I woke up some time at night to a terrible noise and thought, "What the hell are those noisy jack-wads next door doing now?" only to realize that it was just very heavy rain on the camper. I suppose I have a tendency to always think the worst.
After a little bit of tossing and turning, I got up and as quietly as I could figured out how to make coffee. Mark and Susan's trailer is really nice (nicer than some homes I've been in), but it only has a few outlets. I was a bit worried about blowing a breaker somewhere. Coffee was successfully made, allowing a quiet start to the morning.
Poking around online I saw several pictures posted on FaceBook by coworkers who had gotten together. There was a brief FOMO, until I realized that I almost certainly would not have gone anyway. And motorcycling to Michigan to hang out with Mark was much more worthwhile than (inevitably) talking shop. I have to admit that I continue to find the old-guy work/friend/not relationships utterly vexing.
After the day got going we went down to the camping lot auction. The campground was much bigger than I thought it was, and it was an interesting group of people there. It was obvious there were groups of people who had camped there for quite some time. There were also quite a few faces which showed years of hard living.
Eventually the auction got going and once it did it went pretty fast. Susan's name was called fairly early and Mark was able to get their first choice for camping spots as well as a good nearby option for a boat dock. Score!
It was cold and still quite wet, so we decided not to go back out on the boat. It was a few minutes to tidy up the trailer and the boat before we headed back to the house. On the way I had Mark stop by the actual dam. For an earthen dam, it is really large. I was surprised how calm the water looked below the dam as usually the water near power stations looks like a boiling teapot. But the electric station runs in peak mode, meaning it may not have actually had much flow when I was there.
Once back at Mark and Susan's, Mark finished fixing the Acura from the previous day and then we went out on the bicycles for a bit. I am still amazed at how nice the tracks-to-trail paths are for biking with almost no hills so that even the wind on the way back wasn't too bad. It is nice that there are so few other people as well.
The day got later and it was time to head to Chrisapalooza. When we got to Chris' shop, our old boss John was there. Assuming he was just arriving, I just waved, but it turned out he was on his way out and I didn't get a chance to talk to him which was a major bummer. I was a bit surprised he didn't stay for a few more minutes as well, but I suppose he may have had other things as well.
Most people were behind the shop. There were a few people I knew and a few more that I recognized. It was fun with a lot of car-oriented talk. Chris' Alfa Romeo 4C was pretty incredible as was a Miata with a really well-done supercharger setup.
Happy 50th Chris.
As it started to get later in the day it became time to head back to Susan and Mark's and call it a day.
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