last time through Woodward left Perry on 141 to north on 169. Gravel to Bouton. R30 to Woodward. then 210 to Madrid, Slater Huxley and Cambridge. That was before the HTT opened. try that now and so many would go off route on the trail and the bridge would be a total cluster .

They went down the trail in 2013 on the Perry to DSM day. There was 40K out there that day.

I think cluster on the HTT is the amount of people that would stop at the bridge. I’ll be cheering for a Madrid pass through though, might be able to sneak a night in my own bed.

A lot of those 40,00 did use the RRVT. If that many tried it on RAGBRAI on the HTT the bridge would probably be like going through a town. walk most of the way because so many stopped to take pictures. So I think that they would avoid doing 210 from Woodward to Madrid. They could do a Perry, Bouton, Woodward, Boone, Ames day, on some ride we did go through the Woodward Resource Center (I think that’s what they call it now) and went north, maybe through Luther. Or even a Perry, MInburn, Granger, Polk City, Sheldahl, Slater, Ames day. Either of those people who know would jump on the trail but the official route would steer you away.

Either way, I think we are due to come through the DSM/Ames area. Maybe not DSM itself though.

I had no rhyme or reason for my Madrid and Coon Rapids pick. Just looked on a map and found some towns that looked about the right distance away from each other. And I didn’t want to pick a bunch of stops that have been overnights numerous times already, I like to hope we would go to new towns.

I also like Missouri Valley. I believe last start in about 2008. My guesses are:
Missouri Valley
Harlan
Coon Rapids
Ankeny
Grinnell
Iowa City
Monticello
Bellevue

Can’t imagine the logistics of getting out of “town” but how about Carter Lake as the start? Could roll everyone across the Bob Kerry Pedestrian bridge I guess.

Here’s my picks.

Onanwa
Denison
Jefferson
Ames
Marshalltown
Vinton
Anamosa
Dubuque

ONLY 12 DAYS UNTIL ROUTE ANNOUNCEMENT!!!!!!

SO EXCITED!

I’m with ya Amanda, you really can’t make plans in detail until the route comes out. Only a few more days!

After some completely unscientific research guesswork, I noticed that Eagle Grove’s high school mascot was “Eagles”, and Guttenberg’s Clayton Ridge, Guttenberg, school mascot was “Eagles”, so I picked Eagle Grove as one of the overnights and Guttenburg for the end town.

With the clues given from the logo and the video:
Onowa- The song Fly Like an Eagle came out in 1977, Onowa was the start town in 1977. The theme this year is Ride like an Eagle.
Dennison – James Hansen from Dennison, is the Director of the Godard Institute of Space Studies.
Jefferson – Loren Shriver, from Jefferson, is an astronaut
Ames – NASA Space laboratory in Ames, critical to our space program
Grinnell – Red and Black on the logo is the same colors as Grinnell College
Cedar Rapids – Rockwell Collins was a major contributor to the space program
Anamosa – The movie easy rider came out in 1969, the same year we landed on the moon. The motorcycle from Easy Rider is at the Motorcycle museum in Anamosa
Clinton – Dale Garder from Clinton, is an astronaut

So this very systematic research and analysis based on the clues, and knowing that all the towns are reasonable distances, makes me believe this is the route.

If this is not the route, I am just throwing darts next year for my guess.

We will know in a week and a wake up

Evin Thompson,

Your rationale for a route prediction makes absolutely perfect sense. The tie-in to eagles, astronauts and the space program in general reflects a deep understanding of the issue. The logic is impeccable and you deserve congratulations for your efforts.

Unfortunately, I think that TJ threw out another of his infamous red herrings. Your prediction will go for naught.

I like your dart throwing suggestion, though. I would try it, but I don’t want to put any more holes in the walls. I’ll stick with my ever-unreliable crystal.

We’ll have an answer next Saturday.

See you along the I-O-Way in July.

Evin, Loren Shriver has ridden RAGBRAI before. I ran into him in a town one year. I think it was 2011-12. He had the info card on his saddle with his name,so I said hi.