RAGBRAI: Day 3

It might be difficult to get to sleep tonight. The campground is arranged in such a way that the road goes past and bikers and really slow cars keep going and people talking and strange chirpy bug-rodents... chirping.

But it shouldn't be because I'm cold. Explain that in a second.

I've decided my favorite part is in the morning right after we get started and you think you have the energy to tackle the whole day and everyone is still biking together...

Today felt like a lot of stops, but we had plenty of time. My Uncle Larry biked with us briefly as well. Mom and Dad play a game where they see if they know anyone on RAGBRAI... and who knows someone first. I saw someone actually jogging RAGBRAI along the side of the road... you think I'm crazy for biking 50+ miles in a day, I think other people are crazy for running it. Anyway, as the jogger passed me (had stopped for a breakfast burrito), I thought he looked just like Adam Foley, David's hall director for BWR. I waved with a somewhat shocked expression on my face and he didn't wave back. Once back on my bike, I caught up with him. Turns out he didn't respond because he was in the zone. I guess I can understand that.

Later on, we were almost to Minburn where I was going to try and see Nikki, someone I knew from Panera. I stopped at a free banana place outside of Minburn and it turns out she was there.

The weather was great. Little headwind near the end. I'm not as perky as the first day as my legs kind of shut down whenever not in use and it takes them 10 minutes to warm back up after a break.

But I shouldn't be cold tonight because we met David in Des Moines and he drove us to Bang Bangs Mongolian Grill and brought me blankets and we had a lovely time. Miss him.

RAGBRAI: Day 2

Just a note to start the day. I should have taken better care with my sleeping arrangements. Oh, don't get me wrong, the mat is great. The sketchiest part of this whole thing was a thin, self-inflating foam mat. It's pretty comfortable. I thought that in the middle of July, all I'd need was a sheet, mostly just to cover the mat. Two mornings now I've woken with every inch of the sheet wrapped around me like a small cocoon. I did bring a sweatshirt which I end up wearing. And to keep noise and stuff out, I put a towel over my head, which also contributes to attempting to keep me warm. I don't know where I would have put  sleeping bag or anything else, but the only thing worse than trying go sleep sticky from either sweat or bug spray is trying to sleep cold.

As I write this, I am experiencing a monsoon. My tent is caving in like someone is sitting on it. The tarp part is snapping in the wind like a cap gun. And even though all the pieces are on, I'm still getting wet. I've taken to wearing my towel as the tent dances and spatters rain at me. Good thing all my luggage is packed in the appropriate plastic bag.

Well, I guess I'll just have to wait it out while blogging. My sleeping mat is wet anyway.

This morning started off damp too. Everything was covered with dew and mist. It was actually pretty amazing starting off and looking at the hills covered and bikers disappearing into the distance.

Later it got hot. And long. And difficult. But I made it.

Apparently this tent was only made for vertical rain.

Not much for photos. I was concentrating.

RAGBRAI: Day 1

I have completed my first day of RAGBRAI. Please, no applause.

It was pretty easy at the start, only getting really hilly later in the day. I think we hit Harlan just after noon. Early to bed, early to rise around here. And by early, I'm pretty sure the guy who camped behind me started taking down his tent before 04:00. There was some lightning and nobody wanted to have to pack a rain-damp tent.

It is really fun riding with so many other bike-loving people, just filling the road, stretching from the distance in your rear-view mirror to the crest of the hill in the distance.

Also, I'd like to note our very Iowan and very affordable meal for lunch which had ham-balls-on-a-stick, corn-on-a-cob, and a drink for like five bucks.

So, I learned a few things today, and not just about biking and the various calls associated with it. Here are a few things to know before going on RAGBRAI:

1) Always eat free bananas. I'm not sure why, but bananas are prime food for bikers around here. Free bananas are better.

2) When trekking to the shower, use a gym back or something. Because it can be a trek and your arms will grow tired if you have to hold clothes, a towel, toiletries, and a book for however long you wait in line, then abandon the line to take the shuttle to Joe's Shower Shack (or something like that), wait in line again to get a shuttle back, and then walk back to camp from there.

3) I generally feel washcloths are somewhat superfluous. I think they I'd in better overall cleanliness, but can be abandoned for a week if needed. Usually, that works fine. But if you are wearing five layers of bug spray, two layers of sunscreen, and three layers of sweat, you either need a washcloth or might have to resort to your fingernails to scratch it off.

Tomorrow is the hard day. If I can make it then, I can probably make rest of the week.

RAGBRAI: Day 0

So it's not technically RAGBRAI, yet. But since it starts tomorrow morning at 6, officially, we're here the day before. I've got my tent set up and I went to the bike expo and I got samples of stuff and then read a book in the shade with some Redd's Apple Ale. Just now we went and dipped our back tires in the Missouri river. When we hit the other side, we'll dip our front tires in the Mississippi river. Ceremony for traversing the state.

Note: I'm going to try to write every day, but the cell phone data is overwhelmed right now with the 10,000+ people here for RAGBRAI. Will publish when I can.

Emergency Library Run

So there I was, waiting for League of Legends to update and scrolling through Steampunk pictures in Google images while listening to Abney Park... hey, I was in a mood. When suddenly, I came across an image that was clearly the cover art to a Young Adult series called the Steampunk Chronicles, or what I call it in my head, "The Girl with the Steel Corset" series. Since that's a bit more specific. Anyway, I'd read the first one, Girl with the Steel Corset, about a year and a half ago. I eagerly awaited the second one on the hold list about a year ago. And the thing with this cover I just found is that though it is obviously part of the series, I had never heard of it.

