Dear Mosquitoes,
Well, how is it going with all of you out there? Thanks for all of the updates on what is going on. You all do pretty well at keeping me informed on what is happening. If only I could remember what you all tell me we would be fine. We are just two short months away from the big ride and less than 3 weeks from the second best ride all summer. There are already a couple of rides behind us with many more to come. Many of us attended the Bud ride in North Liberty and had a wonderful time. We did lose a couple of girls early in the day for a few hours and managed to send Bill home early in the evening, which probably was a good thing for him, but somehow several of us stayed out until closing time. We, of course, have a reputation to uphold. Other than that, the weather in Iowa hasn’t exactly been pleasant for riding, but we still have done our share of RAGBRAI training around here, you know, the part that deals with not riding your bikes. Well, lets get down to business. The first order of business is to start with dues. If you plan on attending RAGBRAI, we are asking for the first installment of $50 to be mailed to me asap. As far as shirts go, they need to be ordered by June 15th. You will find an order form enclosed. Please return to me with your payment. The art is being worked upon as we speak, and you know it will be cool, because it always is. The phrase is "Scratch where it itches". We are way cool. Next year will be our 10th anniversary and we should have big things planned for that. We better get through this year first. If you have any questions, make sure you call me.
Next in line is about the sponsors. At the moment, we have none. If you have any information about any, let me know right now. This probably will cause a rise in the dues a little. I may be able to squeeze a couple out of people, but nobody else on the team has given me any solid info on any, unless I forgot. We need a definite answer by June 15th, which is also when the shirt orders are due.
The Mosquito ride is coming up very fast. Here are the plans! Hope this will work for you Rich. We are planning on leaving from Rich’s house at 7:00pm on June 11th with the Bus. We can all load onto the Bus there and Charlie will be driving us up to Waucoma where we will stay with our drivers in the campground. Please bring camping gear and a bike. The ride route will be the same as last year. We start at the campground and head to Protivin, Spillville, Fort Atkinson, St. Lucas, and back to Waucoma. The trip is about 40ish miles. We may change the route if the Tollertons have better ideas for us. We welcome everyone, so don’t be afraid to invite a friend. We will be returning to Rich’s on Sunday. To get to Rich’s house if you are coming from the south, you can head north on hwy 21 toward Waterloo and you will go about 6-8 miles and hit a county road D65 where you will turn left. You will then go by an old school in the middle of the country and it is the first house on the north side of the road. By then you should see the bus.
Any birthdays coming up? How about a wedding of a loved one? A special anniversary? You will find enclosed an order for your Team Mosquito merchandise! What more could you want? Now you can get some fun Mosquito stuff for you or a special friend and your money will help support the team. You will find an order form enclosed if you have snail mail. Those of you with e-mail will not receive this because of the long time it takes to e-mail the page. You can sign onto the web page and see the order form there. Klink will get that on there as soon as he can. Note the deadline that must be met to guarantee you stuff before RAGBRAI. We just got this going, so don’t get excited about giving you very little time for this. We will do our best to get anything to you before RAGBRAI. If any of you have any good ideas of what we might want to add to the list, feel free to let me know. Jenny Bailey, JB1, is really the one you should get a hold of at 319-373-8581, if you have any questions on merchandise. I can be reached at 319-373-0514 or email at: mctooth@teammosquito.com
Thank you and have a great spring
Blaine McLaughlin
Team Mosquito Committee
