Pork Belly Update-Dorm Rooms, Hotel Rooms, Massage Appointments

May 1, 2025

Dear Friends,

Iowa is green again, and getting greener, and PBV is on fast-forward. We're a little behind on updates, but we'll send a few in early May. There are a lot of topics here, folks, and none of them are unimportant. Here we go...

Pork Belly Town Hall Meeting

At 7:00 PM on May 15th, we will be holding a Zoom session to answer questions. We look forward to seeing at least 100 of our riders screen-to-screen, and of course, we'll record the session so that everyone can watch, ask, and learn the answers. On our app, and in an email update like this one, we will publish the meeting invitation link at about 6:30 PM on the 15th. We hope you can join us, but if you're busy that evening, you'll be able to watch the recording later!

IF you already have a burning question for PBV, we welcome you to write to Tammy@pkbelly.com. We'll be able to see some trends in what folks are curious about and prepare to respond!

You'll find these important topics and more, below:

Book Massage Appointments during RAGBRAI!
Dorm Rooms Available to PBV Riders in Iowa Falls
Air-Conditioned Bedrooms, with Linens on Beds, Available to PBV Riders in Forest City
Hotel Stays Available on Some Nights--Need a midweek refresher?
Remember Your Detail Form
May 15--PBV Payment Deadline
Guttenberg long-term parking AND indoor sleeping
the PBV Cancellation Policy and Refund Deadline

Here we go...

BOOK

YOUR MASSAGE!

Our Skillfull

Team Will

Rub You the

Right Way!

The PBV Massage Team, led by Julie (above), will have eleven hardy massage therapists working daily in camp, Sunday to Friday. This team goes with us on the road, camps with us, moves each day, and works long hours in the elements to provide massage therapy for our riders!

This offer/service is only for riders who are already signed up for the Weeklong Support or the Partial-Week Support of PBV. Massage therapy is available from about 1:00 to 10:00 PM daily, on Sunday through Friday of RAGBRAI. Julie, Pork Belly Ventures' massage team leader is ready to take your appointments.

PBV

RAGBRAI

MASSAGE

PRICING:

30 min. @ $50

45 min. @ $70

60 min. @ $90

BEFORE YOU SUBMIT YOUR

MASSAGE REQUEST FORM:

Please make sure that you include complete information on your request form when you write to Julie:

Complete a form for each person for whom you are making appointments,
Include the preference of a male or female therapist,
Include your preferred times and duration of massage (people often forget the duration! How long is your massage?),
Do mention anything regarding the massage modality or style that you prefer.
Answer all questions on the form.

Prime times usually fill up first. (Please consider your daily mileage when making appointments; see next topic.) If massage is important for your RAGBRAI experience, we encourage you to make your appointments in advance. Including complete info will help you reserve your time slot more efficiently--otherwise, Julie must write to you for clarification, while others are taking those prime-time spots.

Ready?

Complete and submit this request form, which also appears on the Pork Belly Mobile App!

Massage Request Form

Consider Your Daily Mileage

When you're planning to make massage appointments, be sure to think about your daily mileage, friends. While you might book a 2:00 PM appointment on Monday (44.6 miles), you might not do that on Tuesday (71.4 miles). It is very bad form to stand up your therapist--had to say it.

Get A Dorm Room!

Dorm Stays on Wednesday Night in Iowa Falls...

We always look for mutually beneficial ways of helping our hosts and our riders! As it happens, we're camping on the edge of the Ellsworth College campus, and air-conditioned Thompson Hall, a nice dormitory, is a couple blocks away from camp. For this special opportunity, Pork Belly Ventures will move your baggage to the dorm for you during specific hours in the afternoon. ALSO our crew will help anybody on the second floor to get bags up those stairs.

(Contrary to what we thought earlier in the season, we cannot offer indoor sleeping for $25 on this night. The school building will not be open to us, and the dorms are our only indoor option in Iowa Falls.)

BELOW: Clean and simple, and importantly,

air-conditioned! Dorm rooms in

Thompson Hall at Ellsworth College

(For some reason, one of these beds has two mattresses.

Each occupant gets one mattress!)

DETAILS of

our Dorm Stays

The college is willing to put sheets on beds for those who want them, or you can simply bring your sleeping bag and pillow into your room for the best price.

