For future reference, putting candy in the Team Beaver piñata was not the best idea. In my defense, I chose candy that wouldn't melt such as starburst and other hard candies, but still, when that piñata cracked open and the goodies spilled out, Beavers were diving for the min-booze and the candy was left to be handpicked out the grass out of a feeling of obligation. The only real benefit of the candy was that we could throw it at all the little kids who stand by the side of the road and wave at us - kind of like a parade!
Another benefit of the piñata was that I now had a stash of mini-booze bottles to carry around with me. This meant that the free beer breakfast stop now involved the tasty morning treat of coffee with baileys! So watch out Mr. Mayor - the piñata-filling cost might increase slightly this year due to the increase of booze and decrease of candy.
Okay - back on subject -
Riding into Ottumwa was pretty nice. The hills had subsided a bit and we were able to get a pretty good Beaver pace line going somewhere between Dance Party town and the Backpocket stop. The key to a good Team Beaver pace line is to go slow, or at least slower than most of the other pace lines. Other riders seem to really love this because it's actually possible to hop on and stay for a while. At one point I'm sure our Team Beaver Slow-ish Pace Line was at least 20 riders deep!
After throwing hard candy at all the street-side children, we wound our way around downtown Ottumwa and found the hair salon, called our host and waited for our ride. Here's the thing... Beavers aren't great at just standing around and waiting patiently unless we have cold drinks in our hand, so after realizing that we would have at least 2 minutes of wait time, we promptly headed next door to a bar and grill.
We walked into the bar, and lo and behold, right in front of us sat Crazy-Eye-Jeff! Several Beavers instantly swooped in for a hug only to find out that CEJ had crashed, his arm was in a sling, and our hugs were actually hurting him - oops. Mrs. CEJ eyed us suspiciously from across the table. She was not impressed.
After being mildly scolded by Mrs. CEJ, we headed to the bar, downed some mixed drinks, and then before we knew it, our hosts had arrived!
