Friday afternoon I ducked out of work a little early and went to Opal Divine's for dinner and to sit on the patio reading the newspaper drinking beer. On my way home I picked up some more street-worthy tires to replace the knobby tires on my bicycle. They're still relatively wide, using the same tubes, and aren't completely smooth, so they still allow some off-road use.
Saturday morning I installed the new tires, and also patched the front inner tube which had a pinhole leak. I rode the Night Train over to the Harley shop to check on some parts I was thinking of putting on. I wanted to change to a Rocker ignition coil, but it turns out it would be a major project, requiring a different motor mount and doing something about the ignition switch. I had lunch at Texas Roadhouse and went home and changed into shorts to go for a bicycle ride. I decided to ride over to the Wildflower Center. I was riding on the sidewalk, but forgot that there isn't a sidewalk on the north side of Slaughter west of Brodie, so I rode on the street. I've always been wary of riding in the street, especially where there isn't a bike lane, but traffic was very light. The new tires helped a lot too, they roll much better on pavement than mountain bike tires. At the Wildflower Center I walked around some, then went on one of their longer trails, stopping at a shaded bench to read the paper for a little while. On my way back home, I stopped for dinner at a new sandwich shop, which was pretty good. After relaxing for a bit after getting home, I went into the backyard to start tackling the innumerable weeds. I picked a path from the deck to the prickly pear, then set about clearing around it and uncovering the aloe and agave. I picked weeds until the daylight was fading and I was dripping sweat and covered in mosquito bites.
Sunday morning I spent another hour-plus picking weeds, working from the prickly pear to the rose, then to the mountain laurel, and the other plants in the corner. I could tell it made a big difference, but if anyone else were to come along and see it, my backyard would still look like a field of weeds. After a shower, a Dr Pepper and a granola bar I set out for a bicycle ride about 11:15. I had chicken wings and a beer at Hooters, then went to the Alamo Ritz to buy a ticket for the 3:45 showing of Big Trouble in Little China. I rode down Sixth Street to REI to pick up a spork that should have come with the Swedish mess kit I got at their sale a couple weeks ago. I then went into Book People to read a little bit of the paper and pick up a copy of Naked Lunch. I rode some of the hike-and-bike trail before heading back to the theater. I know I've seen pieces of Big Trouble, but I don't think I've ever seen the whole movie straight through. I really liked it, and the rest of the audience certainly seemed to enjoy it as well. It was 5:30 and I headed home, but I was pretty tired from all the riding I'd already done, so I wasn't going nearly as fast. It was warmer at that time as well, and the ride home started by going uphill. I was pretty sweaty when I stopped about 6:30 at Dairy Queen for a Blizzard. Once I got home I watched the drag race until I started to fall asleep a little after 10.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Monday, May 12, 2008
Riding, Hiking, Bicycling
I rode my Night Train for the first time last week, on Tuesday to the Road Captains meeting and to work Friday. Upshifting was strange and uncomfortable at first, and even after a while it didn't come naturally. The worst was from first to second gear, on Tuesday in my sneakers it was more uncomfortable than subsequent upshifts, and on Friday in my boots I kept hitting neutral. Still, it was nice to be back riding her.
Saturday I went on my first HOG chapter ride since breaking my ankle, and I was the lead Road Captain no less. The turnout wasn't as good as I would have hoped, and until 10 minutes before the ride it looked like it was only going to be me, Andy, the sweep RC, and his son. There only wound up being five bikes, but three of them were riding two-up, including Andy, for a total of eight people. I don't know if it was the weather- overcast with a forecast high of 96 (but no rain), or people weren't interested in hiking (I was the only one who actually hiked, but the ride was billed as "Go take a hike"). When we got to Buescher State Park, there wasn't anybody outside collecting entrance fees, so we had to wait in line inside the ranger station to pay. The ride through the park to Bastrop SP was nice, and then we stopped at Bastrop's entrance, everyone else went on to lunch, I bought a Dr Pepper and rode to a trailhead parking lot. The parking lot was large gravel, so I was very wary. I sat at a picnic table and ate one of the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches I had brought with me in my backpack. The trail started out pretty steep downhill, which was unnerving, but other than a little discomfort of stretching my tendons, there were no problems. The first bit was the steepest, and it was a well maintained trail, so not many big obstacles or major risks to my ankle. I was alone for a while, but eventually ran into a couple families, but fortunately wasn't around them for long. About halfway on my roughly 2 mile hike I stopped at a bench and had another PBJ while reading the newspaper I'd brought with me. It wasn't really hot, but it was quite humid and I was wearing jeans. It was cool enough that stopping for a little while cooled me down. When I got back to the parking area, I sat down and read the paper some more to cool off before riding home.
