Archive

Author Archive

RDU -> GSO? It’s looking good so far..

April 7th, 2006 Comments off

Today (Friday) has been excellent.. I went to Greensboro for a business meeting and to talk with the pre-admissions advisor at UNCG for the Bryan Business school.. Sheila needed to take care of some stuff down there and since she has Fridays off we went together..

We got up and on the road by 815, I dropped her off on Tate street where the Cup A Joe used to be.. Now there is a Subway and a salon.. I then headed on to my office in Greensboro.. My meeting went amazingly well.. The contractors I have been bitching about for years are all but finished.. One guy has taken another job, and the other will be gone in 3-4 months.. His 100k a year undermining gravy train is about to end.. I can’t wait.. The end of the era of waste at work is coming.. I am not hating on him because of how much money he takes home, but the fact that he doesn’t do any work and has just milked my company for at least 10 years because of some members of managements ignorance of computers..

Once my meeting was over I headed back to the UNCG campus to meet up with Sheila.. We met up at Tate Street Coffee house.. She said it was amazing.. Later on I went there and it was as cool as Cup A Joe in Raleigh.. Complete even with the creepy old man chain smoker (although he had to go outside to smoke so he only got a to go cup)..

We then went to one of the most poorly run Burger joints I have ever seen.. Baileys on Tate Street.. One of the servers was high as a kite, and kept re-filling our drinks when we din’t need the refilled.. He was eating peanut M&M’s in front of the only other table at the restaurant.. Well I am being quit liberal with my use of the word eating.. Half of them ended up on the floor.. I wonder if Baileys will survive to the fall.. I got the impression that it was a new place.. I would have let that waiter go.. He told the girls he was serving he was in Graduate school, which means either a) I will get in to UNCG super easy, b) he is a pathetic liar..

After that we walked across campus to the Business School building, and I met with Tom Keller the pre-admissions advisor.. He didn’t seem to think that my 2.4 GPA from NCSU would keep my from getting in, but that I needed to focus on getting a good GMAT score, and getting my application in as early as possible.. So I also need to get three letters of recommendation.. I need to see if I can find my Sr Design Project guys email address if he even remembers my name anymore..

The experience was quite different from advising at NCSU.. I walked into the main office quite nervous and got more nervous as I was walked up to Mr. Kellers office.. Once there the first thing we did was shake hands, andthen he immediately started up a conversation about my Key West T-Shirt.. At this point I was realized as could be.. He used to live in Florida.. We spent half the time shooting the shit about traveling.. He talked about the national parks on the Keys, I told him about Louisville.. He also gave me all the information I need to get in.. Had this been an advising session at NCSU I probably would have been talked down to, and not be given a glimmer of hope, and been thrown out of the office in 5 minutes.. Tom and I were talking for at least 45 minutes..

To get this ball rolling for going in in the fall I need to study for the GMAT and take it as soon as possible in parallel with getting this house fixed and ready for sale.. School starts at UNCG in the middle of August.. I don’t know if I have enough time to get this house sold, and moved.. I got Bonnaroo in June, my cousins crazy multi-day wedding at
the beginning of August.. I may also want to take some vacation before school starts when it will be harder to get time off (I got 4 weeks left to take).. I guess if I can’t get my house sold by July (which could close in August) I probably will have to defer until the Spring.. I can’t afford to pay for school, an apartment and a house that I won’t be living in.. Work will pay for school but not until the grades are in so I still gotta pony up some cash each semester..

I am also going to sell my TV before I move to Greensboro if works out.. I don’t need a 50 inch HDTV (especially in a one bedroom apartment..) Let me know if anyone has any interest in a 50 inch Samsung 720p DLP.. I probably will sell my Truck unless my dad wants to use it.. I won’t need 2 cars and without a house to fix the truck wont be that useful.. Ya know I just got too much stuff.. Some will go on ebay.. Some on Craigs list, others who knows maybe first come first serve..

