Maps for this summer’s RAGBRAI route, which is last summer’s RAGBRAI route, were released online May 3. Wait, didn’t we do this already? Yes, we did! But what’s presumably the final route has some notable differences from the previous final route, especially in omission of towns. The January route, in turn, had some subtle differences from the FIRST map, released only in line form. This is my analysis of the differences, through saved daily images and this zoomable map.
- Day 1: Le Mars to Sac City (v1: Le Mars to Storm Lake)
- Oyens, though marked as being on IA 3, is technically a mile north.
- Marcus (v1/v2), Cleghorn (v2), and Meriden (v2) are out, replaced with IA 140 and C38. It would have been RAGBRAI’s first visit to the latter two.
- IA 3 and IA 7, not S Avenue and 550th Street, between the east side of Cherokee and Aurelia.
- Alta is still on, losing its spot as the largest non-suburb RAGBRAI hasn’t visited.
- Schaller (v2) is out; the route will turn from IA 110 to D15 a mile north.
- The v3 daily map has “IA 71” south of Early instead of IA 471. It also marks D36/old 20 as only 255th Street. I have a strong hunch that the daily maps were compiled based off Google, which still has US 71 running south of Early and does not have a D36 marker west of Sac City.
- Day 2: Sac City to Fort Dodge (v1: Storm Lake to Fort Dodge)
- The “old 20” component of this day has dwindled with each map.
- Lake City has replaced Rockwell City as meeting town.
- A little notch between N28 and D53 moves the route through tiny Yetter, though the town’s not marked, perhaps because you have to zoom deep in Google to see it.
- “330th” and “Harris” are D53 and N37.
- Somers (v2) and Roelyn (v2) are out in favor of Callender, via D46 and P33. Prairie Valley Elementary is in, too.
- Including a route through downtown Moorland, crossing the railroad at Western Street.
- Into Fort Dodge: Kenyon Road, S 8th Street, 1st Avenue S (camp by river)
- Day 3: Fort Dodge to Webster City
- Nearly unchanged since original, with the addition of two long optional gravel segments I will not attempt to discern.
- Out of Fort Dodge: 1st Avenue S, S 15th Street, 2nd Avenue N, MLK Drive (past high school), 10th Avenue N, D18, P63
- The main route does not go through Williams. Blairsburg to Williams (v1) was straightforward old 20: D20 and R75. The newer versions go north from Blairsburg, specifically on US 69, then east to Williams on D20…but Williams is not on the east-west part of D20. Nor is Williams due west of Alden, as shown on v2 and v3. The official interactive route map follows 69 and D20, missing downtown Williams by 2 miles.
- D15, not D16, as the route goes down Alden’s Main Street.
- Day 4: Iowa Falls to Waterloo
- After ditching Dike and Hudson from v1 for Janesville, v2 and v3 are identical.
- New Hartford to Waterloo airport: Main Street, C67, T75 (this part is marked C67 on the v3 map), C55, V14 (old 218), C57/Cedar Wapsi Road, V25/Wagner Road
- In Waterloo, from KWWL: Big Rock Road, Burton Avenue, Conger Street, River Road, Commercial Street. This ends at the downtown festival.
- Day 5: Waterloo to Anamosa
- Out of Waterloo: Lafayette Street, Evans Road, Dubuque Road/old 20
- Elk Run Heights is on the route but unmarked on the daily map.
- Gilbertville, Brandon, and Urbana have all been cut, in favor of Jesup and Rowley.
- Shady Grove, at the V65/D47 intersection, is a rural collection of houses, but it shows up on a high zoom level on Google.
- The road south of Walker hasn’t been IA 920 for 18 years, but Google doesn’t know that. It’s W6E as opposed to a southward extension of W35, which would have made more sense.
- Day 6: Anamosa to DeWitt (v1: Anamosa to Maquoketa)
- Everything east of the IA 136/Y32 intersection was changed from v1 after Maquoketa dropped out.
- E45, IA 136, and E63 markers are in incorrect places on the daily map, and some markers are omitted, so I am going to list turn-by-turn below.
- Anamosa to Calamus: IA 64, IA 38, E45, IA 136, Y34, E63, Y44
- Calamus: Davenport, Spring, 2nd, Main, 5th streets. Not quite the Lincoln Highway, which is signed on Grove instead of Main, but close.
- Calamus to De Witt: 245th Street, Y52, F21, Y54, 255th Street, Y62, 225th Street, just missing Grand Mound.
- The entrance to DeWitt in v3 differs from v2: 18th Avenue, 17th Street, 14th Avenue, 14th Street, 8th Avenue, 10th Street to Lincoln Park.
- Day 7: De Witt to Clinton (v1: Maquoketa to Clinton)
- Six Mile is still just an extinct map dot. As a Huebinger map from the 1910s would say, “No accommodations.” Not even a blacksmith.