What's Eating Iowans Listening Tour a Success
- 7 days ago
- 2 min read
Nearly 400 miles biked. Sweltering temperatures of 100 degrees. Hundreds of stories shared by everyday Iowans. Triumphant tears as they dipped bike tires or toes into the Mighty Mississippi. And a renewed commitment to elect good and decent people to represent Iowa.
Iowans for Decency members, including co-founder Peter Hedges, biked or drove across the state hosting listening sessions along the 2026 RAGBRAI route. The "What's Eating Iowans Listening Tour" gave us a chance to hear from Iowans about how their lives are going, what's challenging or keeping them up at night and what their hopes are for the future.
Lana Bradstream, reporter with the Times-Republican attended the Marshalltown session on July 24.
"Hedges asked attendees to introduce themselves, share where they attended high school and a short sentence about a moment or person which irrevocably altered them. Participants hailed from West Des Moines, Dubuque, Pleasant Valley and as far as California and their life-changing moments ranged from medical diagnoses to helping people vote in the 1980s, from a parent telling them they were too fat for a piece of pie to clearly seeing the Big Dipper for the first time in a night sky free of light pollution."
"Hedges ended the discussion by asking everyone what they want the country to look like in 25 years. Women earning salaries which are equal to men, cancer research is either funded or no longer necessary, safe schools, respect for America across the world and not worrying about the impacts of drinking or bathing in Iowa water were some of the answers."
On July 21, Des Moines Register reporter, Courtney Crowder, attended our session in Boone and wrote this about the work that Peter and Iowans for Decency are doing "Gilbert Grape' author rides RAGBRAI for something more than nostalgia"
But “revisiting” just might be too passive. He’s investigating his roots, poking at them, ripping some out to divide and replant, only to sometimes rip them out again.
“I want to find that I have resilience,” he continues, casting his eyes upwards as if searching the ceiling for the manna of the exact right words. “I want to discover resilience in others, and I also want to feel hope that there can be things that unite us. That there are ways to unite people, and to bring people together.”
Hedges is machete-ing himself a way forward: Using the past as a taut string to launch Gilbert’s story for the future; mining for connection and, well, decency with an ever-growing group of friends; and here, now, literally, with every pedal stroke that propels him closer to the Mississippi. For a baptism, of sorts.
“I realized I left part of my heart, a big chunk of my heart, in Iowa,” Hedges says, “and this has all led to this whole robust new chapter.”
Check out the photos and videos below!
