Major
props to
czeano (however the fuck you pronounce that...) for the
rad time! the
cabin was beautiful, the scenery was scenic and the
beer was copious. it was truly wonderful and heartwarming to meet you all. here's my reccolection of what happened:
friday, 17 august
i left work early, as i wasn't doing anything. arrived back at the fort and started thinking about what all i needed to take. i paged panamaus to let him know i was home. he called a short while later and i agreed to pick up some tomatoes for him and lots of beer for me. after rounding up a case of beer (Pabst Blue Ribbon and Coors), i arrived back home around 16:00 local time. panamaus arrived shortly thereafter and he convinced me that we should take his car instead of my car. and he would let me drive.
my god! he's met me in person for all of five minutes and he's already handing over his car keys!
i hurriedly threw some random shit in a few bags and picked up the cooler full of beer and started shoving it in the car. after moving my car back into the garage (which is a hell of a feat, if you've never seen my garage or driveway), panamaus took a lap around the block and picked me up. i settled back into the grey leather driver's seat of the long, low black bullet and hurried off to get caught in the afternoon rush hour traffic.
traffic wasn't so bad, especially with the lively, engaging conversation and the awesome music. and the car. while i very much prefer manual tranmissions over automatic transmissions, this was an excellent machine. Big 'ol honkin' American LT-1 V8, tinted windows and it just begged to go faster. We soon settled on a cruising speed of about 85 mph and sped off away from the sunset.
and then i almost ran it out of gas.
now i'm no idiot. usually. i can read a gas gauge better than the average bear. but this gauge doesn't fuck around. when the low fuel light comes on, it really means it. we sputtered into a gas station just outside of Charlotte and made OPEC happy.
More music, beer and conversation found us listening to Johnny Cash while winding up the mountain road towards Sparta. i realized that i had driven this road before to go camping before and that it was going to be beautiful at the cabin. i wasn't disappointed. the dirt road was spotted, the hairpin turn negotiated and the horn blown while in the tunnel. the mess of cars in the driveway made it very easy to spot. i let panamaus park his car as i couldn't see dick through the tinted windows at night.
so we got out and met people. lots of people. czeano, Infinite Burn, Void_ptr (& hubby), JP, Chihuahua Grub, Pete, Wendy, Hermetic, Tandex, Jaubertmoniker, ccunning, Zot-fot-piq and lots of other people. it was fucking rad. and then i started drinking. and it was good.
that night was mainly spent meeting people, drinking beer and burning new neural pathways...nickname, real name, face, personality, WUs. nickname, real name, face, personality, WUs.
there was someone else named Ted there! (plus or minus a d...). now this was really cool...an established noder that i mostly shared a real name with! all i had to do was hang out near him and every time someone called either of us by name, we would both ! the hilarity was endless! It was good to be reunited with jessicapierce and ccunning again. Hermetic drinks really really really good liquor. And he shares, since he's such a nice guy. Wow, smooth tequila. Damn fine martini as well. Tandex and i talked about tattoos, as he has a beautiful one on his calf (and i have two).
after much meeting, greeting and confusion, i crawled off to bed, round about 2 am.
saturday, 18 august
i woke up and xWakawaka was there. wtf?! it's early, damnit! whatever. i located a beer and started off my morning right. WonkoDSane, Karmaflux and duffski soon arrived and more greeting and meeting was in order. i eyed the right rear tire on his van and decided to annex it. hey, i was doing my part for the water restrictions. by the time the weekend was over, there was no way anyone else could claim that wheel.
A frisbee was located and the road was commandeered. playing frisbee while drinking beer is hard, but i gave it my best shot, as did WonkoDSane. Karmaflux, xWakawaka, Zack, Dann, jaubertmoniker, Kenata and a host of others got some play time in as well. many noders headed off for parts unknown, but we were all content with playing in the road and jumping over the ditch. beer, frisbee, piss on the tire. hunger soon overtook us, so we headed in for some sammiches. and more beer. i washed some dishes and tried to help keep everything neat.
a while later, WonkoDSane, Kenata and i headed down to Sparta to go to the liquor store. Some good 'ol boys reminisced to us while WonkoDSane bought vodka and i purchased Wild Turkey. we stopped to take a picture of the WCOK sign and to get cigarettes on the way back. many prime frisbee playing spots were noted.
soon after we got back, a ninja-stealth frisbee mission was assembled and we packed into the Minivan-of-death. a beautiful mountainside vista delighted the eyes as czeano, WonkoDSane, Jason(?), Karmaflux and i amused ourselves by throwing the discs into the weeds, alleged deer poop or well out of reach. quote: "don't worry about it, the red one is closer". czeano was quite the retriever of poorly-aimed throws from me. Jason(?) practiced his stoic catches. Karmaflux showed us what the hustle was all about and WonkoDSane amazed us with his smoking multitasking. i mainly amused everyone by stepping on thistle (of course in my bare feet!) and proving WonkoDSane's crybaby "lowest part of the hill" excuse wrong, as Karmaflux and czeano can attest to.
we returned to the cabin and i took a much needed shower and changed into my party dress. you didn't fucking belive me, did you? i wrote what i was going to wear in the gathering node...western shirt, Liberty Overalls and steel-toe boots. what did i wear? right. exactly that. and you all acted suprised...
everyone was getting dolled up for the evening. ccunning was in his velvet, panamaus was looking very spiffy, WonkoDSane had the fez and jacket and Void_ptr sported the bootylicious leather pants. Infinite Burn (quite the statement in his "Homo Depot" shirt) lent me his machete to complete my outfit. and my, it really worked. beautifully.
RIBS. those were the best fucking ribs i've ever eaten. whoa, shit, they were good. panamaus, your cooking was delectible. much respect. ccunning and czeano also deserve props for the wonderful food. and the ostrich, of course.
with dinner firmly out the way, it was time to start drinking. out came the bottle of Wild Turkey 101. i started drinking out of a glass with ice, but the mountain man in me soon took over and i started drinking straight out of the bottle and sharing with everyone that wanted some, which was mainly just Karmaflux, although i think Chihuahua Grub had a taste as well.
quote of the night: me: "Hey Kurt - want some bourbon? (*swig*)
Kurt: yeah (*swig*)
and most of that bottle met it's demise that way. there was also graffiti, lots of pictures, the weird-oil-lamp-hippe-color thing (which was way cool), more bourbon, hanging out and generally having a good time.
sunday, 19 august
woke up, drank a beer. and lots of water. Becca, who indeed makes a mean cookie also makes some mean pancakes while wearing her purple pants. stylin'!
people slowly packed up and started trickling away. i talked to Karmaflux and duffski, plotting my coming to Nashville to hang with them and the Wonkoalition, of which i think i'm now a member. A crazy documentary on chickens was watched. Karmaflux and i killed the last remaining Wild Turkey. another shower was taken and a nap was commenced while everyone else played EATPOOPYOUCAT. panamaus and i finally made our way back to the fort that night, where he headed on back home.
y'all are awesome. thanks!