For the first two days of RAGBRAI, the riders, both out-of-state tourists and Iowans, had talked about going to Greenfield, the southwest Iowa town struck by an EF4 tornado May 21.
Riding into the Adair County town felt like a normal RAGBRAI, they said. As riders pedaled up the final bunny hill into town, a rider called out, “Beer, five miles.” Cornerstone Fellowship Church had a slip and slide, and volunteers sold pie. Residents sat on their porches and waved at riders, and high school students stood in the middle of the road to give out high-fives.
But as riders turned south, reality set in. All shade and trees went away. Homes with boarded-up windows emerged on a sunny plain.