RIGHT: The shower rooms in Thompson Hall

Keys will be distributed in the dorm lobby on the first floor. They will be collected in the same spot. We have to charge $25 for a lost key, so don't lose them!

PBV towels for your shower will also be distributed and collected again in the dorm lobby. Please make sure all

towels are returned for laundering!

Two floors of the dorm will be available to us... and the restrooms/showers on each floor will be designated

for either Men or Women. We will try to assign men to the floor with Men's showers, and women to the floor with Women's showers. But assume that men and women will

occupy both floors, and couples certainly may share a room. You may need to walk up or down one flight of stairs for the use of your restroom/shower room.

Thompson Hall is two blocks from camp, an easy walk to and from. Though we will help with baggage, we not shuttle between the dorm and camp.

We expect any PBV riders who use these rooms

to treat the facility with respect.

No alcohol in the dorms.

Keep the noise down so that your dorm mates can sleep.

You know the drill.

This opportunity is only for PBV riders.

Pricing of Dorm Rooms...

Without Sheets on your bed/s...

Single occupancy without sheets is $130.

Double occupancy without sheets is $130, or $65 per bed.

With Sheets on your bed/s....

Single occupancy with sheets is $165 (bed with sheets and second bed w/o sheets).

Double occupancy with sheets is $200 (two beds with sheets @ $100 per).

If you're SURE you want a room,

write to Kay@pkbelly.com.

Kay will add you to our spreadsheet and put the appropriate charges on your PBV application.

Get A Heritage House Bed with Linens!

On Tuesday Night of RAGBRAI:

On Tuesday night, we're staying in Heritage Park, a historic village in Forest City with many historic buildings that have been moved to the park. One of these is Heritage House.

RIGHT: We visited on a wet winter day, but this charming old home is Heritage House.

This is yet another opportunity to benefit both our hosts and riders, with a stay inside air-conditioned Heritage House, right in camp. You may reserve a queen or full bed with linens for $80, or a twin bed with linens for $65.

Here's what's available:

Bedroom A: 1 Full Bed
Bedroom B: 1 Queen Bed
Bedroom C: 3 Twin Bunks (6 berths)
Basement: Shared Space with 2 Double Beds and 2 Twin Bunks (4 twin berths)

We assume that some groups may want a whole room, but it's important to us that we help our hosts max out this fundraiser. So groups and individuals alike, please confer with each other and make your decisions quickly. We offer beds on a first-come-first-served basis.

Write to Kay@pkbelly.com, and she will add your name to our spreadsheet and put the appropriate charges on your applications.

(We will have other indoor sleeping opportunities on this night, but it's the usual floor space for $25 per person.)

Get A Hotel Room!

Hotel Stays During RAGBRAI:

Change Your Game with a Refresher Night!

Here is a note from Bella, below.

Hello Porkers,

I am reaching out to you regarding our availability surrounding our hotel stays. Below is a list of our hotels each night, pricing, and the rooms we are still offering. Please reach out if you are interested.

As a quick summary to our hotel service, this is a service we offer our riders that allows them to pursue some much needed reprieve. Our riders leave camp each night to go to the hotel at 6:00pm via our charter shuttle. They then leave the hotel to come back to camp at 6:00am the next morning via the same charter bus.

Bikes are left in camp and those who are using Pork Belly for their dinner are asked to jump in line a bit early as we will ensure you are served prior to your departure from camp mentioned above.

If interested, please reach out to bella@pkbelly.com. You will then be provided with our invitation letter which goes through everything with a bit more detail.

Hope to hear from you soon!

Bella

Hotel Pricing

for Pork Belly Ventures,

including tax and transfer fee

Friday, 7/18, ORANGE CITY-

Holiday Inn Express (in Le Mars, IA- 17.4 miles from Orange City)

2 KING SUITES LEFT

1 person using room, incl transfer: $206.78

2 people using room, incl transfer: $128.40 per person

3 people using room, incl transfer: $102.26 per person

Saturday, 7/19, ORANGE CITY

Holiday Inn Express (in Le Mars, IA- 17.4 miles from Orange City)

3 KING SUITES, 1 DOUBLE QUEEN, AND 1 KING LEFT

1 person using room, incl transfer: $206.78

2 people using room, incl transfer: $128.40 per person

3 people using room, incl transfer: $102.26 per person

Sunday, 7/20, MILFORD- SOLD OUT

*EMAIL BELLA IF INTERESTED IN WAITING LIST*

Ramada by Wyndham (in Spirit Lake, IA- 11 miles from Milford)

