Posto Ghosto

We’d been having a lot of rain lately, but lucky for us; things cleared out and the sunshine came in – and came in with a vengeance.  Friday wound up being near 90 and mid-to-high humidity – so much so that I actually put my main AC unit in to cool the house off for the arriving guests.  They were pretty warm by the time they arrived but between the shade from the trees and the beerfreshments in the cooler, they were soon comfortably settled in.

A few of the locals stopped in to catch up with us but most of the party was going to meet us at the Eagle Brook for dinner.  (We weren’t able to do Chickie Flynn’s this year due to the Volbeat & Metallica concert going on at the stadium.)

We got caught up and relaxed a bit before heading off for some grub.  Fortunately, Matt had suggested a reservation because that place packs up hard, especially on weekend nights, but his foresight resulted in a nice open swath of real estate waiting for us and we were soon seated and the night was in full swing.

At one point, Lynner asked if she was able to go out on the deck and have a cigarette.  I said I didn’t think so, as I’d never seen anyone out there.  But she asked, and sure enough – we were outside and enjoying the fresh air and sunshine (except for the cigarette smoke).  :-D

We ate and drank and had such a great time that we may have to mix things up between this place and Chickie’s, going forward.  Or maybe we incorporate both, one on one night and one on another.  Time will tell.

When it was time to head back to the house, we got set to go but as sometimes happens when you get a ton of bikes assembled; one of them won’t start.  It was Flex’s bike this time, and we soon had a circle of flashlights illuminating things while we took to removing the seat to check the battery connections.

 

They were fine, so we thought maybe the battery needed a jump (this was its first sojourn of the year).  Flex lived the closest so we shot over there and he grabbed a set of cables from his neighbor.  When we got back, we discovered that they must have been stored outside because the contacts were fully rusted and corroded.  We tried cleaning them up as best we could, but still got no spark off of Aaron’s bike.

Then we got to thinking more; Flex has had problems with his ignition switch before so we took that off.  Everything seemed in order but as soon as he bolted the tank panel back down, the bike came to life.  Ah ha!  So we know that he needs to get in there and clean things up again.

With no more holdups, those of us making it back to the house, made it back safely, and we wiled away the rest of the evening with cards and laughter in the (nice and cool) basement bar.

Ater getting everyone to bed (including a couple of crashers from the Metallica concert who needed some sleeping bags for their car), I thought it'd be a great time to snap a couple of pics...

Managed to catch a little bit of breeze on the flag in this one!

 

Saturday morning dawned too early as usual when hanging around with this crew.  We didn’t have anywhere concrete to be until later in the afternoon so we took our time getting moving and off to breakfast.  After that, we headed back to the house for a bit to get cleaned up, and then headed out for the first stop of the day; Alberto’s for lunch.  Wait – lunch?  But we’d just eaten breakfast about an hour and a half ago.  No worries, those who weren’t hungry just shared apps, while some of us fatties (including myself) managed to eat a full meal again.

 

More friends arrived and we’d soon cornered more than half of the outdoor seating area – never a bad thing.  We also had another breakdown in the parking lot but it wasn’t one of us this time, it was an SUV, and it was a dead battery this time (you can see his hood open in the pic above).  Did anyone have jumper cables with them?  Yep, Cindy did!  She’d thrown a set into her car when she’d gotten home the night before, after the issue with Flex’s bike.  So the SUV was soon on its way and we’d done our good deed for the day.

From there it was off to BOG Iron brewing to see Erin and Rebecca.  We filled the place up pretty tightly and Rebecca invited us all back to the vat and fermentation area to take a group picture.  Too cool!

 

 Zi hadn't arrived yet so it seemed ok to use his mug...for some mugs shots!

A funny side-note; while we were at BOG, a younger guy who used to come to the pig roast happened to come in.  He didn’t recognize me since I was off talking to the NY crew but I overheard the conversation he was having with Mike (who was up from Jersey for the weekend).  The guy said he’d heard the pig roast had been cancelled because there’d been parking complaints from the neighbors and that was why the party wasn’t happening any more.  I didn’t speak up to correct him (the neighbors have always been fantastic and never given me any problems at all), and it was fun to hear a 3^rd party commentary on what rumors were going around

Our last stop was back at the Post for Chrissy’s surprise bridal shower.  We’d had some challenges trying to keep it a secret from her, all while she was hanging out with us, but things came together nicely and she wound up being totally surprised (she and Aaron had gone to the Post from Alberto’s, while we went to BOG.  That allowed them to get the gifts part of the shower out of the way before we crashed things.)

They had some food left over when we got there...all desserts!  Get 'em Zig, get 'em!

 

Somehow, Kevin and Tara wound up in a cake fight...

We hung out at the Post until the daylight was beginning to fade, then headed back to the homestead for another evening of laughter.  This time we had a fire out back until quite late, then those who were still there gathered in the bar for more cards and nonsense.

And speaking of nonsense, Tim...put your hat the right way...

 

The last one down this night was Matt - who opted to turn my house from a 3-bedroom, into a 4-bedroom...sweet, higher property value!

 

Sunday.  Ahh, the dreaded departure, but like all good things; this too must end.  The NY Crew got their things packed up, themselves cleaned up, and then we hit breakfast one last time.  After we’d filled our bellies, we headed out for the obligatory photo in the parking lot, followed by a bit of sadness as McCarthy and I watched them head off toward home.

So…how do I feel about this year with it not being a full-blown Cinco de Roasto?  I feel great!  Much less stress and MUCH less cleanup!

I do miss the Saturday morning adrenaline-fueled race to the pig farm, though.  That shared shredding of the highway, followed by hanging out in the parking lot for them to open - that was always one of my favorite parts of the pig roast weekend.  But it’s ok because we still managed to squeeze a ton of laughter and shenanigans into a small timeframe; less than 48 hours!  That’s right; all that fun we had, was had in less than two days!  (Who has more fun than us?  We do!)

This weekend was fantastic and I can say that I’m rejuvenated about this party once again.  After each of the past few years, I’ve come away feeling burned out and worried that I was pressing my luck with things.  I can honestly say that after this weekend, it was definitely the right decision to move it from what it had been, to something much smaller.

And I can’t wait to do it again next year.

Ride Hard, Take Chances