After that Sheila and I went to the Yum Yum place across from the Business school on Spring Garden, then had 2 beers at the bar next door which is pretty much right on campus.. I need to more research on that place.. We walked around the Tate Street area some more, and saw a ton of cool apartments for either of us to live in.. I would really love to have a much smaller space than I have now.. This house is WAY too big.. Sly might not like having less space, but I sure as hell would..

Until next time kids..

Categories: Random Tags:

Finally.. A Freakin’ Plan

March 30th, 2006 Comments off

I will pre appoloigize for being vague about my job, but this is in the public and I won’t be giving
specifics related to my employer.. Sorry kids..

So as many of you may or may not know I have been talking about selling my house and doing
something.. I never seemed to know what that something was.. I always talked about quitting the job, but I am not ata good place to leave things.. I don’t
like to leave things unfinished.. I slowly was working on fixing up my house, but with no real plan, or end in sight it all seemed a bit pointless so I
always slacked off on it.. I did do some nice tilework in my master bath finally replacing the nasty ass carpet.. (Who has carpet in a bathroom..
Blech..).. The Cary life wasn’t quite cutting it for me, but without some new place to go it was easier to just coast there..


Check out that awesome tile job! Good stuff

So things at work are always crazy
and I am in the midst of re-building my “empire”.. A good ammount my “group” are inept and it is taking forever.. (See previous blog for more
information).. At work to help getting things rolling faster to get all my tools working again we are getting 2 new folks.. Well they started, but
instead of working in the policital nightmare of Raleigh we got them started in Columbia.. This meant that I needed to go down there to get them started..
So Monday morning I got up bright and early and swung down to Columba to meet the new guys..

Talking with them goes well enough.. I realize they
have a brain, and most likely didn’t fake their degree like someone who shall remain nameless I work with (He is one of the B’s I have mentioned before)..
So my boss and I start formulating a plan of how we will utilize their skills.. It is about time for me to get back in my car and drive back to Raleigh
when my boss gets a call.. The B I previously mentioned is quitting.. Not only is he quitting but he is has been hired by my company to work in Puerto
Rico.. I am sorta happy cause he is getting out of my hair, but not pleased that he has been hired on full time.. I have turned down many a job in Puerto
Rico.. The politics there are crazy, and its relaly not that nice of a place once you leave the resort.. So I call my manager / friend down there who
hired him and it turns out that he has been hired 2 levels above me to do work that he has no skills or credentials in.. I have 6 years experneice with
this stuff and I am a level 2.. He doesnt know the first thing about wireless and he gets a level 4.. Needless to say I am livid at this point..

I
have previously been thinking that a good time for me to leave will be after the end of the year at the earliest.. We are deploying a new technolgy that
it will be vital for me to have if I am to stay in wireless at all so I need to at least get that knowledge under my belt.. If i quit now in 5 years I
would have worthless knowledge on my resume.. If I quite after december I would have new very needed knowledge for at least the next 5 years on my
resume.. By the end of the year I also can probbably get everything else at work back running like it should be and be able to step away and know I handed
off my work in good shape not some halfway done mess like it is now..

While I am driving back to Raleigh I keep thinking.. “I am going to milk
this place for everything I can while I am still here”.. I keep wanting to open up a bar / resteraunt or two somewhere and eventually become a slum lord
and let others pay for me to go on vacation.. To do that I am going to need a good knowledge of business.. Hrmm.. My briain keeps spinning.. I could
easily get that knowledge if I went back to school.. I could go get an MBA.. I could get work to pay for it.. Holy shit.. I got it! I then called my boss
and asked him what he thought, and he was like “good.. ” he also said I can take day classes if I prefer as long as I put in my time.. I already have done
this for them before as I got them to pay for my last year of undergrad while at NCSU..

