Being There in Altoona

As the support person for my RAGBRAI riding team, Iowa Borealis, my usual morning routine icnluded riding to the next overnight town, scoping out a campsite that provided not just 2-vehicle parking but also a modicum of shade, and then assessing the church supper that would best meet our team;s needs that evening. After all this was accomplished, I would settle in for a long day in the 90+ humid heat--which was not condusive to power reading...or much else. Altoona was a nice break in that action, because we had scored a hotel room for the night, so I could skip all my usual routine and instead scope out a coffee shop to pass some of the early morning hours in a way that might occur outside the context of RAGBRAI.

The map I got from the hotel with restaurants on it was not promising, and the staff recommended the Village Inn--no thank you. Yelp was no more help--I would have had to go to Des Moines to find something and I was not interested in braving the city to get a nice independent coffee shop atmosphere. But as meandered from the hotel towards the bike route, I stopped by a great looking place--'Being There'. They were hosting a RAGBRAI group on the green grass behind their shop and they were busy setting up concession stands to accommodate the expected crowds. I got a chai and a table by the window and settled in for a good read while I sipped. The only thing going in Being There besides a genuine excitement for the incoming bicyclists was a Bible study group made up of young women, who punctuated their thoughts on the day's readings with 'like this is what Jesus would want' and such. No sense that we had left small town Iowa behind, despite the proximity to Des Moines. And we were not disappointed at the evening's church supper--we had 10 pieces of pie between the eight of us and stopped only because of the feeling we might burst.