When the first meeting of the new Jefferson RAGBRAI Committee was held on February 5, it meant that the Des Moines Register's RAGBRAI director T.J. Juskiewicz (center) saw Jefferson's Phyllis and Randy Bunkers for the first time in three years. They'd encountered each other in a waiting line at Disneyworld in Orlando, Florida, in 2005.

“I happened to be wearing a RAGBRAI T-shirt that day,” Juskiewicz said. “Another guy standing there in line came over and said hello, shook hands and said he noticed my T-shirt. He asked if I was from Iowa or had ridden on RAGBRAI. I said, ‘Well, I’m from Des Moines, and I’m the director of RAGBRAI.’ Then the guy said, ‘Well, I run a donut shop in Jefferson, Iowa, and I’m on the city council there, and if RAGBRAI ever wants to come to Jefferson, we’d sure love to have you!’ Nice guy!” That was Randy Bunkers, and Phyllis was quickly drawn into the conversation in Florida, too. Juskiewicz said after that chance meeting, he started thinking about Jefferson as an eventual overnight host town for RAGBRAI.