We worked the 4pm-8pm shift last Saturday, at the Main Campground. We had to park about 8 blocks away and then catch the RAGBRAI bus to the info desk at the campground. Good thing we got there early, the traffic was terrible. It took us about 30 min. for those 8 blocks! We checked in at the information desk, to see what our duties were. We were told to head to the Pavilion on the other side of the bridge. So, we grabbed a stack of maps and off we went. Our first question was, where is the Expo? Well, I knew that one. Next question, where is the closest porta potty? Well, we just passed some on the other side of the bridge, but we haven't gotten too far on the other side. So, we had a list of phone numbers to call, so that's what I did. As the evening went on, we found out that there wasn't enough porta potties spread throughout the campground. That was one big complaint! I can't blame them! We had a variety of questions, and if we didn't know them, we were able to call and get an answer. (Thank goodness)
They had more than 10,000 registered bicyclist in RAGBRAI from all 50 states and 40 countries. They estimated about 25,000 visitors last weekend. We saw quite a few buses, with their bike racks on top. You could tell bikers had done this before. We watched people putting their bikes together, after they had it shipped to Sioux City. There was a family of 6, that had a 4 person bicycle and then pulled the two littlest ones in a bike cart. 
About half way through our shift we noticed cars coming the wrong way on the one way street through the campground. So, we headed down to the exit and the big barricade had been taken down. There was no one manning that station. So, Vel called and yes, there was suppose to be someone there and if we could stay until they could find someone to relieve us. So, we got the pleasure of telling people to turn around, get back on interstate and go to the correct exit. Most people were o.k. with it, but a few gave us some grief. Oh well. Vel had a lady yell at her, right after she put the barricade back up, that she wasn't doing a very good job at keeping cars from going the wrong way. Good Grief!!
On the good side of it we had several people thank us, for volunteering.
By 8 o'clock we were exhausted. We caught a bus, which took us back to our car and back home we went. We were still meeting bike buses that were headed to Sioux City, on our way home. Amazing!
All in all it was a fun experience!
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