Sunday morning I rode my bicycle to Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. Earlier, when thinking about plans for the weekend, I had separate thoughts of riding my bicycle and of going to see Iron Man. Eventually I hit on the idea of riding my bicycle to the theater. I had ridden the route previously, so I knew what I was in for and that it shouldn't be much of a challenge, knowing that I had managed 7 miles the previous weekend. I had a tough time starting out, my legs were stiff from hiking the day before and took a while to warm up. I walked up the first hill, but did better the rest of the way. I got to the theater early- I'd allowed more time than I needed even though it took me longer than I thought it would. It was only 10:20 for an 11 o'clock show, but the theater was open so I went and got my seat. The ride was enough for me to ignore the clock and have an early lunch. I enjoyed the movie, much better than some other comic-book movies I've seen, but probably not the best. Since I didn't have any other plans for the day, I rode toward downtown. I went into a couple of bicycle shops, considering getting a more road capable bike. I rode some of the hike-and-bike trail, then went to Uncle Billy's to sit, read the paper, and drink a couple of beers. My legs started cramping up a bit sitting there. At about 4 I started back towards home, stopping for dinner at Home Slice. My legs were shot and my butt was sore when I got home. I called my mom to wish her a happy Mother's Day, but that was about the only thing I did other than lay on the couch and watch TV.
Saturday I went on my first HOG chapter ride since breaking my ankle, and I was the lead Road Captain no less. The turnout wasn't as good as I would have hoped, and until 10 minutes before the ride it looked like it was only going to be me, Andy, the sweep RC, and his son. There only wound up being five bikes, but three of them were riding two-up, including Andy, for a total of eight people. I don't know if it was the weather- overcast with a forecast high of 96 (but no rain), or people weren't interested in hiking (I was the only one who actually hiked, but the ride was billed as "Go take a hike"). When we got to Buescher State Park, there wasn't anybody outside collecting entrance fees, so we had to wait in line inside the ranger station to pay. The ride through the park to Bastrop SP was nice, and then we stopped at Bastrop's entrance, everyone else went on to lunch, I bought a Dr Pepper and rode to a trailhead parking lot. The parking lot was large gravel, so I was very wary. I sat at a picnic table and ate one of the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches I had brought with me in my backpack. The trail started out pretty steep downhill, which was unnerving, but other than a little discomfort of stretching my tendons, there were no problems. The first bit was the steepest, and it was a well maintained trail, so not many big obstacles or major risks to my ankle. I was alone for a while, but eventually ran into a couple families, but fortunately wasn't around them for long. About halfway on my roughly 2 mile hike I stopped at a bench and had another PBJ while reading the newspaper I'd brought with me. It wasn't really hot, but it was quite humid and I was wearing jeans. It was cool enough that stopping for a little while cooled me down. When I got back to the parking area, I sat down and read the paper some more to cool off before riding home.
