Colossal Earth-Shaking East-West Blogger Meet-up!

l-r: me and him

Fixer and I have been friends with deuddersun for years through our blogs and now on Facebook. His real name is Chris (no last names, man). He was Out West Here to rescue his lovely daughter Melissa from a notorious cult - UCBerkeley - and when we figured out he was bookin' it back to Philly on I-80 and would pass a mile from my house, even us two dumb ol' Jarheads realized it was an opportunity we better not pass up.

As luck would have it, they booked a room for the night about three blocks from my house, so we basically never got off the block. They were driving a Penske truck and towing a trailer (think climbing the Sierra Nevada at 38MPH. Yawn.) so we went and picked them up and Chris took us to dinner at our local Young Gentlemen's Drinking & Fighting Establishment. It was a nice quiet evening there except for football on about 20 TVs, so the brass knuckles stayed in our pockets.

Side note: Usually our pups ride in the back seat of our Tacoma, and figuring that Chris and Melissa wouldn't want to curl up like they do, I reconfigured the dilithium crystals to accommodate human beings. It was a special occasion so I even Febrezed!

Chris is one fast-talkin' city slicker and charmed our waitress into taking these pictures. Offering to up her tip from the usual 50¢ didn't hurt. She was a jewel of a young lady.

l-r: Chris, Melissa, Mrs. G, moi

After dinner (Philly cheesesteaks in honor of Chris's hometown) we went over to my house and visited for a while and, both of us being motorcyclists, toured the World's Most Exclusive Motorcycle Museum (my garage).

I drove our honored guests back to their digs and we visited there for a while and I was administered a special glaucoma treatment.

The hour was getting late and they had a lot of miles to cover the next day so the time came to part. Chris walked me outside and we smoked 'n joked for a bit and we parted ways. I went over to where I had parked the truck and ... no truck. I figured out pretty quick, considering the glaucoma treatment, that Chris had walked me out the door on the other end of the joint from the one we went in by. Tried to fool Pierre! Gotta watch out for these big city guys! Heh.

We had a great time. These kind of opportunities don't come along very often and I think we're both glad we took advantage of it. I felt like I was seeing an old friend I hadn't met before. I look forward to the next time.