Ringo Sacks the Windy City

As i left Manila to begin the summer travels it was raining. No surprise.

Things were sunnier when i finally landed (about 24 sleepless hours later) in Chicago to a family fiesta. There was a quick onslaught of my mom, brothers, nephew, cousins, aunts, uncles, etc. Towards 6 pm i was fighting off a collapse so i had a cup of coffee* to try and stay awake until 9. The next thing i know myself, the Dingo, Monica, and Colleen are out for live band karaoke until 1 am. Yes we sang, and yes we they loved us. Then Colleen declared the next day a no-work day (as if i had responsibility anyway), and we proceeded to some other establishment to shoot virtual deer with electronic shotguns. I cannot recommend a greater cure for jet-lag.

I woke up two days later behind home plate in the 10th row at a White Sox game. Lord knows that given the festivities beforehand, i could have woken up in much worse places. We completed the Chicagoland visit with running through Lincoln Park and a viewing of the Blue Man Group. I then rendezvoused with my other brother and sister-in-law to hitch a ride into the Dirty South.

* I don't what brand of coffee that was, but i want more.

Team Ingrate Rocks Iowa Hard

After a relatively short day on the RAGBRAI, we pulled into the town of Ames, Iowa, home of the Iowa State Cyclones, and by far the largest town we would see. We quickly showered up so we could sit around the Budweiser cooler and talk about how awesome we all were. As a special bonus, some of Andrew's friends and Iowa State Alumni came into town to add to the belligerence.

Our night started fantastically due to the fact that our new friend Rick-a-saurus had a rap album in his car by none other than the Macho Man Randy Savage. Even if you as a reader have only 2 days left to live, make sure you spend one of those days looking for the song “My Perfect Friend,” by the Macho Man*.

Team Ingrate (as the younger members of Team Harold are referred to) represented the team especially well in the bars of Ames. Our main activity was the distribution of Team Harold tattoos, which we excelled at. The conventional way to apply these is to wet the paper backing while pressing the tattoo to skin. However, word quickly spread that these tattoos could only be applied if they were licked on. Any newcomer to the bar would have thought they had walked in to a 1965 acid rave. Andrew and I then topped the evening off with a stunning rendition of Bon Jovi on the karaoke stage. RAGBRAI and Ames loved us.

Based on the previous evening’s activities, the following day’s ride was a struggle. Only about half of team ingrate managed to be involved in the ride, and I’m happy to say I made the entire route.

Only 3 more days left through the great sea of corn.


* For those of you who are unenlightened, this is about “Mr. Perfect” Curt Henning, who apparently, is no longer with us. 