Marshalltown loads ‘o fun
The Roadside Boys are alive and well! I met up with Tom H. In Marshalltown and we started our search for a place to jam (preferably in an air conditioned room someplace) as temperatures were reaching 104 with 88 percent relative humidity.
We were standing on the corner of 1st and Church Street when we were approached by an insurance salesman. He told us that his company was having a contest and that we should go upstairs and ask for special poker chips that were required for some complicated scheme where the grand prize was $250 worth of bike parts. We asked if the upstairs office had air conditioning; He said yes, so we made our way into the offices of Marshalltown consolidated insurance company.
We talked to the receptionist about the poker chips contest and she said that we could get a poker chip if we played her a tune (we had our instruments with us) and we said “Yes, no problem” . We started tuning up when the receptionist realized that there was an agent in the next cubicle who was with some clients. She asked if we wouldn’t mind going into the conference room where it would be quieter. We said “Yes, no problem”.
We were escorted to the conference room. It was a great location with a view of the county courthouse and the RAGBRAI cyclists AND it was air conditioned. We started working up for a possible gig at Camp Courageous the evening of our overnight stop in Anamosa.
We were there for so long, we were beginning to think that the receptionist forgot we were in the conference room. What if we get locked in?
The A/C was great, but the insurance company wasn’t serving beer, so after a while, maybe 90 minutes, we decided to say goodbye to our insurance friends and head over to the bars located near the bike route. We found a great location in the shade and played a few tunes and drank Iowa brewed beer until 7:00 pm.
On returning to our camp at the nursing home, we were treated to a free dinner at the home! In return for their generosity I performed a little banjo show for anyone who would listen.
I was hoping to catch Mike McAbee someplace, and I remembered that he was performing his unusual musical act at a bar called “jim’s Place” in a town about 14 miles from Marshalltown called Liscomb. We figured we might be able to get there by 9 but then a rather large thunderstorm started to form from the west. We hurriedly put our tents up only to see them get battered by high winds (up to 70mph) and drenched by heavy rain. We go into the car right as the rain started and drove to Jim’s Place.v
Tom and Jim in the conference room at the insurance company in Marshalltown
Mike and Jim in Liscomb at “Jim’s Place”
This post is a little wordy than most because I have time to kill while I’m at the laundry getting my clothes dry.