RAGBRAI route to go through northern Iowa, July 25-31

the problem (0.00 / 0)

is that wireless is severely limited during the ride. Various issues like capacity in the smaller towns/rural areas and limited GSM (AT&T/iPhone, T-Mobile, others) statewide.

To date, the largest IA city I've been in is Council Bluffs. At the time, my wireless acct charged for 'roaming,' something I didn't pay attention to and had never been charged for. I noticed my (AT&T) device either registered "no service" in outlying areas, or "Cellular One" in CB. I came home to a $300 bill for "roaming" on C1 in IA. That was a nasty surprise.

My current account has no roaming charges but is still GSM-based. We were advised last year that if you absolutely needed to use a cell, to go buy a disposable TracFone in Wal-Mart, and to be sure it was a Wal-Mart in IA to ensure a CDMA (Verizon) phone. Not much you can do w/ a TracFone, though.

An Iowan ISP sets up in all of the overnights -- I think the name is Iowa Telecom, IIRC, but then you have the lines + the expectation that you go about things quickly ... Same thing for libraries and the like.

That's the bottom line on why you don't hear too much from riders during the ride. Also, while riding, anything you carry is more to keep track of, more weight and subject to destruction. More than a few people have lost Blackberries and such to getting sprayed with fire hoses. IA is dangerous like that during RAGBRAI week.

I heard that last year, there were quite a few BVP sign sightings during the first two days (western IA, no surprise). I missed the first couple of days, so didn't see this myself.

In 2008, I recall that in North Liberty, they set up dumpsters, one for McCain, one for Obama, side-by-side. You could "vote" for the candidate by throwing away your trash.

I would expect that this year, Gov Culver might make it to one of the overnights, or perhaps even ride one leg. Mari Culver visited Ames in 2008, for an evening event. I'd guess Waterloo, due to population density. Dubuque will be too much of a mess. Otherwise, I'd expect candidates from IA-01, IA-04, IA-05 along the way.

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by: ragbrai08 @ Sun Jan 31, 2010 at 06:51:01 AM CST

last year in Red Oak ... (4.00 / 3)

the wind kicks up a mini-storm ...

Oh noes ... takes a rider's tent ...

approaching populated areas ...

ohmigod ...

it's a miracle ...

Red Oak Fire Dept to the rescue

So, it's hard to be a cub reporter if you're busy chasing your shelter around.

p.s. not sure who took these pictures, but someone out there deserves the credit.

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by: ragbrai08 @ Sun Jan 31, 2010 at 10:18:36 AM CST

This is just so quintessentially (4.00 / 1)

Iowan. Thanks for posting these hilarious photos. Truly a proud day for the R.O.F.D.

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by: PrairieBreezeCheeze @ Mon Feb 01, 2010 at 02:02:25 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Boring. (0.00 / 0)

Might as well ride through southern Minnesota.  

And I really wonder how long the Register can keep this up.

They've gotta be hemorrhaging funds as thin as that little fishwrap has gotten lately. One day last week, there were only two help wanted ads.  

My friends and I don't even bother doing this event anymore.
Too many east coast liberal types clogging up the route. :)

Nah, in truth, we just have no desire to be around drunk idiots for an entire week.  

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by: EltonDavis @ Sun Jan 31, 2010 at 12:16:25 PM CST

reminds me (4.00 / 2)

of a little joke I read (or heard).

Land of 10,000 Lakes + Land of 100,000 Farm Ponds = Iowa Great Lakes.

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by: ragbrai08 @ Sun Jan 31, 2010 at 19:24:29 PM CST

[ Parent ]

progress (4.00 / 1)

AT&T on Friday confirmed plans to acquire wireless properties from rival Verizon in a bid to strengthen coverage of its 3G network in rural areas of the US stretching across some 18 states.

The deal for $2.35 billion in cash will see the exclusive US iPhone carrier take control of 18 of the 24 markets that Verizon is divesting as part of its recent acquisition of Alltel Wireless, which helped the telecommunications firm snatch the title of the largest US wireless carrier away from AT&T.

More specifically, Friday's agreement will see AT&T acquire wireless properties, including licenses, network assets and 1.5 million current subscribers in 79 service areas, primarily in rural areas of Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming.

"Wireless continues to be AT&T's greatest growth driver, and this transaction will complement our existing network coverage, particularly in rural areas," said AT&T chief executive Ralph de la Vega. "The acquisition will add network assets, distribution channels and 850 MHz spectrum in a significant portion of the U.S., enabling even better coverage for AT&T's subscribers in those areas."

