This one time, when life was so not average!

This one time, when I finally figured out how to golf…
This one time, when I had race cars come at me from all different directions...
This one time, when I really thought a tornado was going to get me…
This one time when I finally got to taste bootleg rye whiskey…
This one time, when our hotel flooded…
This one time, when my life was so not average!

The weekend started out in a relatively average way with movie night with some co-workers. Saturday morning came early but it was still an average drive to the golf course in an average little Iowa town 3 hours away. The golf tournament was also pretty average until a friend started giving me tips, suddenly it wasn’t average anymore! I learned years ago the sure fire way to hit the ball straight almost every time, but now I can hit it straighter and further with a lot more consistency. I also improved my short game and may finally be able to resemble a real golfer! When I join the Women’s PGA, I’m bring B along as my coach!

After golfing we hopped in the car and headed off to an even more average, smaller Iowa town to the figure 8 races which are run by the local chapter of the young professionals group I belong to. I have never been to a race before and I had no idea what I was about to experience! As visiting State Board members, we were immediately escorted out onto the platform in the middle of the track to watch the races. If you have never been to a figure 8 race, you’re probably wondering how this could be all that big of an experience. Well let me draw you a picture. The track itself is really not that big, the width of the lane is about the size of a small gravel road or a bit wider than a regular single lane of an interstate. The entire track is mud, this time it was pretty packed down and kind of dryish, but I was told it is usually really muddy and slippery. From one end of the figure 8 to the other is a quarter mile and the distance is a half mile per lap. During each race, there are 8 cars on the track I believe, don’t quote me on that though! They are slipping and sliding all over the place as they speed around this mess. When the first race started, my eyes had to have been the size of dinner plates! I didn’t know which way to look; I couldn’t take it all in fast enough! All I keep thinking was, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD! I was sure they would slam into each other any second or one would go up off the track and take out our little wooden platform that I stood in the middle of turning in circles trying to see everything at once. It was a total sensory overload!

After the races were shut down abruptly due to a storm coming in, we got off the track to find out that it wasn’t just a severe thunderstorm but rather a tornado warning. We didn’t notice, but off in the distance the sky was as dark as midnight and the wind started picking up fast. We decided to head over to the hotel to check in and see what was going on. As we were pulling out of the parking lot, the police officer that was directing traffic was shouting at the top of his lungs “TAKE COVER!” We sped up and raced down the road to the hotel and around back and came to a stop in the middle of the parking lot. My friend tells us to get out and as I get out of the car, the dust from the parking lot is blowing up into my face, I turn to my friend and tell her to get out of the car. There may have been a few explicit words in there too as my panic set in and I didn't want to leave my friend behind to park the car. I fear what I may have seen if I had looked up at that moment. We ran into the hotel and straight down the stairs to the basement. I was sure the windows were going to blow in any second and we were all going to be taken off to Oz with Toto. I tried desperately to call my brother so that someone would know where I was at since really no one, except those I was with, knew that I was in this little town in the middle of no where! After an hour or so of some intense storms we sat back and breathed finally feeling safe that we weren’t going to meet the Lollipop Gang any time too soon.

As we sat in the basement of the hotel, the owners were handing out beers and we all were starting to relax and getting to know the other guests. One of my friends, not a beer drinker, passed on the beers they keep offering and when they asked what she drank, she casually mentioned that her drink of choice was Templeton Rye (a rye whiskey made in rural Iowa). Awhile later one of the owner’s comes over to us and asks who the Templeton drinkers are and we both step forward. He lead us into the kitchen and pulled out a bottle of Captain Morgan. At first I was wondering what he was doing; maybe he’d already had a few too many beers? He proceeded to pour both of us a glass and handed it over, I casually sniffed the amber liquid in my glass and smiled when I realized this really was Templeton, but not just any Templeton, it was the kind I had never had but heard legends of. The reason the owner kept this particular Templeton in a Captain bottle was because it was never meant to be sold, it’s the bootleg stuff that you only get if you know the right person! This is the kind of stuff that you would have once upon a time, had to have known the secret knock to get any.

After the highs and lows of a long day, I finally hit the hay around 12:30am only to be woken up an hour later by the sounds of frantic movements in the room next door and in the hallway. I got up to see what was going on and found the owner and one of my friends grabbing buckets and starting to bail out the furnace room. Before long, water was seeping into the basement from all the outside walls. A guest room at one end of the basement had water coming out from under the door and when we finally woke up the occupants, the room had over 2 inches of water in it! We helped the owners bail water, hall what we could up stairs or piled it up high and did everything we could to save what we could. There were several moments of “oh god, what’s the point;” but we kept going. Finally around 4am we made a make shift bed for ourselves on the floor of the lobby and got a few hours of much needed sleep. In the morning, we were glad to find that the owners and their family had gotten a little sleep as well and that the basement was free of standing water! We were all so happy we had been there to help them save their property!

Later that day, when I finally got home, I crashed quickly and slept for nearly 14 hours! We had been through so much with such little time to decompress. Oh how I loved my bed that night!

I can now say though, that my life became a lot less average after this past weekend! Oh holy buckets! If I ever say that my life is dull again, please remind me of this particular 24 hour time period; yeah that wasn’t dull or boring at all!!!!