I was the first to arrive. If I had been anxious or stressed out this could have bothered and in the past in probably would have. You see there were 2 rooms reserved in our "lovely" hotel. None of the two were reserved by me as I had to not committed to this trip until about 10 days prior. So I made a call and got a status report. Two of the attendees were a good 2-3 hours out, one of which had a room in his name. The other room reservee was in plane somewhere between Texas and South Carolina not set to arrive until the 6 o'clock hour. Keep in mind it was just past 4. So after taking care of my bladder and finding something to assuage my hunger I began a text in search of the only other guy who was in the Charleston area. A man I had gotten to know over a 3 year period and whom I had not seen since the Fall of 2008 when he graced us with his presence at a cross country race in this very city in which we were about to embark upon. As if by osmosis, the phone began to ring. I waited a few rings as I had just finished purchasing some food. I picked it up as I walked out the door. To make a long story short, he had turned in his rental car earlier that day and had been stuck at the airport since before noon. He needed a ride. I hesitated only slightly as I had just finished a 500 mile drive not but 20 minutes earlier. What else was I going to do? Sit in the hotel lobby to myself for 3 hours. So I hopped in the car again and drove the short distance over to the airport. As drove slowly through the terminal area I pulled over to the side. Thinking that I had found my man. It was not to be so. Just another bearded young fellow with short black hair. I eventually found my guy and we preceded away. The conversation began with pleasantries and just catching up on our current statuses. Reminiscing soon followed and stories began on all the guys that had passed out way over the years we shared together on the LMC campus. If you weren't there at LMC for these people than it will mean little to you, but if you were there even if for a few short months. These people will be etched inside your minds for eternity. Quirky does not even begin to describe the people we encountered while on the mountainous campus. Any story that was retold to the maximum degree and even when you thought you had heard it all. A new plot line (usually not completely true but entirely plausible ones) would be developed and the conversations would continue. Mimicking others for whom we had known and imagining the things that they would say. No one was off limits in this, especially those that were not part of our party of 5.
We arrived back at the hotel. It was 5 o'clock. We meandered over to the hotel lobby and plopped down into a couple of chairs and continued the conversation, making up for lost time. It was said at some point by some body that it was good to see that nobody had really changed that much in 3 years and how that was a good thing. I couldn't have agreed with that more. It is nice to know that how ever much the world changes around you that some of your closest friends are still as you remember them. About an hour and a half had passed when we got the message that "Texas" had arrived in South Carolina and was awaiting a four wheeled vehicle to come pick him up. We confirmed with our North Carolina travelers of their ETA and made the decision to go get "Texas," as they were still a good 30 minutes out. So back to the airport I went. This time the company was doubled with a man we will call "Fedora." As he was sporting a sweet hat of that style that he had purchased while visiting one of our old compadres on the Left Coast. We found our companion and the party had reached 60% attendance. More stories were swapped and the voice mimicking reached new heights as we proceeded back to the hotel. The laughs were coming in more frequent intervals now as I listened and laughed as my 2 passengers battled each other to see who could make the others laugh more. We arrived at the hotel at the exact same time as the North Carolina duo. More voice mimicking occurred and the oneupsmanship of how crazy the mimics could get would only escalate as the night was beginning. It was 7pm.
After the rooms were divided up. We decided to get a bite to eat at a fine local establishment. You know the ones where you order your food and you have it 2 minutes later with halfway cooked cheese and pickles when you say you wanted just cheese on your burger. Yeah that kinda place. The greasy quality of the food started to settled into our stomachs as the reminiscing continued. Greasy food would be a continuous theme over the next 36 hours. We made a stop at a nearby gas station to pick up "supplies." And headed back to the hotel to begin the nights festivities. Every one was in a good mood and ready to party. Some were a little more cautious in nature, but no one was spoiling anyone elses fun. It had been so long since we all had been together. I think we all came to an unspoken agreement to have as much fun as possible and put all current/past issues behind us. The mood was light and festive as the "games" began. After a couple hours and many trips to the bathroom. The decision was made to venture into the city. The wise decision was made to call a cab/van/taxi to come pick us up as it was a good 15 minutes to drive. After a few minutes, a van had arrived and we piled in. The van windows were cracked open, allowing a nice cool breeze to be blown in. I couldn't tell you what time we rolled out onto the streets of Charleston and at this point I couldn't care less. We walked along Meeting St. in search of a place to settle in and have a good time. The first place we stopped at asked for a small cover fee and we quickly turned that down and preceded next door to a place that was free of charge and had some sweet music pouring out onto the street. Easy choice. We strolled in and took a seat at a table not far from where the band was playing and placed our orders with the server. After everyone had placed their orders. "Specialty" drinks were ordered. You know the ones you consume in about 0.3 seconds. Yeah those drinks. The band continued to play. Mixing in some old school stuff that really got me excited and pumped for the evening. After awhile, more rounds were consumed, the trips to the bathroom became more frequent, and more "specialty" drinks were ordered ending with one that would put hair on your chest and tasted a little like animal urine only if animal urine burned like you know what and made your stomach turned inside out. Heck may be thats what animal piss does anyways. Point is, is that it was gross and a good one to end the night on. At this point, details started to become hazy. I remember picking up the bill for my portion of the rounds, that rent in Charleston was $700, and that it was time to move to a different location. So we walked across the street to a place where the other guys had landed. Turns out we ate at this place the next night for dinner. I say turns out because like I said details were hazy on this night at the memory recall was slow to react upon things. After we hung around for what was probably half an hour. "Texas" and I discovered a local pizza joint that was serving massive pizza by the slice as well as whole pizzas if you so desired. I recalled a tip from my dear ole mother from the other night where she told me that after consuming "drinks" that it is a wise idea to put some food in the stomach. I was happy to oblige this, and was well aware of this tip, and stood in line for a few minutes to grab a slice. Side note: what a genius idea placing a pizza parlor right next to all the bars and staying open to all hours of the note to feed the bar patrons as they close down for the evening. I consumed most of the ginormous pepperoni slice as "Fedora" called our cab and we headed back to North Charleston.
As 3 out of our 5 compadres did not get the pizza. They decided that it was a good idea to go to the Waffle House which was just across the street from our hotel. At this point I was probably more tired than anything else as I had been up for about 20 hours or so at this point. I ordered a glass of water as the others waited on and then consumed their food. I, intermittently would put my head down trying desperately to catch some much needed zzz's. After awhile, too long for a fast food type of diner, we strolled back across the street and crawled into our beds. One night complete in Charleston with more in store the following night.
Day 2 in Charleston will be brought to you in a 3rd and final segment as again I have spared no expense on the details of this trip.
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