Letting good times roll

Buck (still jealous he has a Wiki and I don't) comes down to play in WNC every once in a blue moon.  I never seem to be able to coordinate with him... but now that I'm off every other week, it should be able to happen... right?

Come to find out he was swinging in to meet up with a bunch of folks in Brevard.  This past Saturday evening.  Which means we could only have a play date on Sunday before I returned to the mines.

"What time do I need to get to Brevard?"

"The shuttle is loading up at 10:00AM."

Followed by "heart-eyes poop emoji" and also "big heart emoji."

So buenos.  Dick gets to sleep until until 6:40AM or so.

Fifteen minutes later...

"Update 8:30 here."

You see, the problem is...

We just got a foster dog back in the house after a specialist had a look at her.  She's going to be staying with us until they raise enough money for her heart surgery.  The good news is that she's not ded.

The "bad" news is we have to settle back into a "routine" with a very energetic, large, insecure puppy.  That means when I get up at 5:00AM, the rest of the house probably will to... unless I sleep on the couch... and the dogs sleep in the bed (instead of her in the cage which we've only successfully done one night so far)... and the dogs have to share the foot of the bed... which they'd never been good at.

The last time she stayed here, The Pie slept most nights on the couch with her just to keep the peace.

So there I am, on the couch at 10:00PM by myself, staring into space because although I've slept poorly the previous two nights, the neighbors are partying, and I can't get the thumping music out of my head.  And the overwhelming Cameron Frye feelings...  but I know I'll regret not going... so I'm cursing my own personal Ferris Bueller.

I hate driving.  I also hate driving alone more.  I also also hate missing out on "once in a lifetime opportunities the most.

The Pie had to toss Boppit out of the bedroom at about 1:30AM, and then he joined me in that disturbing way that he does in times like these, thinking he's a forty five pound Chihuahua that needs to dive under the covers every hour or two.

5:00AM comes and my fitful night of sleep is rewarded with Pop Tarts and coffee, and I almost slip out of the house an hour later... before Leela starts her first barking of the day.

Fortunately, when I pulled up the the meet up spot, I was not disappoint.  There was plenty of action going on, and instead of driving all the way from Charlotte to join some locals on a ride... and have to wait an hour for them to be ready, these yinzers were on point.  It wasn't long before eleven bikes and eleven people were headed up to some place way higher up in the air to get dropped off.

No mountain pizza because I gave my joining this ride a 50/50 chance.  I was ill-prepared.  Dammit.  I will argue that a QT sausage/egg/cheese on a croissant is a solid second.  Croissants don't flake apart like a biscuit or stick between your teeth like a wrap.  Pretty sure sausage can be unrefrigerated for a week before it goes to the bad.

#shirtlessclubformen

Dave being style-ee.

Stubbie being stubbie.

Amelia plain sending it.

No idea who this person is, but I'm now more familiar with who I want to be when I grow up.

Rhodo hung with us all day long.  Almost 7,000 feet of down and close to 4,000 feet of up.  The question has been answered.  He is a good boy.

So pleased that I woke up and made the drive.  I rarely ride with that many people who are way beyond me in terms of skill level.  Some of them tried to climb the stairs at the top of Clawhammer and the ones past the Buckhorn Gap Shelter.  I couldn't keep most of them anywhere close to in sight on the descents.  Not.  Even.  Close.  Hopping and jumping and playing and having a grand old time whilst I felt like the jaded curmudgeon hanging off the back.  I couldn't do my hard charge on the climb to get over the top and start down to get photos thing... so the images are quite lacking.  I couldn't see getting ahead and missing out on the social hour at the top of every descent just to catch some blurry images of people I hardly ever see.

Sadly, I had to part ways and head back to Charlotte while everyone else was high-fiving and beer drinking and settling if for a week of gnarr shredding.

Chocolate milk and Coke for supper on the way home with no side of FOMO.  Thanks for the invite, Buck AKA "anonymous" in the comment section.