RAGBRAI 2025: Two Eurovans Storm Iowa

[kourt]

For those who do not know what RAGBRAI is, I welcome you to enjoy my RAGBRAI 2023 thread, which explains more about what this great bike ride is all about.

This year's thread will be more brief and focused mostly on the camp craft that is required of RAGBRAI SAG drivers. We were lucky to have a party of five this year (plus a dog): two dedicated SAG drivers and three weeklong riders.

The SAG drivers competently drove our two Eurovans (my 2001 EVC and my friend Patrick's 2001 Weekender) to all the successive campsites across Iowa on this year's 400+ mile ride.

Maps of the long legs to/from Texas and the routes across Iowa.

Our first night together was camped at the Brown County State Fishing Lake near Hiawatha, Kansas. We are shown here parked on one of the fingers that extends into the lake. This is a good intermediate campground for the long journey to Iowa.

Our second night in Hawarden, Iowa, my father's hometown, where we stayed in the city's public campground. This area was flooded last year, and the bathrooms were out of commission--until someone noticed we were camped there. A city plumber was called in, and they fixed things up for us the day we arrived.

The 2025 RAGBRAI ride started in Orange City this year, which is where my Dutch ancestors settled in the early 1900s. I still have family in the area, and many relatives in the cemetery.

Our Orange City campsite was on the edge of a larger RV campground, where we had good shade from the trees and bathrooms nearby.

Milford, a suburb of Lake Okoboji ("The Hamptons of the Midwest") was our next destination town. This was a city park with a good public bathroom, but no shade and streetlights that shone all night.

This shot gives you a typical view of a RAGBRAI morning, where thousands of cyclists are pedaling east into the sunrise through cornfields.

...and here is a shot of what the small towns on the route look like when swarmed by 20,000 cyclists. All the pie and beer you can handle.

My riding party just prior to departing Milford.

I got into a habit of having a root beer float every day for my third breakfast.

After riding each day for six hours, we usually spent quite a bit of time sitting around, staying out of the sun, and enjoying the comforts our vans offered in camp mode.

This campsite was very cozy, with the vans parked to maximize shade and deflect nearby generator noise.

My SAG driver is posing here with the mud spray caused by getting stuck in the campground in Cedar Falls after a sudden, torrential downpour overnight. With the help of some admirers, the van was pushed out.

Our campsite in Iowa Falls was fairly ordinary, but had a good open field nearby. We were near some public showers and enjoyed many good conversations that were instigated by curiosity about our vans.

This is Forrest City, where the Winnebago factory still turns out an impressive array of camper vans. My van was converted here in 2001, so it was a bit of a homecoming.

This is the tire dip in the Mississippi, at Guttenberg, the last day of the ride.

Of course RAGBRAI is all about riding a bike across Iowa and all the cultural richness that entails, but it's also about nuanced camp craft. Our SAG drivers were tasked with finding a new campsite every day, and doing so to gain the greatest advantage above other campers and in consideration of access to shade, water, showers, food, quiet, and social interactions. I was very pleased with how our drivers handled this task.

Regarding the vans themselves, each served admirably for their owner's style of camping. I was very happy, on several occasions, to have the spray port shower on the side of my van, so that I could get clean without paying for showers or waiting in line. The big lithium batteries and Victron equipment in both vans worked beyond expectations.

If you are looking for a unique camping experience and enjoy cycling, I recommend RAGBRAI. Thanks for reading.

kourt
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2001 Eurovan Winnebago Camper

[krusovice]

Thanks for the great write up. That’s the way to do RAGBRAI.
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1984 Vanagon 1.9/4 speed
2001 Eurovan Camper

[HeyCrutch]

Fantastic trip thread, Kourt! Looks like a lot of fun.
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-2003 EV MV Wk - Forest - 51k
-2002 EV Camper - Ghost - 82k
-2003 EV GLS - Fluffhead - 176k

-1997 EVC - 12vVR6 (SOLD 5/2025)