MORRISON – One of the tiniest towns RAGBRAI passed through last week on its seven-day sojourn across Iowa was the Grundy County community of Morrison, population right around 100. As RAGBRAI made its way through the hamlet on Thursday, July 23, as part of the Day 5 route between Marshalltown and Independence, the atmosphere was welcoming, upbeat, and very chill. Riding in from the west on Highway 175, riders rolled into town along Sycamore Street, making a loop by way of Fourth and Broadway. The Pie Lady’s Laura Bru along with her pie assistant, Alex Rogers, and several family members and friends, including Bru’s husband Ryan, served up pie and ice cream to hungry riders near the town entrance, while the Morris Inn Steak House’s tent and bar were likewise hopping. When asked how the day was progressing, Mayor Dave Hach told the newspaper, “So far everything’s been going great.” In a pair of social media posts made Thursday evening, organizers wrote, “We haven’t had a chance to tally up all the numbers, but it was quite an experience for our town of 100 people to have a few thousand extra people around. We had riders coming through for at least 11 hours today. There was a steady stream of constant riders coming through for about four hours.” This year’s visit marks the third time RAGBRAI has passed through Morrison, according to a database maintained by Jeff Morrison on his blog iowahighwayends.net. The first was in 1974 during the second RAGBRAI as the route traveled between the overnight towns of Marshalltown and Waterloo while traveling from Gladbrook to Hudson. RAGBRAI returned nearly a decade later in 1983 as the route traveled between overnight stops in Grundy Center and Manchester. “Thank you, RAGBRAI riders for visiting our little town,” organizers further posted Thursday evening. “We have many stories to share of the nice people we met today. Hopefully you felt the small town love (and) have safe travels the rest of the way!” In response, rider Stacie McClure of Missouri commented, “My lunch at The Morris Inn was the best meal I’ve had all week.”