79 Guest Blog: Masinga-Week Part 2

A Note from Norman: Greetings beavers! I hope you are enjoying Masinga's description of her journey need into the heart of darkness that is Virgin-Ragbrai. This part 2 of 5. Voila!

ENTRY 2 – Who’s ready to Dance?

I woke up ready for Monday!  Ride, ride, ride. Hanger. Sanger. Ride, ride, ride.  I’m going to jump ahead to the dance party, that’s what we all want here. 

I don’t even know how it started. It was so much fun. I think it went like this.  Goldie, JK, and I strolled into the front doors at The Lodge on Main.  We walked through the dark bar and out to the patio where the louder music was coming from.  There was a DJ on a flat bed trailer, weird.*  There was a large tent with a number of mostly empty picnic tables.  There were a couple tables set up as outside the bar with troughs full of cold beer behind them.  There was definitely an empty area between the picnic tables and the flatbed trailer.  That empty area was perfect for a dance party. 

Obviously.

If you know me well, you know I’m not a dancer.  There either has to be a great party happening that makes me want to shake my beaver tail or I have to be well on my way to schnockered.  I don’t remember being that far into the sauce, I could have been mistaken.  Maybe it was the two friends we three lady Beavers made on the “dance floor”.  Two Jug Sniffers showed up and they were down to shake it.  They may have been touting their Flabongo (see picture below), which may have tipped me over the edge towards schonockered-ville.  When in  Clinkerton. 

Suck that bird!

Making friends.

Holy shit did I shake my booty.  Old Men.  Ladies. Young hot men. Young hot mustached men.  (see picture) You name it.  Everyone was at The Lodge to party!  The rest of the Beavers showed up! Team Awesomeness showed up.  It felt like a time stopped.  I don’t know how much time passed, but I was feeling good.  I met my RAGBRAI doppelganger.  I got a couple of sweet coozies – thanks Jug Sniffers and the one I swiped from The Lodge.  I don’t know why we got pulled out of there.  Was it because the DJ had to shut down or the beer sales had to stop? Why did it have to end??

Wait, we've seen this dude on this blog before...

Doppleganger!

Fun note – A story that was published after RAGRBRAI interviewed a young man who had been battling cancer.  After consulting his physicians he decided to continue with his plan to ride RAGBRAI despite the prognosis he was given earlier in the summer.  The journalist asked what his most memorable moment was.  The young man mentioned being in the middle of a thumping dance party in Graetinger.  I couldn’t help but smile and think, “Yea, we started that party.”  Here’sthe link.

Umm?

I vaguely remember the team discussing a new slogan, something to the effect of “the damn party doesn’t start until the Beavers roll in”.  Pretty sure I went to sleep in Emmetsburg hoping that the rest of the week would be that awesome.  That or I passed out not knowing any better.

V for Virgin!

The next day, I didn’t talk to anyone until 1:30 in the afternoon.  I don’ t know if it was my semblance of a hangover or the first sign that maybe RAGBRAI really isn’t for me.  Only time would tell.

*Not actually weird. Pretty standard DJ behavior. DJs are like Goldie. They like to be up high.