Maybe I just don't keep up very well with books. So, I clicked over to the link for the picture, which was Goodreads, and discovered it was published May 28th. By this time I am in somewhat of a state of shock. "I have to get on the hold list," I'm thinking, so I go to the Ames Public Library page, paste the title, and discover...

"It's checked in!" I cry, clasping my hands to my head. "This is an emergency!" I declare to David. I run out of the room, shove my pants on, and book it to the library on my bike.

I had a moment of panic when I didn't find it under YA CRO (young adult, Kady Cross) and had to run over to the computer to look it up again. I generally find that's more efficient than talking to librarians because they have to do that anyway. Then I found it was under "new" young adult fiction... a few seconds of looking and I found that section and... there! My book. The picture on the front is obviously Emily, but I always thought she had dreads. Author kept calling it "ropey hair."

Faith in Humanity: Gone

I got stood up again. What's eerie is how similar it was to the last situation.

Why on Earth do people call me asking to see the house and then pretend they don't exist? I didn't call them, I'm not a telemarketer, I'm not going door to door. I have an ad on Craig's List and that's it.

I've complained previously about people who say they'll call you back and don't, or say they'll come see your house and don't show up and you have to call them to even find out they were standing you up.

Well, I've found a new worse version. Twice now, someone has called me asking to see the house and I set up a preliminary time, but tell them I need to confirm it with the tenant and I'll get back to them. Within 24 hours I have spoken to the tenant, confirmed the time, and texted the person back. I even had the last person be like, "Oh yeah, texting is fine. I get free texting." After about 8 hours of silence in which I think, "Oh, they're at work. Or busy. Or haven't seen their phone." I then call them. Someone else answers. "Oh, my wife's phone, I'll take a message." "Oh, must have been my daughter. She isn't here. I'll tell her you called. Bye."

Next time I call back, nobody picks up. In the first case, I called back multiple times. They let it go to voicemail every time. I suppose you could still make excuses for them, but when I'm confirming an appointment a day in advance, the very least they could do is tell me, "No, we found somewhere else." "We're no longer interested."

Maybe they're trolling me. Maybe it's an organized "let's harass well-meaning leasing agents" event.

Maybe everyone I text not in my address book is being kidnapped by the NSA.

But no, they don't have the guts to say no, so they pretend they aren't home. Cowards. I'm rather disgusted.

First time I got mad. Real mad. I raged, I cried, I pouted.

Second time, I'm not even that surprised. Well, just a little, that it would happen again in such a similar way.

But really? Really? What is so wrong with humanity in that they make appointments, don't keep them, and won't even tell you that they have no intention of keeping them? And every new person you talk to is like, "I would never do that." And then half of them do. I will not be mad, will not hate you, and will completely understand if you don't want what I'm selling. But nothing ticks me off like people who can't do a decent human thing of actually keeping their appointments and communicating about not keeping their appointments. I keep typing because in reality I don't have the words to describe how much this bothers me.

And now it's carrying on to other things. I was playing a computer game and a person joined my group just to be like, "oh, I have to leave bye sorry!" I shrugged. Someone else asked for two minutes before joining my group and I said sure, but told the rest of the group, "Well, I guess we'll see if they actually show up and are actually what they claim to be." Crap, I'm becoming jaded.

What is wrong with people?

And now I know better.

If you know me, you know I like drinking. Not hard-core, go to the bar, multiple drinks or anything like that. I drink wine in the evenings and my favorite drink, hard cider, I allow myself on the weekends. Usually, nothing comes of it.

This Fourth of July, I went to my grandparents' at the lake and as usual, there was a wide selection of alcoholic beverages. I had a few beer-level drinks at about 5% and that didn't do anything to me beyond making my stomach feel bloated. Then I found they had wine, so I had some of that. My aunt had gotten me this plastic cup that was like a cross between a goblet and a sippy-cup with my initial on the side. Fun idea, but I had a hard time telling how much I was drinking.

I started to feel buzzed and I really like feeling buzzed. Everything seems funnier, I feel more social, and I enjoy myself up to 27% more than usual. I just wanted to keep that feeling going. So I drank some sangria and started to realize I was more than buzzed, I was probably on the edge of drunk. But I was still having fun and felt good. I told my aunt that I wanted to utilize the feeling while I had it, and "what should I do?" "Have another drink," was the reply.

Now, I know our decision making abilities are supposed to be impaired at this point, but I still knew better. Even so, I got more wine.

Maybe it is just my normal propensity to over analyze whatever I'm feeling, but I soon came to realize I was no longer having fun. I wasn't able to focus, I was saying things I probably wouldn't normally say, I had a hard time walking. I started to feel slightly ill and so located myself on the floor of the bathroom, just in case. I remembered what was supposed to come next.

Well, I didn't throw up, but my eyes started just closing. I left the bathroom and lay down on a bed in the guestroom. I couldn't seem to snap out of it. Tipsy lasts for like half an hour, tops, if you don't keep drinking. They woke me up two hours later and I could tell I was still drunk.

I drank a lot of water and then went back to sleep. When I woke up again at 1:30am, I felt much better and drank more water. Next morning I felt fine.

Doesn't sound like a bad story, does it? I didn't offend anyone, didn't say anything really stupid, didn't even get hungover. But in the process of fooling around, I missed the fireworks, fire pit, sparklers, conversation. And that is not what I wanted out of the Fourth. I like the feel-good feeling, but it's not worth that. And in my general philosophy of life, it calls for enjoying the things you have in the place you are. And I missed them. And while I feel a little embarrassed for getting intoxicated, I'm more angry at myself for wasting all that time and sleeping the evening away.

And so, I don't ever want to get drunk again.