So there's this bar called Beaver's...oh yes, it's seriously called Beaver's! Period. End of story cuz that's pretty much amazing! (Ok, there's more to this story, but I swear to God/Buddha/Hed Pe that it all starts at a bar called Beaver's...well, this portion of the story does, there's a whole back story and a hell of a lot of other adventures that lead up to this, but I'm only sharing this one).
It happened by accident (HA!)...or prolly not really. Maybe more of a coincidence...*shrug*...yeah, I doubt that either. I knew he was going to be "there" (no not at the bar, but in the general area...you have to be familiar with RAGBRAI to understand this), and he knew I was going to be around the area at some point that night. Through the advent of modern technology (aka-texting) we were both fairly aware of our locational situations for the evening and miraculously "bumped into" each other outside of Beaver's.
Suddenly, through a sea of people, walking right in front of Beaver's, there he was...my hot fireman friend (and he even brought me a beer, cuz he's awesome like that!...he really is!...our affair may have failed miserably, but he's still a great guy and a good friend...I would want him in my corner and on any team).
Neither one of us had "plans" for the night and when he discovered that my only (sorta but not really, *wink*) plan was to sleep in my Jeep, he being an absolute gentleman (hey, he's a fireman for a reason, it's part of his DNA!), wouldn't hear of it. Suddenly, I was partying the night away with the awesome crew from Team _______ (oh, no way in hell am I giving out that information...are you kidding, the minute I do that, there are people who will know who my anonymous hot friend is...I don't think so Charlie!...he knows who he is, and I know who he is, and that's all that matters).
We spent most of the night listening to the Nada's, sharing beers, and laughing (dude's got some seriously funny ass stories...things happen to this guy that just do not happen to normal people...it's not right, but it's phucking hilarious!)...he can make me laugh like no one else.
Several hours, and several beer's later, we are ushered away from downtown Beavertown (I don't remember the town's actual name, so I'm making it up in reference to the bar...whatever! :)) and told to go find our "campsite". No problem. My friend is taking care of me, I've got a place to sleep and am in good (GOOD!) hands...it's all good.
Now, just a little bit of background on my friend is that he's insanely (INSANELY!) outdoorsy...the man hunts, camps and backpacks in the wilderness on a regular basis...so when he tells me he knows how to get to the Team _________'s campsite, I don't question this!!! Why would I??? He has a freaking compass built into his super duper outdoorsy nothing can possibly break my swiss army carbon fiber phone....seems reasonable that he knows the way back to the bus (maybe he just doesn't drink much on his camping/fishing/hunting adventures...IDK).
For whatever reason (we got lost) we ended up in a cemetery (because we were lost, at 1 in the morning in the sprawling metropolis of Beavertown...sweet!). I think we even discussed trying to find my Jeep, then using the said Jeep to find the campsite, but again we were lost...at 1 in the morning...in a cemetery in Beavertown Iowa...and um yeah, at that point I had NO IDEA where we were in relation to where Karma (yes my Jeep's name is Karma, what of it?) was parked, plus I kind of had to pee (at least we still had beer...loves me a boy who wears cargo shorts, they're so handy for carrying things, like beer :)). From there we backtracked about a half a mile before we realized that we walked right by the campsite, not once, but twice (thanks Jaeger for allowing us to remain so clear headed!...I still had no clue how I was going to find Karma in the morning, but I wasn't too worried about it, Beavertown is pretty tiny...I think...I hope... :)).
For the record, this is NOT your average RAGBRAI campsite!!! NO!!! It's someones giant freaking house, with TWO Team _________ buses parked out front, complete with a porta potty in the driveway. Fucking hell...it was AMAZING!!!! (Not sure how we really walked by it twice and didn't notice it!...again, thanks Jaeger and Mr. Miller!) And, no one else was really camping out...nope, they were all cozy inside the house. Only WE decided to pitch a tent (yeah, cuz that's not obvious at all...haha! :)). For me, it was the first time I ever "slept" in a tent, and I gotta say, I have no complaints! The night exceeded all my expectations, and will go down as one of my top 10 in history (for a lot of very different reasons)! Waking up in the morning to the sun shining in the top of the tent was pretty cool too. (And those are the only details I'm going to give out...use your imagination for the rest! ;))
Morning came way too soon! And as quickly and miraculously as the Beaver bar RAGBRAI adventure started, it was over. Just like that. I had to find my Jeep (ended up being a 2 mile walk of shame away...oh yes, almost like college only better and slightly more humiliating being in my 30's!) and get onto the end town to pick up my friends, and he had to climb back on the bike for a final leg of riding to meet the Mississippi river. He promised to call later that night (fail!)...and I promised him I didn't care if he did (fail!). Guess we both broke our promises...you'll have that sometimes. It was all good.
Turns out, our time was up (that was one of our last adventures together)...but it was a really good time while we had it, and I wouldn't trade my RAGBRAI adventure for anything (well, maybe a just one thing...but I'm not telling what it is). I will tell you this though, I'm looking forward to RAGBRAI 2011 and lots more tent time!!! (What???...I'm riding the whole week with Team Deathrace, my own RAGBRAI crew, and I'm bound to have to sleep in a tent at some point, I just may or may not be alone...*shrug*...hey, I'm a single girl, I've got options :)).
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