July

July.

July was about mileage.  And heat.  And Wet Wipes.

But first we headed to Michigan for my sister-in-law's wedding.  Pics!

Officiated by the groom's father

Sister/MOH Amy looks on

Susie was radiant

Luke sings at the ceremony:

with Mr and Mrs Wales

Sunday morning we drove from Grand Rapids to Cherokee, Iowa (642 miles) to catch up with the RAGBRAI team: Luke's bandmates Matt, Josh and Ian; bros Tom and Paul; friends Kelly and Cassie.  All of whom had been training for this weeklong bike ride across Iowa... my job was to drive the van, full of camping gear and supplies, ahead to the next town and stake out a campsite.

En route, we listened to Confederacy of Dunces read by Barrett Whitener.  Though I've read it several times, and Luke had already listened to it during his long drive from San Antonio to Grand Rapids (1,383 miles), we were doubled over laughing.  Snort-laughing.  Choke-on-my-frozen-lemonade-laughing.  Whitener does great voices-- even his female voices are fantastic.  Improve your commute/gym experience and listen - laugh out loud hilarious.

Camping: Cherokee

Chamois Butt'r.  To prevent chafing.  And cause giggles during application.

Getting ready to head out for the day's ride:

Riders roll into Schaller, IA

Cooling off after several hours of riding.

I don't have many pictures... most of the time I was too hot or my hands too sunscreeny/too greasy with pork sandwich to retrieve my camera.  Despite the (relative) hardships of camping out of the van for a week, the Flavor Savers and Friends were so fun to spend time with.

Van-oramic shots:

Cassie is fast asleep