West Coast Trip April 2010 - Day 19

Nineteen days is one of the amounts of time that I like to travel. Well, three weeks, actually, but who is counting? Oh, right, I am. Anyway, this was my last day. I was trying to keep my mind on the fun I was hoping to have at the Nashville store and not the 9 hour drive I had afterwards through the dark of the night to get home.

The drive from Brownsville TN to Nashville was a zippy two hours. I had had a few communications from a manager named Dani who I had not met on my previous visits to the Nashville, FS.

Have I mentioned that I really hate to pay for parking. I just find something inherently wrong with the notion. There aren't a lot of options around the Nashville Saucer. A large lot behind the building is exorbitant, and I parked there reluctantly. As I was walking in, there was a sign about $3 and parking. I thought that it was $3 off the parking fee. Turns out that, yippee, it is a flat rate parking fee of $3 for patrons! That brightened my mood considerably.

I took two laps around the Saucer looking for an appropriate Augustus seating situation. I ended up on another tall table which, though decent, was still not optimal. I guess, like a few of the other Saucers, I will have to keep going there until I find the perfect seat. Still, this one worked out.

One of the first people I spoke to was the MOD who happened to be the very Dani with whom I had been communicating!



(Dani is on the left and Drea my server is on the right - as one looks at the picture)

She had told me that their top knurd also wasn't coming in that much, but that the one server who still worked there would be starting her shift that afternoon. I had already mentally decided to stay until she came.

I had a fun server named Drea who was very knowledgeable and obviously an old hand. Katie, who was working her second or maybe third shift took the time to chat a little. I also met the great bartender, Holly, who is, sadly, planning a move to Florida!



(Holly on the left, Katie on the right)

A couple other servers were also gracious enough to come chat, sign my calendar and pose for a picture.





Eventually the calendar model came over, signed the calendar and refused to take a picture. What the heck was that? Honestly, if I had known that she wasn't going to take a picture, I wouldn't have asked her to sign the calendar. A signature without a picture is fairly useless, in my opinion. And since it is my calendar, my opinion counts for a lot. :)

I got some food to go, and Drea also provided me with a cup of water to take on the road.

It was a loooong drive. Which I survived. Arriving home, finally, around 3 in the morning.

West Coast Trip April 2010 - Day 18 - Part Two

Thanks to my GPS, my drive to Cordova was mostly scenic.

Got there and after chatting with Kevin, the manager, decided it was best to run errands before settling in to wait for Tom, the top beer knurd.



First, oil change and car wash. And it was a deluxe car wash. Probably worth the price of the oil change! I almost didn't recognize my shiny car.



I had a great chat with a professional poker player and hope to see him at the final table in the World Series of Poker soon!

From there I went to find a stand for my 15th plate - long story - and to have some food at Chili's. Yum!

Back to the Saucer - I sat a pretty decent seat. It might just be "the seat" for that store. Kevin came over a little later and told me that Tom had arrived - along with a whole cadre of his friends - all working fairly diligently on their plates.







I think three or four of them at least are going to the GABF from Cordova! I wonder how many are going from the Raleigh Saucer...

Not much server participation, which was sad - but life is that way sometimes.





I headed out as I wanted to get stopped in time to, sigh, Tanga.

West Coast Trip April 2010 - Summary and Recap

19 days. X (where x is a large number) number of miles. Y (Not that large a number) number of dollars.

Great trip, all things considered. True, I didn't have any great thoughts about what my next job will be, but other than that, it was well worth the time and effort.

During the course of the trip I spent time with 14 friends and family members. Not as many as I had hoped, but I did get to reconnect with a lot of my favorite people!

Also, during the trip, I tasted at least 40 beers in local Brewpubs. I also went to 12 of the fourteen flying saucers. I took a lot of pictures, a few of which were ok. I also took 23 movies, only two or three of which were intentional. I am going to edit the movies all together, someday, and post it. Probably on Facebook. Also a photo album will go up there.

Sadly, I had no epiphany about what to do for a livelihood for the next five to fifteen years. I figure by that time, something else will have shaken loose. I will be married again, the world will have ended, one of my books will have been selected by Oprah. Who knows?!

West Coast Trip April 2010 - Day 18

From Little Rock, or North Little Rock where I slept for the night, to Memphis was a short two hour drive. I found parking about a block away from the Memphis Saucer and wandered in. It was dead! I mean dead! Maybe five tables. Eeek! But no one seemed too concerned about it.



This is their countdown clock for their Thirteenth Birthday!

I ended up sitting at the bar (I know, what a shock!) because the bartender was personable. Two of her sisters came in to eat lunch later and I prevailed upon all of them for a picture!



Kirk, the GM and apparently also the uber manager for the area, was very accommodating. He even gave me a glass from that evening's glass night!



The servers on duty also gamely took their picture with me - and signed my calendar!





Off to Cordova!