To make a long story short I am going to get my work to
pay for an MBA.. I am going to need to stay in NC to get tuition that will be under what work will pay for, and I need to stay in a city where we have an
office I can work out of.. That leaves Raleigh, Greensboro, and Charlotte.. I refuse to live in Charlotte so that makes my choices the Triangle or the
Triad.. So far my options are.. NCSU.. UNCG.. I had NCCU most likely whacked from my list by Tori today who said they were horrible to deal
with..

Basicly the goal i am working twoard now is fixing up the house so I can sell in a few months.. Take the GMAT (How hard can that be?)..
Decide on a school and apply and make work pay for it..

That at least gets me 1.5 years of planing..

Any suggested schools? I am sort of
tiring of Raleigh after living here almost 10 years.. I am thinking Greensboro would be nice.. Besides Sheila is going there in the fall.. How convenient
you say.. So is UNCG the best choice? Wake Forrest is too much.. Maybe Carolina and stay here? They didn’t accept me for undergrad.. I am going to have
to get some kidna exception made for GPA.. I graduated from NCSU with a 2.2 or something pretty damn low.. Granted it was in Electrical Engineering and I
was working full time so I would think someone would give me a chance.. I ain’t dum.. :)

Anyway kids.. Thats my plan.. I dunno if I am kissing
Raleigh good bye or not, but that house in Cary.. See ya.. Work.. See ya when I get my free MBA from ya!..

If anyone has taken the GMAT let me
know.. Any suggested places to get an MBA? Anyone?

Categories: Cary House, Random Tags:

Curling – The Ultimate Futuristic Female Game

February 15th, 2006 Comments off

So last night after work I met some fellow co-workers at this “sports bar” called Dugans between the
office and my hotel room.. My friend / co-worker Sue was in town as well, so we at least had someone to hang out with.. I head over to this “sports bar”..
I park, and walk up and can smell the moldy dankness as I turn the corner to head to the front door.. Walk in the door and see a bunch of crappy pool
tables, and a bar complete with the finest of beers on tap.. Bud.. Bud Light.. Bud Select and something else.. The music is the Columbia K97.5 station..
Booty jams 24/7.. A little Kanye West thrown in for good mix, but you should start to get a good picture of what this place is like.. The 4 of us split a
5 dollar pitcher of Bud.. They don’t have enough pint glasses, so two of our group has to drink out of highball glasses..

Sue had them put Curling on the TV so we could finish watching the Japaneese and USA women.. I barely understand the game myself, but Sue starts
explaining it.. This incredibly high dude walks over and starts rambling about how he loves that game with the “you know..”.. He starts makign a sweeping
motion with his hands.. His name turns out to be Steven Tony.. He had dreds, and sort of reminded me of a parliment reject.. He started telling Sue how he
liked it when the women swept.. He also had this strange facination with the movie Blade (which I recently saw on TNT for the first time in years) or just
everlasting life in general.. He said one of the guys I was with looked “like the dude from blade”.. I have no idea which one.. It could have just been
cause all white people look alike, cause I didn’t see any resemblance to anyone in the movie.. The older guy Dean who was with us was “about 10 centuries
old” according to Tony.. He didn’t say anything about me or Sue..

He kept asking for some of Deans blood so he could live forever.. He also propsitioned Sue for her blood, but she didn’t give him any.. I wanted to get a
few drops of his blood.. I figured that would easily get my high for a few weeks.. Twoard the end of our stay at Dugans this guy with no teeth comes over
an started asking if he could borrow 2 dollars.. I was waiting for the typical story “I need to borrow 5 bucks so I can get back to Winston Salem thats
where my wife and kids are and my car is outta gas” story.. Nope.. This guy wanted to borrow 2 dollars so he can bet on his pool game.. He claimed when
he bet money he played better.. I don’t know why we kept meeting these interesting people, but we decided after 2 pitchers it was time to go..

We tried to eat at Outback which had a 2 hour wait, and went an actual sports bar that had 2 dollar black and tans, and a horrible patty melt.. We get
back to the hotel, I have a few more beers and fall asleep.. I woke up at 4am with all my clothes on, lights off, and some local bible show on TV.. After
fumbling for the remote I turn off the bible dude and go back to bed..