Sunday morning I rode my bicycle to Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. Earlier, when thinking about plans for the weekend, I had separate thoughts of riding my bicycle and of going to see Iron Man. Eventually I hit on the idea of riding my bicycle to the theater. I had ridden the route previously, so I knew what I was in for and that it shouldn't be much of a challenge, knowing that I had managed 7 miles the previous weekend. I had a tough time starting out, my legs were stiff from hiking the day before and took a while to warm up. I walked up the first hill, but did better the rest of the way. I got to the theater early- I'd allowed more time than I needed even though it took me longer than I thought it would. It was only 10:20 for an 11 o'clock show, but the theater was open so I went and got my seat. The ride was enough for me to ignore the clock and have an early lunch. I enjoyed the movie, much better than some other comic-book movies I've seen, but probably not the best. Since I didn't have any other plans for the day, I rode toward downtown. I went into a couple of bicycle shops, considering getting a more road capable bike. I rode some of the hike-and-bike trail, then went to Uncle Billy's to sit, read the paper, and drink a couple of beers. My legs started cramping up a bit sitting there. At about 4 I started back towards home, stopping for dinner at Home Slice. My legs were shot and my butt was sore when I got home. I called my mom to wish her a happy Mother's Day, but that was about the only thing I did other than lay on the couch and watch TV.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Riding for Real Now
I went to my doctor's on Tuesday for another x-ray and checkup. The x-ray was good, showing that the bone has healed, so my doctor gave me the okay to walk without the boot. It was really weird at first, and I'm still limping, but it was good to be that much closer to normal. As something of a celebration, I decided to go to the final preliminary competition of Austin Air Guitar at the Alamo. I also attended a pre-party on sixth street featuring karaoke with a live band, which was a lot of fun and a little different from regular karaoke. The band did punk and metal, so I got up and did For Whom the Bell Tolls.
I rode the Fat Boy to work on Friday. That went better than my first try riding- I could actually put up the kick stand with my foot, but with the traffic I had to put my feet a lot, which got a bit uncomfortable. I left at 4 and headed down to New Braunfels to register for the state HOG rally. A really bad car accident on the frontage road had traffic backed up stop-and-go for almost a mile. The actual rally was pretty typical of other HOG rallies- not a whole lot going on at the rally grounds, the more interesting part is the riding. I did buy a $10 pair of riding glasses to replace the badly scratched pair I had been using, but otherwise the vendors were pretty typically lame. It was held at the Wurstfest grounds, which is right on the Comal river, so it was pretty at least.
Saturday morning I rode back down to the rally in order to get the ABCs of touring picture I forgot to get the night before. When I got to the sign, there was a guy there watching the gate the sign was in front of. He was ready to take my picture when I realized I didn't have a 2008 magazine with me- the last time I used it I left it in my leather jacket. Fortunately, the guy tracked a copy down for me and took the picture with my camera. He was a tourer himself, so we chatted a bit about riding the country. I went to the Gruene Harley shop nearby, where there was a lot more going on. They had carnival rides and more vendors, including Drag Specialties, which trumped anything at the actual rally. I left New Braunfels and went on a partial pre-ride for next Saturday's ride to Bastrop SP. The ride up to the park was nice but nothing special. When I got to the park (actually I entered Buescher SP) I inquired about riding through with a group, then went to enjoy the ride. It was a really nice ride through the pine trees, but the road was very narrow and there were quite a few bicycles and people walking. When I got into Bastrop SP I stopped and read a section of the newspaper by a small lake. I headed home after picking up a trail map. I was hoping to take a nap before going out to a party, but I just wound up laying on the couch watching TV for about an hour before taking a shower. As I was on my way, I realized I shouldn't show up completely empty handed and started looking for a place to get some beer or something. Fortunately there was a new HEB near their house and I was pleased to find New Belgium's Mothership Wit, a favorite of mine I hadn't seen in a while. The party was nice and normal enough for a while, but after a lot of tequila shots (none for me) some permanent markers appeared and it got kind of crazy. First it was the women writing on men's butts, started by the hostess, then the men demanded payback. I managed to get out of the way before it got too crazy and people were writing all over each other.