1 person using room, incl transfer: $217.99

2 people using room, incl transfer: $134.00 per person

3 people using room, incl transfer: $106.00 per person

Monday, 7/21, ESTHERVILLE-- SOLD OUT

*EMAIL BELLA IF INTERESTED IN WAITING LIST*

Ramada by Wyndham (in Spirit Lake, IA- 16 miles from Estherville)

1 person using room, incl transfer: $217.99

2 people using room, incl transfer: $134.00 per person

3 people using room, incl transfer: $106 per person

Tuesday, 7/22, FOREST CITY- SOLD OUT

*EMAIL BELLA IF INTERESTED IN WAITING LIST*

Best Western Holiday Inn Lodge (in Clear Lake, IA- 21 miles from Forest City)

1 person using room, incl transfer: $257.20

2 people using room, incl transfer: $153.60 per person

3 people using room, incl transfer: $119.07 per person

Wednesday, 7/23, IOWA FALLS

AmericInn (in Webster City, IA- 38 miles from Iowa Falls)

3 DOUBLE QUEENS LEFT

1 person using room, incl transfer: $234.80

2 people using room, incl transfer: $142.40 per person

3 people using room, incl transfer: $111.60 per person

Thursday, 7/24, CEDAR FALLS

Hampton Inn (in Cedar Falls, IA- minutes from camp)

3 DOUBLE QUEENS LEFT

1 person using room, incl transfer: $292.89

2 people using room, incl transfer: $171.45 per person

3 people using room, incl transfer: $130.96 per person

Friday, 7/25, OELWEIN

Comfort Inn and Suites (in Independence, IA- 15 miles from Oelwein)

2 KINGS (W/ PULL OUT), 3 DOUBLE QUEENS (W/ PULLOUTS)

1 person using room, incl transfer: $262.80

2 people using room, incl transfer: $156.40 per person

3 people using room, incl transfer: $120.93 per person

Please write to

Bella@pkbelly.com

to reserve or ask questions

about a hotel stay with PBV!

Your Detail Form

People are really responding to our recent update and completing their Detail Forms. If you haven't done it yet, please login to your application at your earliest convenience, especially if you're using our Omaha Airport Shuttle to Orange City! Kay is already assigning riders to departure times, and your preferred departure may fill up!

We are aware that you won't have your six-digit Official RAGBRAI registration number until early June, so you'll have to login again to add it to your Detail Form.

PBV Cancellation Policy

for RAGBRAI

During the season, we take several opportunities to publish reminders of our Cancellation Policy. See our home page for more, but here's the gist of it...

Before June 15th, you can still cancel part or all of your PBV services and receive a 90% refund on the amount of services reserved (10% is non-refundable). You can drop services or cancel entirely by phone or email, and we'll send you a refund check quickly. On or after the 15th of June, we will make no refund.

Those who have taken our Cancellation Protection at the time they initially registered have extended their 90% refund deadline to the Wednesday prior to RAGBRAI, July 16. If you took our protection, and if you cancel prior to 10:00 PM on July 16, you're entitled to a 90% refund.

Non-Refundable Fees

The first ten percent (10%) must be paid by credit card, and is non-refundable as stated in our cancellation policy.

The five-percent (5%) charge for our optional cancellation protection extends the 90% refund deadline from June 15 to July 16th. It, too, is non-refundable.

PBV on FB

In May, we'll ramp up our posting frequency with Words of the Week, breaking Pork News, and a series of fun and instructional videos.

https://www.facebook.com/porkbellyventures/

We hope you'll mark your calendars for May 15th at 7:00 PM, when we'll host our second-ever town hall.

Stand by, please, for indoor sleeping opportunities on four, maybe five nights of RAGBRAI.

It's so beautiful and fragrant outside, and we can't wait to welcome you to our home state again! We'll be on your screens again soon, and until then we remain,

Your friends,

Tammy and Pete

and our Amazing planning team: Dave, George, Mick, Wes, Kay, Bella, Gracie, Kim, Karen, Rob, and Becca

Pork Belly Ventures LLC

Tammy: 808-375-8921 c, tammy@pkbelly.com

Pete: 402-681-2613 c, pete@pkbelly.com