Howdy fellow Mosquitoes,
I hope you haven’t missed me! It has been a while since I sent out a letter. This spring has been very busy and there hasn’t been anything to tell you, until now. It is now springtime and with the warmer weather, out come our bicycles. There are many rides coming up, which I will mention a little bit later. Don’t forget that we only have about three months until RAGBRAI, so you had better get out of your house and get on that bike so that you will be in shape for the big ride. You will find a map of the ride enclosed. This is way up north and that usually means that it is flat at the beginning and hilly at the end. If you look closely, you will notice that we go right through Waucoma, the home of our drivers. We are planning on taking a short cut and planing on staying in Waucoma over night instead of traveling all the way to Decorah. The next day, we will cut over and down, which will shorten both days. Most of the team I have discussed this with thinks it is a good idea, so we are going to do it. We may try to get a band or a DJ in Waucoma that night. I will pass on more information as it comes to me.
Before I go any further, I would like to mention that our team grew this spring in one of the best ways possible. We have two new larvae that were born on March 9th to Katherine and Chuck Benson. They are Jacob and Kaitlyn. Welcome to the world and congratulations to you guys. If any of this information is wrong, I got it from Majerle, so blame him. Speaking of larvae, there is another one on the way. I just got word that Cip, the grandfather of the team, has his third child on the way. Congratulations Cip and Eski!
Here is a list of some of the rides that are coming up for the spring and summer.
1.The first that comes to mind is the Bud ride that starts in North Liberty on May 8th. We have participated in this in previous years and it is, of course, very fun. I don’t really know much about it except what I just told you. I believe this year it is starting at Bob’s place and not where it was last year. I remember reading that it goes to Solon first then down to Tiffin and ends up back at Bob’s. The Klinks always know what is going on with this, so feel free to call either of us if you have any questions.
2. There is the F.A.R. ride sponsored by the Emu’s and is based in Des Moines. This ride will possibly be May 15th according to K2 from the Emus. There is biking and beer, that’s all I know. Sounds like a blast!
3. The best ride all year is the Mosquito ride on June 12th. We will be starting in Waucoma again this year and the route will be similar to last year. I’m sure that the bus will join us again for this, and I know that our host and hostess up there are looking forward to it. It is about 40 miles and there are about 5 stops for the day. Last year it hailed on us and was cold, so the weather has to be better than that. Put this on your calendar right now and be there.
4. The River Ratts decided to join the cool teams and put on their own ride this year. It will be held on June 26th in the Muscatine area. I believe it starts at the Izaak Walton Lodge, which is 7 miles east of Muscatine on Hwy 22. There is some mention of free beer. The ride is 20 miles with 4 stops. And there is camping located on the Miss. river. This could be a blast.
5. There is Tour de Skunk on July 17th. This is one week before RAGBRAI. The Red Eyes love this ride and Bart can’t say enough about how fun this is. He would be the guy to talk to for information on this ride.
I haven’t heard much on sponsors this year, so get out and do some hunting for these, so that we can continue to improve our bus and our team. This will also be the last set of notes that you will get if I don’t receive your Mosquito dues. They are only $10 and help the team greatly. If I don’t get this from you, I will assume that you no longer want to be part of our team and want to miss out on the best time of your life!!!! Plus, it is just nice to know what all of the Mosquitoes are doing now a days. I love all of the letters that I receive, so keep it up. It is nice that we can have a team this large and keep in touch and get together now and then.
Don’t forget to check out the web page if you have time. We are trying to keep it up to date, but Klink decided to build a house and for some reason doesn’t have a lot of time to play around on the internet like he use to do. He still is doing a great job and we thank him for all of his hard work and we thank his wife for putting up with him! I lived with him for 4 years, so I know what it is like. As long as he doesn’t beer slide down the hallway of his new house naked, he’ll be fine. Speaking of houses, JB1, also known as Jenny Bailey, is now the proud owner of a townhouse in north Marion, just a few blocks from where Chris and I live. Way to go JB! You will love it!
Some of the improvements that we have for the bus this year are to get two new couches. The one didn’t last very long last year. Randy has donated a couple of very nice ones to the team, which means that the old ones are as good as kindling for one of Richards’s bon fires. Thank you, Randy. He and Ron plan on building some kind of compartment that the couches will sit on so that we can store things under the couches and it gets us up off the ground when sitting on them, so there may be a little more leg room when sitting down. The clutch needs improvement also, so that may be a project if the finances are in good shape. I would also like to add a microbrewery onto the bus so that we can get rid of those heave kegs, but that might have to wait until the next bus, due to space constraints.
Due to the rising costs of postage, I have decided to send the notes over the Internet to anyone whose address that I have. If you don’t get this, please let me know! If you have an e-mail and I don’t have it, please let me know. It saves me a lot of work by not mailing these conventionally. My e-mail is:
mctooth@teammosquito.com My address is 2970 Winston Circle, Marion, IA 52302.Hope to see all of you really soon. And don’t forget to scratch where it itches!
Team Mosquito
Blaine McLaughlin