Sunday morning I took my bicycle to the Veloway for a ride. I thought about avoiding the hassle of wrestling my bike in and out of my tiny trunk, but decided I wanted to go in order to avoid any cars or other obstacles. I started with a short 1-mile lap, which went well enough that I went for a full 5K lap. The full lap went fine until I got to the steep uphill section. I tried to stand up on the pegs to climb, but I didn't get one pump before aborting and walking my bike up the hill. I did one more full lap, coming to a complete stop at the bottom of the steep hill, not making even the slightest attempt. I went home and showered before going to a coworker's BBQ. I obviously forgot what the invitation said since I showed up with beer and no food when there was a keg of beer and everybody else brought something to grill. Fortunately most people brought way more meat than they could eat, and there were some good side dishes as well, so I went home quite full. I was enjoying myself, but my foot was swollen and getting itchy, so I left about 6. On the way home traffic was backing up pretty bad and I could see emergency lights in the distance, so I got off the interstate to take surface streets. As soon as I did, I had the idea of going to check out REI's sale. I picked up a few sale items, but managed to walk out for about $50. At home, I laid on the couch watching qualifying from the drag race and fell asleep about 9 o'clock. I considered just going to bed, but woke up enough to finish watching qualifying and to take out the trash. I tried to go to sleep at 11:30 but at that point I was awake again and had things on my mind keeping me awake. I decided to just get up again and I played on the computer until about 1 am. I woke up at 6:40 this morning, but went back to sleep until 8.
I rode the Fat Boy to work on Friday. That went better than my first try riding- I could actually put up the kick stand with my foot, but with the traffic I had to put my feet a lot, which got a bit uncomfortable. I left at 4 and headed down to New Braunfels to register for the state HOG rally. A really bad car accident on the frontage road had traffic backed up stop-and-go for almost a mile. The actual rally was pretty typical of other HOG rallies- not a whole lot going on at the rally grounds, the more interesting part is the riding. I did buy a $10 pair of riding glasses to replace the badly scratched pair I had been using, but otherwise the vendors were pretty typically lame. It was held at the Wurstfest grounds, which is right on the Comal river, so it was pretty at least.
Saturday morning I rode back down to the rally in order to get the ABCs of touring picture I forgot to get the night before. When I got to the sign, there was a guy there watching the gate the sign was in front of. He was ready to take my picture when I realized I didn't have a 2008 magazine with me- the last time I used it I left it in my leather jacket. Fortunately, the guy tracked a copy down for me and took the picture with my camera. He was a tourer himself, so we chatted a bit about riding the country. I went to the Gruene Harley shop nearby, where there was a lot more going on. They had carnival rides and more vendors, including Drag Specialties, which trumped anything at the actual rally. I left New Braunfels and went on a partial pre-ride for next Saturday's ride to Bastrop SP. The ride up to the park was nice but nothing special. When I got to the park (actually I entered Buescher SP) I inquired about riding through with a group, then went to enjoy the ride. It was a really nice ride through the pine trees, but the road was very narrow and there were quite a few bicycles and people walking. When I got into Bastrop SP I stopped and read a section of the newspaper by a small lake. I headed home after picking up a trail map. I was hoping to take a nap before going out to a party, but I just wound up laying on the couch watching TV for about an hour before taking a shower. As I was on my way, I realized I shouldn't show up completely empty handed and started looking for a place to get some beer or something. Fortunately there was a new HEB near their house and I was pleased to find New Belgium's Mothership Wit, a favorite of mine I hadn't seen in a while. The party was nice and normal enough for a while, but after a lot of tequila shots (none for me) some permanent markers appeared and it got kind of crazy. First it was the women writing on men's butts, started by the hostess, then the men demanded payback. I managed to get out of the way before it got too crazy and people were writing all over each other.