So in Columbia, SC don’t be fooled by the name.. Dugans has nothing Irish about it, and I don’t see how its a “sports bar” at all..

Categories: Random, Travel Tags:

Into the great wide open..Friday.. Mammoth Cave!

January 30th, 2006 Comments off

Friday we wake up refreshed and feeling human again.. Today was it.. The cave day.. First things first
we go back to the Mammoth Cave Restaurant.. The finest pancakes were obtained here.. Sheila gave them a 4.63 out of 5 on the scale.. It was at this point
I asked her a bit more about how her scale worked.. I asked if the syrup was included in the scoring or if it was separate.. She told me it was all about
the experience and one contributing factor to the score of these pancakes was the use of real warm maple syrup.. I am not here to steal her thunder, so I
will eagerly await her review for more details of why these pancakes have been given the top award..

Once done with our meal we go and get our tickets for a tour of the cave.. We have no idea what we are in for or which tour to take.. Finally we opt for
the historic tour over the star chamber tour.. I would recomend reading the wikipedia article about
Mammoth Cave National Park and even more importantly Stephen Bishop a slave who explored and named a vast amount of the cave by
candle light.. At one point our tour guide turned off the lights and got out a lantern (See photo below).. Then he started talking about how quiet and
dark it is in the cave system.. He then blew out the lantern, and then told us to be quiet.. Within a few seconds you could hear your own heart beat.. Now
having said all of that can you imagine exploring a cave by yourself by just candle light? Talk about some balls.. Sheila and I figured that if you face
being bought and sold that you really have nothing to loose, but still I can’t even fathom it..


Our tour guide with the lantern. Look how dark this photo is! For you camera geeks I had the ISO speed at 1600, 1/2 second exposure using an fstop of
1.4 and thats all i got..


This is one of the best photos I took.. 1 second exposure f/1.4..


There were marking all over the cave from initial tourists.. Here are a few on the Giants Coffin from the 1800s


Me blinded by the sun after returning from the cave. It was completely overcast when we returned to the surface, but I was still a bit blinded by the sun
after a few minutes when this photo was taken..


Sheila pointing at the caves.. Down in the hole!!

After a quick stop in the gift shop we headed back to North Carolina.. We stopped one night in Asheville and get some beers, crash in a sorta freaky Days
Inn, and then finally get back to the City of Oaks on Saturday.. It was nice to be home..

Categories: Travel Tags:

Into the great wide open.. Thursday..

January 30th, 2006 Comments off

Thursday was pretty low key.. We took a cab back to Heine Brothers where we left my car for the
night.. I normally don’t get hung over, but I felt it that day.. I have no idea how many I had, but I am betting on top of the bottle of wine at Ramsi’s
it was close to 10 or 12 beers.. Sheila had 4 Bourbons on the rocks.. Man oh man.. So we hop in the car and head off to cave city.. Part way there we stop
at KFC hoping to get some sort relief from the hangovers, but it doesn’t help much at all.. After a short and painful ride we get to Cave City, and decide
we don’t need to descend 300+ feet into the ground that day.. We get a room at the Mammoth Inn Hotel take a much needed many hour nap wake up around the
last call for the restaurant at the Mammoth Inn Hotel.. The pancake tour will continue tomorrow, but for now Sheila gets a 1/2 chicken fried hard.. Of
course there is no hope of her finishing it, and I barely finish my fish (why did I get fish in Kentucky?).. Then we just take it easy and sleep off the
rest of the pain..

Categories: Travel Tags:

Into the great wide open.. Wednesday..

January 28th, 2006 Comments off

The plan for Wednesday didn’t consist of much other than we were going to go to the Homemade Ice Cream
and Pie Kitchen and the zoo.. We roll into the Ice Cream and Pie for lunch, and find out they don’t sell any food other than ice cream and pies.. The lady
at the counter suggests we go to the store around the corner and get a sandwich and come back to see her.. We walk around the corner to a liquor store /
deli called Morris’ Deli..

