Friday morning Bernie had enough of the pollen-laden insect mortuary that was the Z and gave it a wash.
Shiny!
 Grabbed breakfast at the lodge, got checked in for ZDayZ, then figured Why not do the Poker Run? And I'm glad we did - that resulted in us getting a nicely directed tour of the Cherohala Skyway, Tail of the Dragon and other roads. The Poker Run itself was a fairly straightforward version, much unlike Mad Mike's, according to Bernie - I've never done one of his, or any others, for that matter. The weather was BEAUTIFUL for our cruise through the mountains, and Bernie's recent suspension upgrades paid off quickly, not to mention the newly-installed suede-covered seats. And to all who have asked, believe it or not, he actually DID press down that pedal on the right with some force. ;-) The upside to not driving my own car is that I was free to go nuts with the camera, which I did. Here are a few shots from the drive: 
At a Poker Run stop - that's Sawbonez doin' the Macarena, there:
 
We actually got over 5,000 feet on the Cherohala Skyway. I realize that ain't nothin' but a prairie dog condo to the CO guys, but out here, that's pretty exciting. Hey, our ears popped! That's some serious altitude. ;-) "This should be Adam!" - nicely done red 'vert
 
Brilliant!
 Our informal Poker Run group:
 Sawbonez's nice white Z:
 
Stop at the Chilhowee Dam:
 
Don't mess with the yellow shirts!
 The end point for the Run was at the base of Fontana Dam, where the group shot for ZDayZ was to be taken a couple hours later. That's all fine except that, being about the fifth car in, we didn't want to give up our prime photoshoot position and so ended up starving ourselves and dreaming of someone smart enough to set up a dogs-n-burgers stand there. :-P Dam impressive:
 Look for this new turbo in Bernie's upcoming Classifieds listings:
 Complete with BOVs, I kid you not:
 There was a mighty impressive photo of those venting to the atmosphere, and we understood then why the bank across from them was covered in small boulders as seen here:
 This color arrangement was NOT helping with the hunger situation!
 And this one just makes me want to stand up and salute! Or... something.
 
Holding onto our spot paid off when we got to lead the whole line of Zs outta there:
 Hanging out in front of the Rec Hall, waiting for dinner, I got to finally meet this character:
Tim, it was truly a pleasure! =) And Brett, you as well. Nice Z!
 Crazy shirt contest - our Poker Run buddy Garreth gave it a good shot, but no one could really compete against the stylin' guy in the red velvet shirt with martini glass buttons. And he wore it with such panache, as one must do when sporting such... special attire.
 My poker hand won me nothing, which I insist makes it worse than the worst poker hand, which won its holder something. Bernie's sucky poker hand won him some detailing products. The leather cleaner will be particularly useful now... ;-P BSing in the parking lot afterwards, where I met Z1's John:
 Nice setting for an event. Seriously.
 Out came the gas-powered blender, and then the fun begained! ;-)
 People followed that truck as if it were the Pied Piper and ended up converging on Z1's cabin. Whatever else people say they can or can't do, those Z1 boyz sure know how to throw a party! Russell kept the groove going while Skylar entertained the masses with his fake English accent and Muppet dancing. I KNOW that boy was hurtin' the next day, but it was definitely worth learning how to properly rrrrroll my rrrrrs. ;-) Glad I wasn't in line of the flying objects, though! ... Eric, how did your friend's recording come out? 8)
You don't have to live in a bubble just because someone else caught the flu. Make your decision on your ability to trust yourself. - NytWolf 15:49:05 12/17/06
I was previously a aviation mechanic and avionic technician and this car is harder to work on than Aircraft. - Hocuz77 03:04:56 02/28/06 |
