NC/SC - The Beginning

I promised ages ago to blog about my time at NC/SC. Life got hectic, shit happens (not the hasher), yadda yadda yadda. So now it's time to regale you with tales from the trail.

After getting up ridiculously early in the morning on that Thursday to be freshly showered yet still bleary-eyed for my Super Shuttle driver, I arrived at SFO. There was actually a queue to check in for First Class. What the heck? I thought if you were first class the point was you didn't have to wait like the rest of the lemmings. Well, it's good to get your dreams shattered early in the weekend so then the blow is softened later if anything else doesn't live up to expectations.

Hopped on my 6:35am flight (ugh) and made myself comfortable in my nice wide leather seat. I'm rather certain I sat there with the smug look of satisfaction I normally see on the faces of those in first class as they watch the peons parade past into coach. Since they normally board the airplane from the rear of the aircraft, wouldn't it be nicer if they didn't board the 1st class folks until last? That way the rest of us don't have to see what we are missing. Anyway, promptly started with a Baileys and coffee. Mmmm...feeling better already. Here are some shots looking back at SF from the plane:


And one more when the sun was actually rising:



Had a nice chat with the gent sitting next to me as we both proceeded to drink the entire flight to Charlotte. All in all an uneventful flight - just the way I like them!

Arrived in Charlotte and had a bit of time before my next flight. Decided to go find High Balls and No Hose from Nipples. Didn't know either of them, but we were going to be on the same flight from Charlotte to Savannah so figured I'd track them down. Managed to find them (gotta love hash shirts!) and we headed to the bar for a beverage. Then it was time to hop on our flight. Those poor shmucks had to sit in the back while I hopped back into First Class and had another gin and tonic on the short hop to Savannah.

We were met at the airport by the GM of Savannah which was great. After a quick stop at his house to pick up the bar for the weekend, we headed out to Sherwood Plantation in Hardeeville, South Carolina. This is where we'd be spending the weekend. Being the first folks there HB, NH and I scouted out the best spot for our tents and set them up. We then borrowed the car to make a beer run because we were a bit thirsty after all that work.

Now Hardeeville is really about as small as it sounds. We headed up to the local gas station to get some beer. Cue dueling banjos. We purchase our beer, a little cooler and some ice. It just so happens that right next door is a fireworks store. Now, living in Cali for the past 6 years kinda makes you forget that other places in the country sell fireworks. So we crack open our cans of Bud Light and walk on in. Only in the South can you have an open beer in one hand and purchase an M80 with the other! I should have had my camera with me. The boys picked up some nice sets of fireworks for later in the weekend and we headed back to the plantation.

A bit later we were driven back into Savannah as we were going to spend the night there. We stopped at one pub to pick up a couple other Florida hashers - Ear Muffs and Wrong Hole. The crew headed to another pub where we got some grub and continued drinking. Then we found a hotel and just hung out there. A side note - NH has the biggest good ol' boy accent you have EVER heard. I'm not sure where he came up with that, but man it is thick! Well, those of you who know me know how quickly I pick up accents when I'm around them. By the time we hit the hotel you would have thought I was originally from the South. Thanks NH! Originally we were going to have two rooms - HB, NH and myself in one with EM and WH in another. NH and I had made a pact about sharing a bed as HB refused to share one with NH. As HB was falling asleep he told the girls we might as well all just share a room. Now, I'm generally fine w/ sharing a room with folks, but was exhausted from a long week at work, knew I wasn't going to be getting any sleep the rest of the weekend and frankly was feeling a bit old to share a hotel room with 4 other people. So I went and got my own room. It was worth every penny at that point! NH ended up joining me (not like that y'all!) so we shared this giant-ass king sized bed.

The next day the 5 of us went to breakfast and then decided to head to the plantation. Well, WH and EM had driven up in a little two door car. Someone gets the genius idea that all 5 of us, plus our luggage/camping gear can make the 20-30min drive to the plantation. So we have the two small women in the front and the two guys over 6' plus me in the back. Talk about a freaking clown car!

Since three of us already had our stuff set up we were free to immediately start drinking. We finished the beer we had and by that time the beer truck along with Shit Happens had appeared. Ah, a glorious site! The beer truck that is. Does anyone really want to see Ron Jeremy before noon? (Love ya SH!) Anyway, we wiled away the afternoon drinking beer, single malt, etc. as more and more folks arrived. Got to see some familiar faces which was pleasantly surprising - Chippendale, Sperm Burp, Ganja Man, etc. When we checked in we got our kick-ass giveaways. I was really impressed with our name tags and rugby jerseys! Ok, maybe they mean more to me since I used to play, but I thought they were fabulous! After dinner (and man the food was impressive!) we were playing 3man. NH went down early...actually puking as we were sitting there playing. Poor form young one. Poor form. He passed out in his tent, but we were able to rally him before the hash that night.

Late in the evening we started the Shooting Star hash. Basically you stumble from check to check and at each is a different shooter. I somehow got the genius idea that until Scrum Muffin flew in, I was going to be drinking for two. By the time Scrummy arrived I was rat-arsed! I think I even let NH do a body shot at one point. Drunken punken! I do remember helping Scrummy set up her tent around midnight. Personally I find that rather impressive - it's midnight, pitch black, I'm wasted and we still manage to set up the porn star tent.

Finally around 3am or so I realize just how out of it I am and after drinking some water I go pass out in my tent. I don't know how long people went on that night. There could have been a fire and I don't think I would have woken up.

In the interest of this not turning into the world's longest posting, I'll save Sat and Sunday for another post. Stay tuned!

Episode One was brought to you by the letter D and the number 81.