Monday, September 17, 2012

Boys' Trip

This weekend was our  Boys' Trip to North Carolina ... Tom, Ray, Dewey, Big Al, Kenny, Mark and Doug.

Tom and Dewey share an incredible cabin high in the mountains on Lake Glenville outside of Cashiers and have another with Doug a few miles away. So they BRAVELY put together a weekend for our "brat pack".

Allegiant has a direct flight into Greenville.

We picked up two cars in Greenville to make the hour plus drive to Glenville. Tom drove one car and Doug drove the other (We drove with him ... big mistake).

We packed up the car, programmed the GPS and tried to get out of the parking lot. A woman stood in front of our car wagging her finger.

"What's that about?" I asked.
"I think we are in the wrong car," Ray said.

We were.

I wondered why Doug was having such a hard time getting the car started. So ... we unpacked the car ... found the correct one ... and headed out. I had to remind Doug that he was not competing for the pole position in Daytona. Sitting in the back seat ... I longed for some Tums.

Ingles (apparently, the only supermarket in North Carolina) was our first stop. We were stocking up for supplies. Okay ... I thought ... now starts the part of our trip that defines us as men. Here we will stock up on beer and red meat and crappy snacks.

Wait a minute what is this?

I stared incredulously at our grocery basket: Granola, yogurt, fat free milk, wine (WINE?), mini vanilla wafers ... where are the chips and dip ... nuts ... the hot dogs ... sausages ... beer!!! Okay ... Ray grabbed some sausages and eggs and a six pack of some designer beer.  I think that's what it was ... I grabbed a big bottle of Tums.

That's how it started.  

We pulled in to the cabin, unpacked the groceries, walked out on the back porch and felt the mountain air hit us. It was beautiful.

We now had a big decision to make ... one that we spent the next four days thinking about. Where do we eat?

Tom was in charge: Tonight it was Happ's. Local hangout and one place that was still open (in the mountains I discovered that the life span of a restaurant was about three days). It was great food. As a protest of the granola and the manly men ordering salads ... Kenny and I ordered fried chicken. Hah! We will show them. (Okay ... I couldn't finish it and got a to- go box).  That night we drew names for our bedrooms ... I got the master suite at the Lake house. I had to pay Tom $300 to pass me the right slip. (kidding ... it was only $250).

Dewey and Al joined us at the next day. They were in Atlanta on business.

Someone wanted to go to the casino on Saturday. I'm not sure who it was ... but I agreed to lead the charge. Ray, Mark, Kenny and I headed to Harrah's. The first hour was not terribly successful. Somehow they got the idea that everything I said would make them filthy rich ... would actually work. (Debbie knows that's not true). The second hour got better. As Mark and Kenny played blackjack ... Ray and I hit the slots and made about $1300.

The casino host told our group that we could go to the Diamond VIP Lounge ... if we would like to get something to eat. I told the group that we HAD to try it. VIP Lounges have cigars, steaks, booze ... follow me. This one wasn't quite up to those standards ... card tables and dip. "Pretty cool ... Joel".    

Football games, food and naps dominated the rest of the trip. Big Al's stories were sprinkled throughout. He and Dewey played for Alabama under Bear Bryant. Most of his stories had something to do with fighting, bowel movements and horse vitamins. That's all I can tell you ... 'cause Al would beat the crap out of me.

Oh ... and ...  Mark ran into a tree, Dewey ran off the road and popped a tire, I left my computer in the airport, We ate at another 23 restaurants, Al wore Alabama shirts the entire weekend, Ray convinced a flight attendant to pretend to give me a rectal exam (don't ask).

Here are some other pictures:

We took a spin around the lake. (Okay ... Mark has a kinda man crush on Dewey)

Mark earlier almost burned down the cabin when he bar-b-qued some sausage . The entire grill caught fire ... Al saved the day when he smothered the flames with his own body fluids.


Boys will be boys ... at least ONCE a year.

2 comments:

KathrynWat said...

Ok but the boat looks pretty good. I take it no fishing happened. I love North Carolina, but I'm allergic to somethig that lives there.

joel said...

We had good intentions but were too lazy. What are you allergic to?

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