Saturday, June 20, 2009

Extracurricular activities

As of 4:15 on Friday, the Old Capitol City Roller Girls were all set for the exhibition/mock bout against the Quad City Rollers at Sturgis on the River. We met in the Fin 'n Feather parking lot and after taking a head count and discussing directions we all piled into our cars and took off. The rain was just starting to sprinkle then and soon turned into a complete downpour. But we trudged on, hoping it was a little bit drier in Davenport.

How wrong we were.

My own vehicle and another OCCRG carload did make it all the way to Davenport. However, a few of our other girls were less fortunate. They made it as far as Walcott only to see a tornado bearing down on them, and had hop off the interstate and scramble for cover in a gas station bathroom.

Back in Davenport it was pouring buckets and the conditions were treacherous: Visibility was poor, street lights were out, roads were flooded and ambulances and police cruisers whizzed by.

In the end, no one was hurt but understandably the girls stranded in Walcott decided to turn around and go home, as it was clear there was no way to proceed with the exhibition with such conditions. But those of us who did make it all the way to Davenport decided to celebrate regardless with pizza and beer --and a cherry piña colada for yours truly-- at Old Chicago. So the trip was not a complete bust.

Today Mother Nature was much more cooperative and the team was greeted by soaring temperatures and sunny blue skies for the Pride Parade in downtown Iowa City. Dressed for the occasion in our uniforms, skates, pads and assorted rainbow jewelry, we skated in the parade and enjoyed handing out candy to citizens and kids. The reception was overwhelmingly positive and everyone seemed to be having a good time. At the nearby Pride Festival afterwards the team set up shop with a table and merchandise. We sold a decent number of shirts and buttons and quite a few people signed up to be on our mailing list.

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Stay tuned for a July schedule; OCCRG is planning to make appearances at the Wellman Skating Rink, another NAPA event and Ugly's Saloon in Iowa City.

2 comments:

  1. Cherry Pina Colada?? Nice!! Great job on the Blog Trip!

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  2. Yes, cherry piña colada. It's my favorite [created] drink. It's basically a piña colada with Maraschino cherries blended in.

    And thanks for the blog kudos. It's good to know people do actually read it.

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