RAGBRAI LII July 19 - 26, 2025

Returned Peace Corps Volunteers share stories in Elk Horn

  • 25 July, 2011
  • Michael Morain

After a two year stint in Ukraine with the Peace Corps, John Jensen moved back to Elk Horn last year and set up the Cream and Eggs Museum, which focuses on the life of Iowa farm families. He looked the part in a pair of overalls when RAGBRAI rolled through.

He set up a sign along the side of the road and encouraged Returned Peace Corps Volunteers to autograph it. He climbed a ladder to call out to the crowds.

A few dozen had signed their names by mid-morning, including a Erin Green of Greendale, Wis.

She was a volunteer in the late ‘80s on the Pacific island of Tonga, where she pedaled around on a bike shipped in from Hawaii. It was the same model that the 350-pound King Taufa’ahau of Tonga rode up and down the streets with a four-man police escort. When the elderly king died in 2006, all the islanders wore black for a year.

Michael Morain

3 Comments

  1. Carol Sorensen

    Johnny — You look great! Terrific welcoming job! My16-year-old daughter is riding the whole event this year with her Aunt Jane. They said Elk Horn was a HIGHLIGHT!

  2. jane

    I know this is a very select (10,000) group of people. All those peace corp alumni is undoubtedly out of proportion with the population at large.

  3. wendy d

    Good to see my niece’s name, Marnee King Acker, on the board!!!

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