We grab what has to be one of the best roast beef sandwiches I have ever had.. You just roll in tell the guy what we wanted on our sandwich, grab a bag of
chips and a soda and take a seat.. We try and pay before we get our food, but the guy tells us “You can pay us after you decide if you like it or not”..
Amazing stuff.. Grab a bottle of Bourbon, and head back to the Pie place..

Sheila gets some ice cream and I get some cherry cheesecake, both of which were absolutely wonderful.. Then it was time to check out the zoo.. It was
pretty damn cold that day, and I am pretty sure there were less than 20 people at the small zoo the entire day.. The Louisville Zoo wasn’t very big
compared to the NC Zoo, but it still had some cool exhibits.. Many of the animals weren’t out though since it was right above freezing.. It took no more
than 3 hours to get through the whole place..


Linus.. He was about to get fed when he came leaping out of the water..

After the zoo we grab some coffee at a different Henie Brothers, and check out the zoo photos.. While there we ask the dude at the counter if he has any
suggestions for dinner.. He suggests the place around the corner Ramsi’ Cafe on the World.. This turned out to be the best meal that we had while on the
entire trip.. I would strongly recommend this place to anyone heading to Louisville.. I had the “Pork, Port and Pears”.. Incredible meal.. It was super
packed, and it was only a Wednesday.. That always is a good sign..

While there Garrets sister calls and we head down to Cahoots for a “few” drinks.. We roll in and immediately sit down and yack with this guy John who
works there and we end up talking for forever.. Finally we meet up with the rest of the locals and proceed to get wasted.. About 3am we finally decide
it’s time to head back to the hotel.. John was right on the money we walk up to the front and he says “Hey you guys are STILL here?” .. He calls a cab for
us which took no more than 30 seconds to show up.. Our final farewell to Cahoots was of John saying “I’ll see you kids down at the Jackpot in Raleigh
sometime!”..

Categories: Travel Tags:

Into the great wide open.. Tuesday..

January 28th, 2006 Comments off

Tuesday we pretty much planed on just going to the Speed Museum. First we went out in search of some kinda local food.. We found this awesome place called TC’s Sandwich Shoppe on Market Street downtown..
Great little place..

We then went to the museum.. It had a rather interesting collection of all kinds of art.. There was nothing the museum seemed to specialize in.. We then
took a stroll through the old neighborhood in downtown..

We went to this place near there which I forgot the name of and had some Jamacian Hummus and pita chips.. Yummy stuff.. We went to The Back Door which
reminded me a bit of Snookers.. Nothing to interesting happened Tuesday..

Categories: Travel Tags:

Into the great wide open.. Monday

January 28th, 2006 Comments off

That morning we got up and drove down Bardstown.. First stop Krispy Kreme.. By the photos we took you
would think that we didn’t have them in North Carolina.. Fun times..

We stopped at the big cemetery on Bardstown where some of my family members from 5 generations back are buried.. We aimlessly wander around the cemetery
for probably 2 hours.. The grave markers are amazing for most of the deaths in the early 1800s since that was when Louisville had tons of money.. Huge
obelisks, ornate trees with logs for the children.. Busts of folks on top of shrines.. Moseleums with wonderful stained glass..

Colonel Sanders is also burried in this cemetery.. We saw many names on the more elaborate gravestones / memorials.. These names would be seen all over
Louisville the rest of the trip.. Street names, plaques, building names, etc..

We go to Indiana to a “park” to look at the Louisville Skyline but it turns out to be little more than a few benches and we quickly head back to
Kentucky.. We roll up to the Louis (Not who Louisville was named for) and Clark memorial, see some bums drinking some sorta clear liqor in the cold ass
windy weather look at the Ohio River and get back in the car in search of warm food..

