[If you are renting a tent from Pork Belly Ventures, you may delete this email now.]

Dear Porkers,

Judging by recent correspondence--mostly from RAGBRAI virgins and folks coming back to us after an absence of several years--we've got some explaining to do.  The early hoopla over the tent sell-out, as well as the recent "Good News/Bad News" email, may have created a few misperceptions.  So to clear things up, we will stage a realistic dramatization of a lively exchange between us (US) and a would-be Porker named Posie (POSIE).  Read on.

POSIE:  Even though you Pork Bellies are kind of pricey, I was thinking about giving you a shot until somebody said nowadays Pork Belly is all about the tents, tents, tents. 
US:  Really?  In spite of many requests, we always resisted offering a tent service.  We wanted to give everybody on our charter the same level of service.  No special treatment.  No in-crowd.  Just show everybody a good time.  Then in 2007, we caved in to the pressure as the requests for at tent-rental service were getting almost feverish.  To satisfy our faithful Porkers, we decided-- 

POSIE:  Feverish?  That's a little dramatic even for a dramatization.
(pause)

POSIE:  So how many tents do you rent?
US:  We've gone from 95 to 130.  We are the least expensive tent service on RAGBRAI, which could be why we sold out in a couple weeks.  We offer more tents than any other charter, but we know our limits and-- 

POSIE:  I certainly hope so. Now, if I'm bringing my own tent, do you carry it and my other things from town to town for me?  I suppose you charge extra for that.
US:  Of course we'll carry your belongings.  Gosh, in our invitation, we described our luxuries, but we never said "baggage service."  Thanks for reminding us, Posie!  We call it Weeklong Support, but it includes the basics like carrying your two bags.  Just hand your bags up to our heavy-lifter guys, who load our trucks each morning. 

POSIE: You're welcome.  Now, concerning this tent business.  If most Pork Bellies are renting tents, where am I supposed to set up mine?  Off in the north forty?
US: Most Porkers don't rent tents from us.  Seventy-five percent will bring their own tents to Iowa and set them up each day. Also, we realize that some non-tent-renters will ride hard and come into camp early, hoping to find a spot in the shade.  We won't place rental tents in the BEST spot in camp.  We will set up the rental tents on an AVERAGE spot in any campsite.  So if there's lots of shade, then our tent-renters get shade.  But if shade is at a premium, we don't give it away to those in Tent City.

POSIE:  Tent City? Lord, is that what you call it?  Sounds HUGE.
US:  Actually, when our crew pitches identical tents on a grid, they take up far less space than when a whole bunch of folks pitch their own tents of various sizes and with variable distances in-between.  This year, our tents can be set up as one large grid or two smaller ones.  So Tent City is actually a very efficient and flexible use of campground space, more efficient than the open-camping areas-- 


POSIE:  If you say so.  But you keep talking about "the tent crew."  Who's going to take care of ME?  
US:  Look at it this way, Posie.  When we started renting tents, our crew size more than doubled, because it does take a tremendous amount of labor to pitch all those tents.  But when that work is done all twenty-six of us will apply ourselves to everything else we do, taking exceptionally good care of everybody and doling out the fun stuff all afternoon and evening.  We are the largest charter on RAGBRAI, but our crew-to-Porker ratio will rival or beat any charter on the road, and that's partly because of our tent service. 

POSIE:  You have twenty-six people on your crew?  
US:  That doesn't include our massage therapists and our bike mechanics....and we may add more.

POSIE: Hmm.  Well, excuse me, maybe I'm old-fashioned, but it used to be that setting up your tent each day was considered a natural part of doing RAGBRAI.
US:  One guy who agreed with you last year has decided to try renting a tent.  "It's my tenth RAGBRAI," he said.  "What do I have to prove?"  We think the proof is out there in the headwinds and the hills, and once you've come through everything Iowa throws at you, it's our job to say, "what's your pleasure?"  You might want a massage, or a Cool Zone mist, or a tasty supper served up in camp, or a rockin' Elders Concert, or a dirty Bloody Mary, or a cold Boulevard.  Or maybe you want a tent--

POSIE:  Well, I do love a cold Boulevard.  I have to say, I feel so much better about all this, and now I understand that there'll be lots of people like me, putting up their own tents in green grassy spaces set aside for us, and plenty of help, and plenty of fun stuff.  And who knows whether someday, a few years down the road, I might decide to sign up for an address in Tent City, though I'm perfectly happy and fine setting up my own tent, I mean, Lord, it only takes a few minutes.

Disclaimer:  The above would-be Porker named Posie is not real.  And if she were real, she wouldn't be a would-be Porker, because a Porker is not something someone like Posie would or could be.  So any resemblance to real people is purely coincidental and any resemblance to real Porkers is out of the question.    We just made her up for this dramatization, but it's actually been kind of stressful even to imagine spending a whole week's vacation with someone like Posie, and we're sorry if you have also felt that tension, and Thank God she's fictional and will definitely not be there in July.

So that's it for now, Porkers.  You show up tough enough to ride the ride, and we'll show up with enough Boulevard, enough camping space, and enough of all the fun stuff to go around.  Until next time, we remain,

Your friends,

Tammy and Pete

Tammy (Phillips) Pavich                                                Pete Phillips 

808/946-5315 or tammypav@aol.com              712/328-6836 or petephillips@cox.net

(Honolulu-four hours earlier than Iowa)