This will be my 22nd RAGBRAI and I have never seen a cat washing. This year looks to be special. A good cat wash could be about as fun to watch as cat juggling or midget throwing. Hope to find out which towns will have this wonderful event.

gosh, wish you could go back and edit. Car wash shower setups. although a community cat wash might be entertaining.

Having washed a cat before I can say without reservation: It would be more fun to watch then to participate.

Spraying under the hood could be painful.

If you just stand back for the manual car washes a little for reduced pressure you could use the real car wash wands. Then clean your bike too.

My first shower ever on RAGBRAI was in a car wash. It left impressions — emotional and physical. Looking back, it was good because it properly calibrated my expectations.

It was in Independence, 110 10th Ave NW. No, I didn’t wait for 4 days before I showered; I only rode the last few days that year.

Anyone have any remembrance of the Cresco car wash? I heard that was memorable.

I remember a couple of towns with drive-thru car washes that were converted to showers, but the one I’ll always remember was the open-air shower in Keosauqua on RAGBRAI IX.  They rigged some canvas walls with a network of piping overhead — connected directly into a fire hydrant.  You wanna talk about cold water showers?  If you went into those and survived you should have gotten a lifetime membership in the Polar Bear Club along with the towel.

-“BB”-

I think most places got away from that shower setup due to liability with that big scrub brush.

On RAGBRAI XL, Lake View also hod open shower stalls hooked up to a fire hydrant. On that very hot day you went from hot to cold in less than a second. Quite the shock to the system.

this conversation is half scaring me and half laughing my ass off!

BB: the one I’ll always remember was the open-air shower in Keosauqua on RAGBRAI IX

As I recall, it was a nice sunny, warm day when we hit those showers in Keosauqua. It was definitely a communal experience and the cold water kept the lines moving pretty quickly.

Cheers,
~ Kevin

I don’t remember which town had it, but someone had those tankless hot water heaters that heats the water as you use it (as opposed to waiting for it to heat up a tank of water) hooked up to a farm sized LP tank and everyone had a hot shower. Sort of a miracle i thought. Ingenious iowa farm types getting it right…