Sunday morning I took my bicycle to the Veloway for a ride. I thought about avoiding the hassle of wrestling my bike in and out of my tiny trunk, but decided I wanted to go in order to avoid any cars or other obstacles. I started with a short 1-mile lap, which went well enough that I went for a full 5K lap. The full lap went fine until I got to the steep uphill section. I tried to stand up on the pegs to climb, but I didn't get one pump before aborting and walking my bike up the hill. I did one more full lap, coming to a complete stop at the bottom of the steep hill, not making even the slightest attempt. I went home and showered before going to a coworker's BBQ. I obviously forgot what the invitation said since I showed up with beer and no food when there was a keg of beer and everybody else brought something to grill. Fortunately most people brought way more meat than they could eat, and there were some good side dishes as well, so I went home quite full. I was enjoying myself, but my foot was swollen and getting itchy, so I left about 6. On the way home traffic was backing up pretty bad and I could see emergency lights in the distance, so I got off the interstate to take surface streets. As soon as I did, I had the idea of going to check out REI's sale. I picked up a few sale items, but managed to walk out for about $50. At home, I laid on the couch watching qualifying from the drag race and fell asleep about 9 o'clock. I considered just going to bed, but woke up enough to finish watching qualifying and to take out the trash. I tried to go to sleep at 11:30 but at that point I was awake again and had things on my mind keeping me awake. I decided to just get up again and I played on the computer until about 1 am. I woke up at 6:40 this morning, but went back to sleep until 8.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Back on the bike
Since I've been doing pretty well with the cast, I thought it was time I tried to get back on my motorcycle. Since Saturday was a beautiful day, it was the perfect time. The first challenge was just getting my leg over the bike and standing it up, which wasn't really easy since I parked it really close to the wall after the last time I rode. I managed to walk her out onto the driveway and fired her up, but I had to put up the kickstand with my hand since I couldn't get it with my boot. After sitting for more than seven weeks, the bike started on a fast idle on the second try. After letting it warm up for a couple minutes, I gritted my teeth, pulled the clutch and hit the gear shift with my cast. Starting down the street was awkward, but riding was coming back to me and I managed to shift into second gear. I'm sure it wouldn't have worked on my Night Train, having to lift up the gear shift, but the Fat Boy has the rear heel shift knob for up shifting. I figured since that went well enough I would go all the way to get lunch. I didn't go far, of course, just to the new shopping center at the interstate. The riding didn't prove problematic, but pretty awkward shifting, at least at first. I was kind of dreading stopping and having to put my feet down, but any discomfort was on par with walking.
I enjoyed the nice day sitting outside at a wing place and reading the paper. There was a pretty good sized playground adjacent, but the kids playing didn't really bother me. I rode to the Harley shop to say hi to some people. I saw a couple things I wanted, but remembered a gift card sitting at home I should use, so didn't buy anything then. I rode back home and then came the next challenge- getting the bike turned around and backing back into the garage. Getting turned around wasn't easy, having to push the bike backwards, but I managed. I had to abort my first attempt at backing into the garage after running out of momentum. I almost didn't make it the second time, but had just enough momentum and just enough leg power to get over the lip of the garage and back her into place.
I grabbed the gift card and the newspaper and went to get two new rear tires on my car- the belts were showing through on the driver's side. The place was backed up and it took an hour and a half before they even got my car into the service bay. I went back to the Harley shop once they finally finished and bought a new shift linkage for the Night Train and a new pair of gloves like the ones I've worn out two pairs of. I didn't have it as strong this past summer, but previously these gloves have given me a suntan tattoo of Harley's bar and shield. I'd had one old pair patched, but even that didn't last and they had been discontinued. I was very glad to see them back again, I was expecting to have to switch to some other style this year.
I enjoyed the nice day sitting outside at a wing place and reading the paper. There was a pretty good sized playground adjacent, but the kids playing didn't really bother me. I rode to the Harley shop to say hi to some people. I saw a couple things I wanted, but remembered a gift card sitting at home I should use, so didn't buy anything then. I rode back home and then came the next challenge- getting the bike turned around and backing back into the garage. Getting turned around wasn't easy, having to push the bike backwards, but I managed. I had to abort my first attempt at backing into the garage after running out of momentum. I almost didn't make it the second time, but had just enough momentum and just enough leg power to get over the lip of the garage and back her into place.
