider shows off her tan lines and team-oriented toenails.
   
Joe Lisner, right, and other Pork Belly Ventures team members wash themselves at a homemade bathing station in the Oskaloosa, Iowa campground. The "watering hole" is just one of several luxuries the charter team enjoys on the route. Team Pork Belly has more than 200 riders from four countries and nearly 20 states.
     
  
A community of tents in the Osceola, Iowa campground is left with a brilliant sunset after severe weather moved through the area and dropped heavy rain on the riders.
  
An Amish elder and his children watch as RAGBRAI riders pedal past their rural Lebanon, Iowa, home