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Martinsburg
This is Martinsburg, WV. I skipped out of Huntingdon early Saturday afternoon for Martinsburg, WV. My apartment is clean and shut down, I saw most of the people I had on my list (of course it was a last minute whirlwind tour) and PanThar is carefully stowed with Mom for the summer.
Jay's parents gave us their beautiful house to have a going away party. I wouldn't have recommended that, but they're generous people. They made us a great spread of food -- barbecue, tuna salad, pasta salad, chips, burgers, dogs, beer, etc. -- then fled for an overnight stay at a hotel. They told Jay, "We're too old for this anymore. I remember your graduation party. See you tomorrow."
That was a good time. We had about 20 people over, many of whom have dangerous reputations in these situations, and the house escaped unscathed. Messy, but unharmed. Everyone had a decent buzz, a good time and some great food. The rubber chickens approved.
Sunday Jay, Ryan Derfler (college friend) and Gina (Derfler's girlfriend) had tickets to see Radiohead at the Nissan Pavilion in Manassas, Va. We roused from our recovery by 1 p.m., had lunch and a few drinks, then off
Chicken
Johnny Longnecker met the Penis Straw. Things got uglier after this. to Manassas. The map made it appear that it was an easy route that would take about an hour. The opening act, Liars, went on at 730, so we planned to be there about 9 to catch Radiohead. We left Charles Town, WV, at 8 (whoops) and headed out Route 9 into Virginia. The plan was to take that to Virginia State Route 7, then south on US Route 15 to Manassas.
Whoops again.
We made it to 7, but I kind of forgot to hit 15. By 9 p.m., we were in McLean, right outside Washington. Jay was being wicked drunk and annoying (he was inches away from being hogtied and thrown in the trunk), Gina was getting pissed because we were driving aimlessly and I was getting pissed because Gina was pissed.
And there was the torrential downpour. It started raining late Saturday night and picked up to near hurricane force Sunday. One of my headlights is out, my bumper is trashed (and getting torn further off with each foot-deep puddle I drove through), my alignment is off and I couldn't see a damn thing in the rain.
We finally got to Manassas at
Dance
Our night at the Tap House. 1045 p.m. Police had been turning people away for a few hours. Friends who actually made it on time said the hill behind the amphitheater was an eight-inch mudpit. Radiohead sounded good, they said, but the place was a mess. We were turned away by two Manassas city police cruisers blocking the main road in. People at the Sunoco down the road said they had been doing that all night.
Silver lining is we'll each be able to get our $50 back because the cops wouldn't let people in. But there has to be a dark, bullshit thunder cloud for their to be silver lining. And the bullshit thunder cloud is we missed the show, I drove for five hours on a road to nowhere and Jay was a raging drunken pain in my ass. That's a taste for what I have in store for the next three months.
We got back to Jay's place at about 1230 a.m. and went to sleep. Maryland, West Virginia and Virginia flooded. I think the East Coast is about to drop into the ocean.
Monday was basically an off day. I bought a backpack in Hagerstown, Md., at Dick's Sporting
Sox dude
They start Yankee-hating early. And yes, that's how they roll in Boston. Goods (I got my balls at Dick's!). It's a blue North Face pack with a frame, solid straps and a Lombar pad at the bottom. Lots of pockets, lots of space and water proof. Not a bad piece of equipment. We met Kevin, my best friend from college, and came back to Martinsburg. We planned to hit a few places, but wound up spending the evening at the Tap House in Charles Town.
So now we're packing to leave for Columbia, Md., this afternoon. Jay's brother Jared lives there and will be taking us to Baltimore for a Red Sox-Orioles game at Camden Yards. Josh Beckett is pitching. Great success! Jay and Jared are both Orioles fans and will be wearing team colors. I'll be in my Sox gear. I think they both have jerseys and Jay's wearing an orange bandanna. I have a red bandanna I want to wear, but having a baseball hat and the wrong color bandanna in Baltimore can get you shot. So I don't know what I'm taking yet.
Tomorrow we fly out of BWI at 630 p.m. for Dublin. We're to land in Dublin at 9 a.m. local time Thursday.
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Ryan D
non-member comment
Going Away
Douglass, I just realized that pic of WV is not an idyllic scenic shot from a postcard but Jays backyard--the same hill I wondered around the night before, made out on, shot bb's into, and what not. ANyway, good times buddy, and enjoy the trip! I'll be watching for more updates, and shots of Jay dancing like your rubber chicken.