Snowfest '07: Night One

So at some point I decided to call my trip north Snowfest. Lame, no doubt, but I got tired of referring to it as "the trip north" or "the roadtrip." It came on the heels of one of the largest Midwest snowstorms in recent memory and it was definitely going to be a fest of some sort, so . . .

I was up early for my flight and the day's travel was smooth and uneventful. I was excited to land in St. Louis because I wanted to test my endurance for the icy blasts that were blowing across the plains. I was surprised to discover that my endurance for the cold has not diminished over the years. It was very cold but I found it bracing. *doffs cap to longjohns and old coat*

I picked up my rental car, which was a Pontiac G6 GT. It's kind of a sporty car but it handled the ice and snow very well. Here's my car, resting in a Champaign parking lot on Friday night.

I made good time zipping up I-55 and arrived in Springpatch mid-afternoon on Thursday. I popped into my folks and unloaded and visited for a few minutes and then darted over to Xochimilco to meet up with some friends. We had a good turnout, though we lost a few who bailed out: Phil had some makeup work due to the snowstorm, Jason couldn't get out of his business dinner soon enough, Craig didn't give a reason, though we suspect he was curled up on the couch watching TV with his g/f and Choooch said he had to workout after he got off of work - wtf?

Anyway, Adam and I got there a little early which was good as it gave us sometime to catch up. I started drinking the 'rita specials right off the bat. Adam ordered a giant burrito and a 23 oz. brew. We were soon joined by Sean and Ryan and then Jeff, Lisa, Chris and Chris' g/f.

It was a pretty good crew and after introductions were made, it turns out several of them knew a lot of the same people. Springfield is actually a pretty small town when you get right down to it. We polished off all of the chips and salsa, ordered some food and booze and were off and running. Sean knocked back a 6-pack of Negra Modelo in short order, Ryan had a beer (he had more work to do that night) and the rest of us shared pitchers of margaritas.


Eventually, Adam, Ryan and Sean all had to leave for various reasons. The best one goes to Sean who ran out to meet his after telling the missus that he'd "be back before CSI starts." He didn't make it.

I was starting to take some grief from Sean and the remaining revelers as I was begging off going to the Trading Post after we left the restaurant. I was tanked after drinking 'ritas for 5 hours, fighting off a cold and beat from a long day on the road. Oh, yeah. And I'm old. :doh!

So stumbled out of Xochimilcos around 9:30 with a buzz, a stuffed belly and an armload of gifts for my new daughter that Jeff and Lisa brought. That would turn out to be a theme for the weekend and in the end resulted in a $25 overweight charge for my luggage.

By the time I made it to my car, the frigid air had re-invigorated me. I dumped my packages in the trunk and made some calls on my phone while standing out in the cold. For a few minutes, I thought I might make it the Trading Post after all, but that quickly passed as I had to remind myself that I still had a full weekend of drinking ahead of me with the pinnacle yet to come on Saturday night. I went home and crashed out hard.

That was day one of Snowfest. More to come.