Clear Lake Iowa: take 2...
The Meth Camp

No, I don't rag on Clear Lake because I hate the place... For noth Iowa it's a decent place to be (with qualifications). It's just that Clear Lake has all sorts of strange things going on and they are so intertwined with everyday life that I doubt most people notice. Or maybe I should say that I usually don't notice but when I do I wind up laughing my head off.

Take for instance this sign on thew southeast corner of Clear lake. It's at a junction that I've driven through too many times to count, but one day somehting about it just didn't seem right. So waiting for the person ahead of me to turn, I tried to nail down what had set my wierdometer off... Then I noticed the sixth listing on the sign in the center of the picture.

Sure north Iowa has a little Meth problem... sort of. A lot of kids turn to drugs to fight off the mind numbing monotony of living there. I'm not saying drugs are a valid coping method, but they've definitely been a part of Clear Lake since before I was born... But while back in the 60's they let the stoners hang out in city park, apparently in the 90's they have a camp set up for the meth heads!

No. Not really. Though it does make for some odd thoughts. I mean, on one hand there's the drug camp as a fun place to go - a Cheech & Chong Disneyland perhaps. But in opposition there's also the idea of a drug camp with an entirely differnet purpous and more of a concentration camp motif. Depending on who you are and what you beleive both ideas can be appealing an horifying - and that's the fun part about Clear Lake - you can find both mindsets there if you really want to.

Still I get a chuckle when I think about the Meth Camp... and wonder occasionally if the Methodists take offense to this sign.
Of course that isn't the only thing funny about the picture that shows the nature of the people in the area. Camp Tanglefoot - the Girl Scout Camp didn't always used to be called Tanglefoot. But that's another story for another time.

Oh, and while it should go without saying, I want to remind tourists that they should be carefull what time of the month they vistit P.M. Park. ;)