I grabbed the gift card and the newspaper and went to get two new rear tires on my car- the belts were showing through on the driver's side. The place was backed up and it took an hour and a half before they even got my car into the service bay. I went back to the Harley shop once they finally finished and bought a new shift linkage for the Night Train and a new pair of gloves like the ones I've worn out two pairs of. I didn't have it as strong this past summer, but previously these gloves have given me a suntan tattoo of Harley's bar and shield. I'd had one old pair patched, but even that didn't last and they had been discontinued. I was very glad to see them back again, I was expecting to have to switch to some other style this year.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Spring Carnival
After getting together with some CMU alumni in Austin last year to celebrate Carnival, I really felt like I missed it and had to go back this year. I booked a flight, but hadn't booked a hotel because it was really expensive. And then I broke my ankle. I looked into canceling, but it was a non-refundable ticket. I could have changed it, but I don't have any immediate plans to fly anywhere and Travelocity couldn't tell me what I might be able to recoup of the change fee due to my injury. So after talking with my parents and my fraternity big brother Mike, I decided I would go anyway, rent a car and spend the first two nights with Mike and Doug in their house about half an hour from campus. Saturday they had plans to go to Doug's alma mater in Ohio, so I booked a room for that one night not too far from campus. I also rented a car for the first time ever so that I could get around without having to walk so much.
I woke up at 4:30 Thursday morning for my 7am flight. Of course there was no traffic, so it was easy to get there, and no problems checking in. As expected I went through extra screening since of course the crutches and cast set off the metal detector. Once I was able to sit down in the screening area they sent my crutches through the xray machine and tested my cast for explosives residue, then a thorough pat down. I bought breakfast from one of the only places that was open and went to my gate and read my book until boarding. The plane stopped in Atlanta, then continuing on to Pittsburgh. I would have just sat in my seat reading, but there was a crew change and they couldn't let me stay. They got me a wheelchair to go up the jetbridge, but once we got to the terminal I walked to the bathroom. Unfortunately there was another flight to Pittsburgh that was majorly delayed due to an equipment problem and since our flight wasn't full, they let the other passengers onto our plane. So instead of having an empty seat next to me for my foot like the first leg, there was an overweight woman. Getting these other people on delayed us out of the gate, first just getting them on, then getting the correct paper work. It was after 1 by the time I got my bag and rental car. For some reason my GPS didn't power up, I never did figure out if it was the power cord or the car's outlets. Fortunately it was pretty easy to get to Mike's with some directions over the phone.
We drove to campus and went to the fraternity house, which was mostly dead other than Ned, who was an alumnus when I was an undergrad and always comes back for Carnival and is drunk the entire weekend. After chatting a bit, we checked out the booths on the midway and then went with some other alums to PHI, the nearest bar to campus. We hung out there for a while, catching up with other alums and a couple of older undergrads. The place was packed with CMU alumni from various years. Afterwards we went back to the house to hang out with alumni and the active brothers before heading back to Mike's house.
Friday morning we got a later start than I would have hoped driving back to campus for the buggy races, and to add to it the college radio station was having massive technical problems so we barely got any information. We arrived just before the end of women's races and sat down in the chute. Between the heats I chatted with a few former sweepstakes chairs I knew from my years. There was some good action- SigNu and PiKA were neck and neck until PiKA spun into the hay bales, but kept going; KDR lost their windscreen and kept going. I cringed as a former safety chairman, but as a spectator it was good in the same way as NASCAR crashes. The top teams rolled awesomely as expected but some teams had terrible rollouts, one barely made it into the chute. Amazingly the 20-year old course record was broken by two organizations. After the race I hobbled to the top of the hill hoping to catch up with other buggy alumni, but the place was pretty well cleared out by that time. I walked back to the house for some lunch and to hang out for a bit, then drove back across campus to watch a presentation on the history of buggy, and say hi to some other buggy alumni. After a while Doug made it to the house and we drank from their private beer stash before getting dinner at a nearby restaurant with a good beer selection. I was exhausted and ready to leave by 11, but it took a while to get Mike out of the house. I left my rental car on campus and Doug drove us all back to their house.
