...in Manchester was the lunch spot of choice for me and Brendan earlier today. We picked it because we would be meeting with some of the other shooters, for the Northeast Bloggershoot, there for dinner this evening and I figured we ought to at least do a drive by to be able to easily find it for dinner. We not only drove by, we stopped there for lunch. Brendan had a half a rack of ribs and I had a combo lunch plate of BBQ'd pulled pork and beef brisket. Brendan wolfed it down as if it was the last meal the planet. me, well I ate the pulled pork pretty ravenously but only took one bite of the brisket. It was dry as a bone that spent the last ten years in the Mojave sunshine. All the waitress wanted was to get paid, she did not ask how was our meal nor about the pile of brisket left untouched except for one small piece. Oh well..,.
Then back to the hotel for an attempt at a nap. Brendan slept a couple of hours, me ZI tossed and turned much like last night, sleep pretty much eluded me. Tonight, we headed back to KC's Rib Shack. We got there 25 minutes early and sat at the bar for awhile. We each had a Pigs Ear Ale. I thought it was passable, Brendan liked it a lot. About ten to seven, a couple showed up at the bar and mentioned to the barmaid that they were waiting on a group for dinner. I asked if they were waiting on Jay and - yes they were just like us. We only got to introduce ourselves and a waitress came back to let us know our tables were ready upstairs. I paid our bar bill and we headed on up.
While downstairs looked dark and maybe a slight bit dingy, upstairs was much airier and a lot nicer or so I thought and Brendan agreed. Jay was standing at the table when we got upstairs. I recognized him immediately, seen his pictures pretty often on his bog, but I did not recognize any of the other 6 or so folks who were there with him. He made the intros and we grabbed some seats and got to talking. Brendan sat next to Liberty Man (sorry, I am bad at names but remember his nickname) and I sat next to Bryan and next to the couple, on my right, who own the place where we will shoot tomorrow (sorry, I should have the names down by tomorrow). A few more folks showed up and before I knew it there were about 14 of us in all. Dinner, which for me was a Cardiac Sam, was delicious. When the waitress asked, I made sure to let her know that both the meal and the service were better than earlier in the day. She was quite pleased with the compliments. In all, we had a great waitress, really good food and excellent company. I should add there was also some very good brew. When we got upstairs, I changed to an IPA (again, cannot remember the name). It was delicious - much better than the Pigs Ear Ale. Brendan had another Pigs Ear Ale, but this time he had it "bubba sized". It was pretty friggin big but he was not driving so that was okay.
At some point, I guess shortly before we were served, someone pulled a knife out of his or her pocket and tossed it on the table. Somebody else said "Are we playing this game again" and the next thing I knew there were a lot of knives laying in front of me on the table, including the two I had on me - a Victorinox Huntsman (Boy Scout edition without corkscrew - shucks) and a Buck Folding Hunter (the classic one with brass bolsters, wood handles and a 3 3/4" blade). Then some whipped out a camera and took pictures of them all. I mentioned something about throwing a pistol onto the table and someone, I think it was Brian, to my left, immediately said "No, you don't want to that in here" but I was only kidding - really.
Dinner arrived and as I said above, it was an excellent experience, among excellent company. Brendan and I left just after about half the group had taken off. We were both pooped, him regardless of the nap he got at the hotel this afternoon, all because of him spending last night hanging out with his beer drinking buddies. me, I was and am still pooped because I hardly slept last night, either due to me anticipating a cool trip or just due to me not being able to stay asleep for no particular reason I can think of. I am hoping to sleep much better tonight. I have no doubt Brendan will be out like a light pretty soon.
The bloggershoot commences at about 1000 tomorrow morning at a location about 35 miles from our hotel. I am sworn to secrecy, well not rally, but it is obvious that they do not want the location blabbed about. You won't get it out of me!
Will fill you in on how the shoot went sometime soon.
All the best,
Glenn B