Converting those markets from Verizon's CDMA network to GSM technology and transitioning operations to AT&T is expected to take about 12 months and cost about $400 million. Once the transition is complete, subscribers in those areas will be able to take advantage of AT&T's 3G network and supporting devices like the iPhone and BlackBerry Bold.

This announcement is dated 5-11-2009. A little tight, but who knows? Perhaps it will be possible to beam in with "I just met BVP in Algona!"

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by: ragbrai08 @ Sun Jan 31, 2010 at 19:12:59 PM CST

Except for Sioux City (0.00 / 0)

that route almost exactly covers a trip I made back in the summer of 1987 as I did advance work for Senator Paul Simon's presidential campaign. It was a great experience; there are a lot of inspiring Iowans up north. Berkley Bedell from Spirit Lake was an early Simon supporter, his state chair or co-chair if I remember correctly.

Is Dubuque still a union town? I think I advanced a q-and-a that took place at a UAW hall in downtown Dubuque... didn't know the first thing about unions then.

Brush with great(?)ness: ate lunch one day with Fred Barnes, who was writing for The New Republic at the time.

Sorry to wander off-topic..."You know what you should do? You should sanction me."

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by: PrairieBreezeCheeze @ Mon Feb 01, 2010 at 01:48:37 AM CST

did you ever meet Mark Blumenthal? (0.00 / 0)

He was a field organizer for Simon in Waterloo in 1987. Later he became the renowned "mystery pollster" blogger and now writes under his own name at Pollster.com at the National Journal.

Invite other Iowa political junkies to join us at Bleeding Heartland.

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by: desmoinesdem @ Mon Feb 01, 2010 at 08:20:18 AM CST

[ Parent ]

I don't think so... (0.00 / 0)

I looked up his photo and I don't remember meeting him, though I may very well have. I know I worked some sort of event in Waterloo at or near the John Deere plant that summer.

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by: PrairieBreezeCheeze @ Mon Feb 01, 2010 at 13:06:55 PM CST

[ Parent ]

by the way, Paul Simon is never off-topic (0.00 / 0)

at this blog. I've just issued a decree to that effect.

Love that man. I was so proud to come home from college to caucus for him in 1988, even though the Dukakis and Babbitt supporters gamed us out of a delegate. I told that story here. The experience planted the seeds of my discontent with the Iowa caucus system.

Invite other Iowa political junkies to join us at Bleeding Heartland.

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by: desmoinesdem @ Mon Feb 01, 2010 at 13:22:27 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Well then, (0.00 / 0)

since both Paul and his wife Jeanne Simon have since passed away, I may now one day reveal, in a Bleeding Heartland exclusive, some of the funnier moments of my salad days as a wet-behind-the-ears volunteer for the Paul Simon for President Campaign, including but not limited to:

-- Dry cleaning hi-jinks.
-- "Love in the Elevator," with eponymous Aerosmith song as optional soundtrack.
-- We volunteers' pet names for the perpetually-overworked, underpaid, and overstressed paid staff in the Des Moines Paul Simon for President HQ on Army Post Road.
-- What happens when a U.S.-Senator-and-at-that-time-bona-fide-presidential-candidate inadvertently leaves his bulging leather briefcase filled with important legislation on top of the car that you arrive in to drive him from the Mason City Municipal Airport to his motel.

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by: PrairieBreezeCheeze @ Mon Feb 01, 2010 at 20:51:02 PM CST

[ Parent ]

We could have quite a nice little Iowa Public Television "Remember When" (0.00 / 0)

Show, starring:

--PrairieBreezeCheeze as the receptionist/driver who was so dedicated to the bow-tied one that he volunteered all day and delivered pizzas at night and on weekends in his spare time

-- Lee Keither as the media assistant to Barry ("with red hair, like a raspberry") Surman's MIT-inspired "Radio Actuality Campaign"

-- Bratt Duggebo as "The Voice of Kennedy," providing historical perspective, a la Adlai Stevenson during the Cuban Missile Crisis

-- Elaine "Treaty of Guadeloupe" Edalgo, known far and wide among campaign managers for her skill at "giving good phone."

-- The poor paid staffer who drove surrogate and wife-of-the-candidate Jeanne Simon into a ditch after becoming discombobulated when a large, aggressive Iowa grasshopper leaped into her automobile

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by: PrairieBreezeCheeze @ Mon Feb 01, 2010 at 21:11:25 PM CST

[ Parent ]