Yeah, that sounds excellent. By the end of the official route I found myself longing to break away from the group. It sounds like you have that figured out.

I did RAGBRAI a couple of years ago with a friend! It was really fun and I recommend it to people all the time. My favorite memory was a guy running a slip n slide in his front yard, offering free jello shots to everyone who went down it.

That said, I’m not sure I’d do it again. The days (and especially the food) felt very same-y by the end of the week.