Early-bird RAGBRAI riders hit halfway point by 7 a.m.

Several RAGBRAI riders reached Rowley, the approximate halfway point in their 62-mile Day 6 ride, around 7 a.m., and by 7:15 a.m. six of them had reached Quasqueton, leaving them just 20 miles short of their overnight objective in Manchester.

One of the early birds, the Rev. Lloyd Johnson of Moweaqua, Ill., said he has been talking to everyone he can, keeping a journal and gathering material for future sermons.

“I tell people I work for Universal Management because I want them to be themselves around me,” Johnson said. “I can put up with the cussing and the drinking if that's what it takes to get to know the real people.”

Johnson said the independent Christian church he serves in the cenrtal Illinois community includes about 30 bicyclists who persuaded him to join them last year for his first Ragbrai. They couldn't come this year, so Johnson is traveling alone, he said.

Many of the early birds were getting in out of the rain and enjoying breakfast at food stands operated by Rowley community groups and Tyson Foods.

More than 30 volunteers are helping at the community stand, Rowley Mayor Rita Knutson said.

The Tyson stand, which has been following RAGBRAI across the state, donates its proceeds to charitable organizations that feed the hungry, said Andrea Sherwood, assistant community relations manager at Tyson headquarters in Springdale, Ark.

Of Friday's proceeds, 75 percent will go to the Independence Food Bank and 25 percent will go to the national Share Our Strength hunger relief agency, she said.

Brooke Salger, the human relations manager at the Tyson plant in Independence, and five other plant employees were staffing the booth Friday morning.

Salger, of Garrison, a 16-year Tyson employee, said she gets a warm feeling working for a company that does good things for the community.