We managed to get going a little earlier on Saturday, but they started the races earlier and Doug and Mike dropped me off at the starting line just after the second women's race started. I sat on the wall in front of GSIA and got up to see the finish, but couldn't see much. I did get a pretty good look at some of the buggies as they went by to go to the brake test. It was a much better look than seeing them whiz by in the chute, but no crashes. The results were pretty amazing, with PiKA bettering SDC's Friday record and edging them out of the top spot by 0.15 seconds, giving them a record seventh straight win. After lunch Mike and Doug left for Ohio and I checked into my hotel and took a half hour nap. I went back for the awards ceremony- the house won second place in the booth competition and felt like they were robbed. I went out for a rowdy dinner in a little Chinese restaurant near campus with my "family." Fortunately we were way in the back so we weren't bothering other patrons, and the staff was very patient and didn't mind the drunks throwing ice and whatnot too much. The undergrads I sat with were pretty amazed that I graduated eight years ago, and I got a few comments like "I was in middle school when that happened" to my anecdotes. I said a couple words as the oldest one there. The alumni at the table split the check, which worked out to be less than 30 dollars including a hefty tip. On the way back to campus I stopped in at PHI again, hung out with some alums from my era, then with a PiKA alum I knew from buggy for a little while before sitting down at a table with one of the undergrads I'd met at dinner. There was a party going on at the house when I got back. I was down near the dance floor for a little while, but once it started filling up I went and sat down upstairs since I couldn't dance and was worried about being stepped on. I was really tired and fell asleep before I managed to drag myself back to the hotel.
Sunday I putzed around my hotel room, reading my book, surfing the internet. I checked out, swung by the house but it was empty, and then got some lunch on campus. I went for a wander across campus to check out the start of the new Gates center and an addition to an adjacent building. I headed back to Mike and Doug's house but beat them back and read my book some more. After catching up on what had been going on, we pretty much sat around and vegetated before I left for the airport. No problems returning the car, there was no line to check in for the flight. Security had a big line but it was moving. After picking up some dinner I got to the gate and found out that it had been switched to the gate next door. The flight was actually on Delta Connection, so it was a smaller Canadair jet. It wasn't bad, I had enough room for my legs since it was a bulkhead row. In Cincinnati they had a wheelchair ready for me because I was worried about making my connection, but we had managed to get in a little early so it wouldn't have been a problem. The terminal my connection departed out of was very strange to me- there was a whole wall of doors that had two gate numbers and little desks between them. Once through the gate it was still a ways down a hallway to get to the appropriate exit to the tarmac. The aircraft was even smaller than the first. At first, before we got to cruising altitude I had my cast leg out in the aisle, but eventually I managed to get comfortable enough with it out of the aisle that I slept until the flight attendant woke me up to put up my tray table. The first parking shuttle filled up before I could get on, but the second one that came stopped right where I was standing so I was the first one on.
I woke up at 4:30 Thursday morning for my 7am flight. Of course there was no traffic, so it was easy to get there, and no problems checking in. As expected I went through extra screening since of course the crutches and cast set off the metal detector. Once I was able to sit down in the screening area they sent my crutches through the xray machine and tested my cast for explosives residue, then a thorough pat down. I bought breakfast from one of the only places that was open and went to my gate and read my book until boarding. The plane stopped in Atlanta, then continuing on to Pittsburgh. I would have just sat in my seat reading, but there was a crew change and they couldn't let me stay. They got me a wheelchair to go up the jetbridge, but once we got to the terminal I walked to the bathroom. Unfortunately there was another flight to Pittsburgh that was majorly delayed due to an equipment problem and since our flight wasn't full, they let the other passengers onto our plane. So instead of having an empty seat next to me for my foot like the first leg, there was an overweight woman. Getting these other people on delayed us out of the gate, first just getting them on, then getting the correct paper work. It was after 1 by the time I got my bag and rental car. For some reason my GPS didn't power up, I never did figure out if it was the power cord or the car's outlets. Fortunately it was pretty easy to get to Mike's with some directions over the phone.
We drove to campus and went to the fraternity house, which was mostly dead other than Ned, who was an alumnus when I was an undergrad and always comes back for Carnival and is drunk the entire weekend. After chatting a bit, we checked out the booths on the midway and then went with some other alums to PHI, the nearest bar to campus. We hung out there for a while, catching up with other alums and a couple of older undergrads. The place was packed with CMU alumni from various years. Afterwards we went back to the house to hang out with alumni and the active brothers before heading back to Mike's house.
