Dear Mosquitoes,
Hey there, how is everyone out there? I can’t believe that it is almost April and you haven’t heard from me, your fearless leader. I think a lot of you left last year with a broken down bus and a nice Uhaul that had Ron’s puke in it. I think he owes us all a little something after that. Of course, I don’t really know what went on, but anytime I get a chance to pick on Ron, I’ll do it. Back to the bus! It is back in action! We had several repairs done, most notably the head gasket! It should be ready to roll this year. I am going to try to get it painted, which has been planned for several years now, but I’m not sure it will happen. I’ll do my best to get it to happen but no promises.
As for RAGBRAI, the route has been out for a while now, so check out www.ragbrai.org if you haven’t seen it. It travels through the middle of the state and is pretty short. There is no day over 78 miles, which makes for more rest between towns! The other thing that I would like to say about the ride this year is that we have designated this year the return of the old timers! Many of you younglings may not understand it, but what we want to try to do is get all of us original Mosquitoes back on the ride for several days (the first part of the week for sure). You may actually see the Canvas Palace again just for old time sake. This all started with my brother Blair saying that he was coming back for a few days! He hasn’t been on RAGBRAI since 1992. Some of you guys were still in diapers when that happened. After a decade of bugging him “no pun intended”, he is coming back. We also have Rich coming back to help us celebrate. He is planning on bringing some Yatzee dice for some entertainment. I also would like to see the likes of Robin, Cip, Joel, Kubik, etc. We are debating on whether we should invite Wing back for it or not. I’ll leave that decision up to Klemish! Anyway, we need some kind of motto for this year. I don’t have any ideas, but maybe we can get our shirts made of dirt since we are all as old as dirt. I would like some other shirt ideas from you guys also. I think the tie-dye have been used up for us. Let me know your ideas about the motto and shirts, so we can get rolling on this.
The Mosquito ride is going to be on July 1st this year. We may be joining with another team and we are moving it and having Axe be the host. The route is still up in the air. We planned this on the Mosquito ride last year and wrote all the details down on a bar napkin, but I have misplaced it for some reason. It is later than usual, but there just was no way we could do anything in June this year. Hopefully details will follow.
As far as June, I would like to congratulate Chris Tyler and Charity on their upcoming marriage, which is June third! We wish them all the best!
We also would love some sponsors if you can get any. We have had a couple of expensive years and the funds are dwindling. We are doing all right, but another year like the last two (bus repairs, Mosquito parties etc.) and we will be in trouble.
Please send me your yearly dues of $15 asap. I love to get them by paypal to blaine@teammosquito.com You can mail them to me at 4220 Monarch Ave, Marion, IA 52302. I would also love to hear from a lot of you, it keeps me on the ball a little.
Blaine McLaughlin
Mosquito CEO