We stop at this Irish Pub on Bardstown called Maggie Malones for a super late lunch, and proceed to gorge ourselves on beer and pub food.. We are stuffed
by this point and take a short nap.. After some more aimless driving around we head back to the only Thai place we have seen in town, but it turns out to
be more like Thai/Chineese/Vietnamese place.. They have pho, sweet and sour chicken, phad thai and shrimp toast.. Nothing too fancy..

We head down the street to Cahoots.. This place turns out to be the Louisville twin of the JP.. There are a ton of similarities.. The baby pictures on the
bar.. The green and burgundy color scheme.. The rope lights on the bar.. Hanging smoke.. Same crowd.. We play a few games of pool and after getting
smoked out we decide to leave..

We head back to Cumberland Brews and have a few more before heading back to the hotel.. At Cumberland Brews they have coasters that everyone writes on, so
we decide to fill out a few with Raleigh related stuff..

Categories: Travel Tags:

Into the great wide open.. Sunday..

January 28th, 2006 Comments off

Sunday we wake up and Sheila had the name of a breakfast / diner we were told to check out called the
Twig and Leaf on Bardstown road.. At first we are concerned that eating lunch at noon on a Sunday will be a problem with the church crowd.. Once we
arrive we realize its not a problem and wait only a few minutes to get a seat.. Sheila had the pancakes, and I got some cheese eggs, rye toast, and twig
taters.. Sheila ranks the pancakes at a 3.5..

We then ventured across the street to the Heine Brothers Coffee shop and have a cup a joe.. It starts to rain.. and rain.. and rain.. and rain.. Its
pretty cold so we decide to just go and look for a hotel somewhere around the Bardstown road area.. It seems pretty cool and like where we mostly will
want to spend time..

Pretty much hotel options in that area were either downtown, or out by the airport.. We had a coupon for this place called the Airport Inn.. 39.99 a
night.. We also were pretty pooped from driving around and just wanted to get a hotel to relax.. The pouring rain wasn’t helping.. When we pulled up there
were pretty much no cars in this place, but against my better judgment I went on in.. I walked in and saw a guy watching TV barefoot.. He looked at me and
said “Can I help you?”, to which I said, “Yeah I want to get a room”.. So I get a room from this lovely barefoot man and Sheila and I head up to the
“room”.. The longer I walk around this hotel the scarier it looks.. There was a sign on the door when we walked up “Please pardon the mess while we
re-model”, but that really didn’t cover what we were about to see..

First we walked by the pool which was completely drained, and had a bunch of holes in the bottom of it.. It sort of reminded me of what would be left over
from somone throwing a grenade in the pool.. The concrete walkways around the hotel had most of the paint chipped off, and also were pitted as though
someone had been attacking them with a sledge hammer.. I kept telling myself “The room will be OK even if the rest of the hotel looks like shit”.. Wrong..
We walk in and there are muddy footprints on the carpet.. The lights don’t work.. The sink is dripping and also clogged.. It is however draining very
slowly (onto the carpet below).. How lovely.. There is no state of Kentucky sign on the back of the door like you see in any LEGAL hotel stating the
average rates, your legal rights etc.. After about 30 seconds I go back and talk to my lovely barefoot friend at the counter, and after a few attempts
from him to persuade me to “Try another room” I get my money put back on my credit card and we get a real hotel with running water and electricity..
Lovely place this Airport Inn.. I would strongly recomend against it..


Check out the footprints on the floor!

After a very long nap the rain is still coming down.. We finally decide to leave the comforts of the new hotel room and see what there is to grab for
dinner that night.. We drive up and down Bardstown a bit looking for something promising.. We go to a place called Cumberland Brewery.. I get a
Bison/Buffalo Burger and Sheila gets this awesome salad with Bleu Cheese, slivered almonds, apple slices, mixed greens, blackened chicken and some other
stuff.. We also tried their local brews.. I had a Red and a Porter.. Sheila some Pilsners that night.. The rain was still coming down when we headed back
to the hotel room and got some much needed sleep.. We also got a phone call from Garrets sister Valarie and we decided we would try and meet up later in
the week sometime..