Friday morning we got a later start than I would have hoped driving back to campus for the buggy races, and to add to it the college radio station was having massive technical problems so we barely got any information. We arrived just before the end of women's races and sat down in the chute. Between the heats I chatted with a few former sweepstakes chairs I knew from my years. There was some good action- SigNu and PiKA were neck and neck until PiKA spun into the hay bales, but kept going; KDR lost their windscreen and kept going. I cringed as a former safety chairman, but as a spectator it was good in the same way as NASCAR crashes. The top teams rolled awesomely as expected but some teams had terrible rollouts, one barely made it into the chute. Amazingly the 20-year old course record was broken by two organizations. After the race I hobbled to the top of the hill hoping to catch up with other buggy alumni, but the place was pretty well cleared out by that time. I walked back to the house for some lunch and to hang out for a bit, then drove back across campus to watch a presentation on the history of buggy, and say hi to some other buggy alumni. After a while Doug made it to the house and we drank from their private beer stash before getting dinner at a nearby restaurant with a good beer selection. I was exhausted and ready to leave by 11, but it took a while to get Mike out of the house. I left my rental car on campus and Doug drove us all back to their house.
We managed to get going a little earlier on Saturday, but they started the races earlier and Doug and Mike dropped me off at the starting line just after the second women's race started. I sat on the wall in front of GSIA and got up to see the finish, but couldn't see much. I did get a pretty good look at some of the buggies as they went by to go to the brake test. It was a much better look than seeing them whiz by in the chute, but no crashes. The results were pretty amazing, with PiKA bettering SDC's Friday record and edging them out of the top spot by 0.15 seconds, giving them a record seventh straight win. After lunch Mike and Doug left for Ohio and I checked into my hotel and took a half hour nap. I went back for the awards ceremony- the house won second place in the booth competition and felt like they were robbed. I went out for a rowdy dinner in a little Chinese restaurant near campus with my "family." Fortunately we were way in the back so we weren't bothering other patrons, and the staff was very patient and didn't mind the drunks throwing ice and whatnot too much. The undergrads I sat with were pretty amazed that I graduated eight years ago, and I got a few comments like "I was in middle school when that happened" to my anecdotes. I said a couple words as the oldest one there. The alumni at the table split the check, which worked out to be less than 30 dollars including a hefty tip. On the way back to campus I stopped in at PHI again, hung out with some alums from my era, then with a PiKA alum I knew from buggy for a little while before sitting down at a table with one of the undergrads I'd met at dinner. There was a party going on at the house when I got back. I was down near the dance floor for a little while, but once it started filling up I went and sat down upstairs since I couldn't dance and was worried about being stepped on. I was really tired and fell asleep before I managed to drag myself back to the hotel.
Sunday I putzed around my hotel room, reading my book, surfing the internet. I checked out, swung by the house but it was empty, and then got some lunch on campus. I went for a wander across campus to check out the start of the new Gates center and an addition to an adjacent building. I headed back to Mike and Doug's house but beat them back and read my book some more. After catching up on what had been going on, we pretty much sat around and vegetated before I left for the airport. No problems returning the car, there was no line to check in for the flight. Security had a big line but it was moving. After picking up some dinner I got to the gate and found out that it had been switched to the gate next door. The flight was actually on Delta Connection, so it was a smaller Canadair jet. It wasn't bad, I had enough room for my legs since it was a bulkhead row. In Cincinnati they had a wheelchair ready for me because I was worried about making my connection, but we had managed to get in a little early so it wouldn't have been a problem. The terminal my connection departed out of was very strange to me- there was a whole wall of doors that had two gate numbers and little desks between them. Once through the gate it was still a ways down a hallway to get to the appropriate exit to the tarmac. The aircraft was even smaller than the first. At first, before we got to cruising altitude I had my cast leg out in the aisle, but eventually I managed to get comfortable enough with it out of the aisle that I slept until the flight attendant woke me up to put up my tray table. The first parking shuttle filled up before I could get on, but the second one that came stopped right where I was standing so I was the first one on.
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