[at-l] miss

[Felix J]

I have been putting off writing a 'trip report' of my recent little hike 
with Sundown because not really all that much happened that is worth 
reporting. However, one very important thing did happen that I would be 
remiss if I did not tell the tale.  So...it goes a little something like 
this:

Started out with a good Ruck. I don't remember much of it, to be honest. 
The main things  I remember are these:
Rolling around on the ground with Amy. 
Helping push Longhaul's car/truck around on an icy parking lot...and, 
then making a terrible error in diagnosis. 
Had a good room to stay in and a good time staying in it. the one 
downside of it was broken glass.
Was sad, on several occasions, when I was reminded of the last time I 
saw, or will ever see, JohnO at the previous year's Ruck. 
Had a good chat with 1Pint.
Didn't see Greyowl long enough.
Fell in love with PerkyM.

After the Ruck, I went to my seester's in Baltimore where we enjoyed 
watching our Steeler's win another Super Bowl. We enjoyed it so much, in 
fact, that we watched them win Super Bowl IX on DVD. 

On Monday evening, February 2nd, I finalize plans with Sundown as to 
where we would meet and when.  "Alright, 10:30 in the morning at Bear 
Mt. Inn. See ya then."   So, I leave my sister's (AKA seester's) at 
about 6 in the frigid a.m. I drive...stopping at many toll booths, 
plazas and the like. Drive on. I get to a blustery, cold, snowy Bear Mt. 
Inn...only to find the Inn is closed for renovations. Not to worry. I 
then found myself and nice, out of the way parking spot in a 
snow/ice-covered parking lot. It was really windy and cold. It was about 
10:15 so I figured I'd give my boy Sundown a call to see where he is. 
He's been known to get lost a time or two in the past.  
Ring....ring...."Oh, hey Felix"   "Where are you man?"  "Oh, hey...I'm 
running about two hours late"...."TWO HOURS LATE?!?" "Yeah, I guess I 
slept through the alarm" Now, him saying that had two-fold import. The 
first fold was the fact that I was pissed that he was 2 hours late. The 
other fold was that I'd told my sister the night before this very 
thing...and, I quote: "He's not the kind of guy who'll sleep through an 
alarm". (you can ask her. That is exactly what I said to her)  So, I say 
to Sundown "Why didn't you call me?!? " to which he replied "Because I 
thought you'd be mad"..."I AM MAD. Now I'm even madder because you 
didn't call!!"  So, I got to kill over two hours in a cold, windy, 
snowy, essentially empty parking lot. I did get to change and get my 
stuff loaded up, though. And, I saw a Bald Eagle coming off the Hudson.  
But, it was not the wa y I wanted to spend two hours on a day I had 8+ 
miles to hike 2 driving hours away. 

So...Sundown shows up and we go in to the police station to get a 
parking permit for his car.  While he's filling out the paperwork, I 
notice a smell. I didn't think much of it.  Then, once we're back in my 
truck and actually driving toward Kent, CT, I notice it again. "YOU'RE 
DRUNK!!" says me. He hangs his in shame. "YOU MADE ME SIT IN A FREEZING 
PARKING LOT FOR TWO HOURS BECAUSE YOU'RE HUNG OVER!?!"  He apologizes 
profusely. "I guess I shut my alarm off, or forgot to set it, or 
something."  "Still! Why didn't you call me?!?" " I didn't know what to 
say. I knew you were gonna be mad" "NOT CALLIN' ME WASN'T GONNA CHANGE 
THAT!!! You owe me lunch, Pal"  

So, we make our way on toward Kent...stopping at a McDonalds for a bite 
to eat. There is essentially no good way from Bear Mt. Inn to Kent, 
CT.   We drove on.  It was a windy, snowy drive and we were both a 
little anxious looking at the amount of snow in the hills. We knew we'd 
be trudging in it soon enough. I'm not sure what time it was when we got 
to Kent. We pulled in to the little 'mall' area (where the grocery store 
and P.O. is) and looked for the outfitter where we thought we were going 
to leave my truck. Alas, the building was 'for lease'... 

Tune in later to find out...the rest of the story.

-- 
Felix J. McGillicuddy
ME-->GA '98
"Your Move"
ALT '03 KT '03
http://Felixhikes.tripod.com/