RAGBRAI
While living in Mississippi I did 4 more RAGBRAI events. The first of those
started out with a major catastrophe. We had borrowed Nancy’s parents’ new
22-foot pull-behind camper, using Nancy’s Ramcharger. We were to pick up Alyse
and her husband from California in Sioux City, Iowa. They were going to do
RAGBRAI also and stay in the trailer with us. We started out a few days early
to do some genealogical research in Des Moines. We camped just south of Des
Moines for two days and were heading north on I35/80. Something was not working
properly in the trailer, the circuit breaker in the Ramcharger, which powered
lights and battery charger in the trailer, kept tripping. So I stopped along
the side of the highway. I was in the trailer, Nancy was standing at the camper
door which was on the ditch side away from the highway. Suddenly everything blew
up as if there was an explosion. I came back to life lying in the ditch covered
with debris and Nancy was standing on the road screaming.