Categories: Travel Tags:

Into the great wide open.. Saturday..

January 25th, 2006 Comments off

So Sheila and I headed off last Saturday for Louisville, KY.. I had been there a few years back with
my folks and it seemed like a pretty happenin’ place that wasn’t a huge expensive city.. I also was blown away by the architecture.. The french influence
here is very obvious.. If the Fleur-De-Le (I am sure I misspelled that) on the Louisville Metro Govt logo wasn’t obvious enough.. There was a neighborhood
that still has gas lights everywhere for example.. Of course since I was with the rents I didn’t get to really explore it like I wanted, so it required a
return trip..

Before we headed off I asked Garret to get me some information on what there is to do in Louisville.. Thanks to Garrets sister Sheila and I located the
Jackpots Twin.. Cahoots which I will talk about in another blog in a day or two..

So at any rate back to the trip.. I had driven through Charleston, WV many times, and always had wanted to stop and look at the capital building, but I
never had.. The capital building you can normally see from I77 when you blaze through town as just this standard capital looking buiding complete with a
dome.. This one seemed extra large for a state government and also is complete with a GOLD dome.. Craziness.. I finally stopped, got over my fears of
inbred hicks, and decided to check it out.. It was MUCH larger than it seemed from the interstate.. It also was wide open for anyone to just wander
around.. it seemed quite over the top much more so than most government buildings.. We were trying to get up into the upper balcony of the dome, but we
never were able to figure out how to get up there.. We did find out that the doors allowing access to the roof were unlocked and we wandered on the roof
for a little bit.. Check out some of the ornate details of the capitol building..


Capitol Building with the sun setting


The inside of the dome

We also walked by the river that runs through the capital city and saw a number of pairs of stairs that run down into the water.. Neither Sheila or I
could figure out what exactly they were for, or where they went..

Most likey they were used when the river was at a different level.. I seem to have remembered West Virgina flooding from time to time, so it makes sense
why the river had what looked to be some level of flood controls around it too..

Andrews girlfriend Alison gave us the suggestion of a 24 hour diner in Charleston called the Southern Kitchen.. It wasn’t bad, and I suggest you check
Sheilas blog for more details, but this was the first place on the “Pancake tour of America”..

Finally after a much needed meal and trek around a very secure West Virgina capitol complex we got back on the road.. 1030 or so we get to the river city
or derby city.. I have seen this place referenced as both names so I am not sure which to call it.. Either way we stopped at some shitty sports bar to get
our bearings.. We then got a hotel and headed to Frankfort Street Beer Depot.. This place was suggested by a co-worker of Sheilas.. It was a parallel of
Sadlacks in Raleigh.. The beer was inexpensive and good.. We tried to play pool but the local drunk pretty much quelled that.. We watched him fall over at
least twice.. He kept trying to get in on our pool game, and wanted to bet his leather jacket.. Each time the value changed.. First it was 250 bukcs, then
150.. Who cares.. The final straw was this lovely exchange:

Drunk Dude: Whats your name?
Me: Bob..
Drunk Dude: Hey Bob.. {hick} What would you do if someone had a gun and blew their brains out..
Me: Uhh.. I think I would be a bit bothered by it..

Then he tried to go to the womens bathroom and fell over a stool into the door.. Classy.. He was shortly kicked out of the place and probbably passed out
in the parking lot.. I wasn’t worried about him driving I don’t think he could have been able to start a car..

Anyway that was day one, and it only took 9 hours to get here not including hte hour or so stop over in Charleston.. Average cruising speed of 80 sure
does help.. The West Virginians also jacked up the tolls to 2 bucks a stop since last time I was here.. I guess times are getting tougher for em..

More to come…

Categories: Travel Tags: