Afterglow 2009 - Day 1 Saturday

I always drive up to Afterglow. It's not a matter of pride or "being the man of the family", but rather the tradition. I always have, and thus always will. Afterglow is chock full of tradition, which is one of the things that makes it the greatest place on Earth.

Home

I always envisioned Arrrby's a being a Pirate eatery, but today it was a Mexican restaurant. Or at least it was as soon as I walked in the door wearing this sombrero. I got some weird looks, but that means that people weren't down with the sombrero revolution. They will some day. I ate my curly fries and chicken tenders in peace, but just before leaving I made a spectacle of myself. There's this bell at the door that says "ring if you experienced good service today." I rang that bell like I was trying to wake some firemen or warn some school children to evacuate the building, then shouted out "Underlay, Underlay Arriba!" and "Aye Carumba!" loud enough for the entire restaurant to hear.

When we got up to the Pick 'N Save in Eagle River, I wasn't about to take my sombrero off. I don't want to give anything away, but we were planning on wearing these things all week long. And I might as well start doing it now. I had to get used to wearing this thing.

Just when he thought that I had left for good, I psyched him out by coming back home. I thought I had left my sunglasses at my house, but it turned out that I had packed them. So I delayed Afterglow 2009 by about 20 minutes. So I said goodbye again, and we took off.

The first thing we always do when we get there for the week is to move things around. I was first in the cabin, so I turned the geese upside-down. In Cabin #2, everything is either ass-backward or upside-down, so it's only right that our wooden geese are too.

If your name is Kevin McKissick, go ahead and circle September 20, 2009 on your calendar. For that is the day that I first started writing about Afterglow 2009. Everyone else can go ahead and do it too, but Kevin is pookon.com's Historian, and I'm feverishly trying to get this one out to you in record time. On the final page, I will note that date, and Kevin can go back through the records and tell me whether or not I have set a new precedence as to completion of an Afterglow adventure. So we'll see about that one. But this year started just like every one of my travels - say goodbye to Coach Gordon Bombay before heading out of town. Unfortunately he's getting used to it, cause I go on many adventures (as you have seen on this site) and always leave him behind to miss me. This one would not be any different.

To this day, I'll never understand why Arby's uses a cowboy hat as their logo. It must be because they are trying to be a Southwestern restaurant. I think it would look better with a sombrero, but then again everything (even me) looks better with a sombrero.

Walk in coolers are the best, especially when they contain beer. That's one of the reasons why I love this Pick 'N Save. But it wasn't always this good. The Liquor Spot used to be next to the Jaberwocky, but now it has been moved into this store. I started the revolution by myself inside the cooler while getting some PBR.

The car is always packed pretty tight, and we usually only have room for 3 people in there. I barely have room for my suitcase when Jenny and Mom put their matching luggage in the trunk. It gets even worse when we pick up groceries in Eagle River, and put them wherever we can fit them for the 16 miles to Phelps.

Despite paying for the cabin and all of the groceries, Mom was in good spirits because we about to be at Afterglow. She looks forward to this more than any of us because her job is so stressful and she needs this week to kick back and relax.