FLETCHER COUSINS AT THE LA DODGERS GAME

It's July 2011, and these Fletcher cousins who had celebrated the wedding of Rebecca and Damon Fecht the day before, took in a Los Angeles Dodgers game together.

Front Katherine Fletcher, David Gross, John Fletcher, Nancy Fletcher and Janne Fecht - Note John Fletcher wears a Chicago Cubs hat.

EMILY AND KEVIN WOOD

Emily Souzan Wood and Kevin Hemi Wood descend from Frances (Frankie) Eleanor (Moss) and James G. Knight.
Emily was 12 in 2010 and Kevin age 9.

LEARNING ABOUT AMERICA ON THE RAGBRAI

Historic farmhouse in Nashua, Iowa





Janne and Jerry Fecht took time on the Ragbrai to visit Nashua, Iowa. Seeing the tiny farmhouse and log cabin reminded us what our ancestors experienced in their determination to build the "good life" for us.

JANNE AND JERRY TAKE SIDE TRIP TO NASHUA, IOWA

The Little Brown Church in the Wildwood, a national treasure. We visited the church in Nashua to see where Burnet Brown's great grandmother was recently discovered buried. The church is an influence over the "Little Brown Church" in Studio City, California where Nancy and Ronald Reagan were married.

Helping Ragbrai riders get into rain gear.
Rain dance by Ragbrai rider.
Pat Hartung of Preston, Iowa holds a rain poncho over fellow rider Kimberly Breaux of Port Byron, Illinois in the town of Rowley on the Ragbrai.Ragbrai rider Jonathan Stichter of Sigourney, Iowa gets a hug from Sister Mona Rottinghaus of the Singing Nuns in Jessup, Iowa.
On Friday, the 30th of July the rain poured and our riders slept in, to join the pack in Quasque, Iowa.

Ragbrai stops off at Parkersburg

In Witchita Kansas we stopped to see an exciting Miro mural at the State University. While looking for a rest room, Brendan and I see big warning cards telling students where to go "when" the next tornado comes. This stack of bicycles sculpture greeted our riders in the meeting stop of Parkersburg. A massive "twister" came though this village in 2008. The village was grateful for the infusion of money some of the 15,000 Ragbrai riders made to their economy.
In my thinking, this "Rhoades Car" seems the right way to take on a state wide bicycle ride. An awning, someone to talk to, and 42 cycling speeds.

The Aplington - Parkersburg High School Junk Percussion Emsemble made lots of energetic noise when we were looking for our riders in Parkersburg. Janne and I parked about a block from these kids, called Katy Fletcher on her cell phone. She was watching our arrival in the middle of a zillion riders.

The Ragbrai trip had lots of heroes, and our champion was Janne Fecht who managed a huge r.v. from Des Moines to Sioux City to Debuque and back to Des Moines. Here in Charles City, Janne took on laundry to keep our rides fresh and clean.