Tent City, about 820 people (720 riders and 100 crew, staff and other support people) make a small city. The city is moved everyday. Each location, the layout is different. A crew moves to each new location a day ahead of us and does the layout. We arrive, the riders setup their tents, the crew sets up service tents, mess hall tents, and OK-Cascade (the company that provides food and shower services sets up the kitchen, showers, and another contractor comes in with porta-potties. By evening, 820 now live in a new location, and by early morning, everything gets packed and moved, and we are gone with little trace left.

Yes, there is a cello, and bagpipes, a trumpet and several guitars.

John, the bagpiper serenads us at each camp. He goes go off into the distance and play. You can hear the bagpipes carried in the wind. It is the way bagpipes should be heard.

I have not heard the cello played yet, but I understand the guy plays it regularly.

I was at first surprised at the age distribution. About half of the people are middle aged or older. There are a lot of college students, teachers, and a significant amount of retired and self employed individuals. After thinking about it, I realized that there were two filters that were working on this group. For one, people had to get seven weeks off to participate in the ride so that accounts for the preponderance of above mentioned occupations. Second, people had to raise at lease $6,000 to participate. The older people were, generally the better connected they were in they occupation and community. Clearly, the older a person, the easier it was to raise the necessary funding.