I always knew that Clear Lake was a summer-fun tourist town, but this day felt especially significant for me. Growing up in Clear Lake, I always had to work at events like this. I served ice cream, did face painting for little kids, participated in whatever the town needed to make an event nice for the tourists. This day of RAGBRAI was the first time that I felt like a tourist in my own hometown - and it was wonderful!
Amazingly, the Beaver meet-up signal actually works and we found each other pretty quickly. We put our bikes in the sun and sat down in a nice shady spot. Some Beavers went searching for food, others went searching for beer, it was very relaxing. I ate something that reminded me of the state fair, and then promptly went upside down for some yoga and headstands.
By the time the rock band started to play, we were ready to dance. If I remember correctly, we started that dance party!
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| Beavers V. Whiners dance off: Whiners always win |
This dance party was right next to my favorite Clear Lake bar, the VFW. The VFW had air conditioned bathrooms with no line! The VFW also had one dollar jello shots, so I grabbed as many as my tiny hands could carry and spent as much time dancing as I possibly could.
Then I saw the Sterzing's team! Luke and I have a love/hate relationship with Sterzing's (the chips, not the people). Luke used to live in Burlington, so he really wants to love those chips... they're supposed to be a local favorite. I hate those chips because they taste like they've been fried in donut grease - sort of like a potato chip that wants to be a funnel cake. I think they're disgusting.
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| Chips! |
It started to feel like we were never going to leave Clear Lake. Realistically we didn't have to - the day was early and we were already almost done with the ride. Eventually we shuffled out of town and started the longest ride of the day (which was still incredibly short).
We stopped for some ice cream, and then we stopped for some free lemonade, and then suddenly we were in Mason City! We sat in the shade at a gas station, drank beer, ate candy, did more Beaver Yoga, and then a short ride later, we were at the YMCA.
The Mason City YMCA had a nice big grassy area where our tents were already spread out and waiting for us! (Deb is amazing)! They also had a pool (where we got yelled at for trying to stand on those little floating tiles), and a hot tub, and showers!
We walked across the street for dinner at the Pizza Ranch. You'd think this place would have been prepared for RAGBRAI, maybe some extra staff on hand, but they were not. We all ate our fill, but there were several times that we had to wait for pizza, and eventually they just said screw this and closed the restaurant early.
I've always had good experiences at VFW bars. I've even partied in the Mason City VFW in the past, so when we all walked into the VFW next to the Pizza Ranch, my expectations were high. The bar was empty, with the exception of a few older locals, but they were excited to see us because they had a DJ coming that night!
I don't even know what to say at this point. I love to dance. I don't love it when I feel obligated to stay on the dance floor because no one else is dancing and the DJ really, really, really wants us to stay. We sort of dance awkwardly for what felt like hours, and then we made a quick escape.
I thought the night was winding down, but there was a big surprise waiting for us back at the camp!
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