[at-l] PA RUCK

[kahley7@ptd.net (kahley7)]

Well the Pa Ruck went pretty well.....HA!
Starts out with me realizing that I left the copy of the
schedule that I managed to remember to print out, 
in the printer......

What was that quote  Planning is good but trying to
stick to the plan is foolish?

Basically everything went off more or less on schedule.... give or take <g>.  
Delays didn't seem to do any harm, with the possible exception 
of the pot luck.  Too many_pots_and no_luck_squeezing
them all into the oven.  Problem was, while we knew there was only
one oven, we didn't know there was only one rack in that oven so
bravo to the women who pulled off the miracle of the casseroles.

And bravo to Mara for the cheesecakes.  If we didn't have them to
throw to the mob, wellllll..it was tense.<g>  For the engineers on
the list....a challenge.....figure a way we can suspend a rack under
the existing rack or next year,  or I'm going 'out' for supper <VVVBG>.

The wedding......Red told it well.  I don't do weddings..Even though
Hub's and my wedding was waaay cool, I still would have skipped it if i could, but I
wouldn't have missed this one for the world.  From the singing to
the heckling to the foil crowns at the reception, this was pure cool.

Woodelf....was PERFECT and so were Feelix's vows (except he
left out my suggestion of 'I promise not to fart in the bag').  Jim
and Ginny said that the omission was good because we didn't
want to start them off with vows they couldn't honor, so I yield
to Flexies muse and Spiriteagle wisdom.

I missed the compass presentation.....dagnabbit! (OK Fur?<g>) 
In fact I missed almost everything that was scheduled.   It's no secret 
to some of you that I've been of mixed emotion about the growth and 
changes in the PaRuck.  While it makes sense to have the presentations 
because it is an efficient way to deliver a lot of info to a lot of people,
I worried that it would eat up all the time and space for face to face Rucking.
I've found that isn't necessarily the case.  The mansion has many trails and
rooms and corners and porches and people found spots to get 
caught up with old friends or explain the finer points of "THE GAME"  
or even do some impromptu tucking.  

I'm thinking of an hour on Sunday morning when a dozen of us sat around
the table with some folks who were brand new to the AT.  We told
them about black flys and T-Rex flys and how you always seem to have t
o climb up away from the shelter to the Trail and down away  from
the shelter to the water and laughed and joked...very old style Ruck.

But the presentations were undeniably a big success.  Yak, POG, and JohnO
did stellar jobs, I'm told.  And Jim and Ginny were joined by Warren Doyle no
less...what a surprise!!!  As was the turn out for Photon's demo of how to
build a Photon!  Course that may have been because of Photon's photon's<g>
performance in the Big Boil Redeaux..the grudge match between the 
second and third place winners in the time competition.  Hey Red,
howsabout just posting the figures here?  I'm sure folks will figure out
the efficiency ratings for us!  IMWTK

Soooo who won the Big Boil?  Well.....Chainsaw, aka the Flarmenater
brought a volcano in a stuff sack and blew away (literally and figuratively)
the competition.  There will be a work crew arranged to rebuild the porch.
Did anyone get a picture of that mushroom cloud? <VVVBG>

Another surprise...the arrival of The Family, currently SOBO, plus AB and
Isis and Jackrabbit and Miss Janet all the way from Irwin.  I slipped into the 
mansion between 'naps' in the parking lot, to use the bathroom and saw them
all laid out in the piano room.  I wish I could draw a picture of the kids,
each in a progressively shorter bag , all in a line...... the baby in her
little bag looked like a big fluffy ball.  They certainly added something
to the weekend....even classical piano background music to our Rucky 
goings on.  And I haven't played soccer in years let alone with a croquet ball!

Jackrabbit and Isis did an updated version of Dig a Hole..Dump Yer Load
accompanied by all of us.  They seemed worried that we wouldn't catch
the changes in the chorus for the PA verse, but Move a Rock..Dump Yer Load
seemed to jus roooolll off our lips!!!!!  What a hoot!

I talked to the Mom of the family and asked whatever possessed them?
Driving so far to Ruck with us?  As it turns out, they found there would be a 
number of people there, that they'd hiked with earlier in the year and 
decided to surprise them.  I also asked her if all these people weren't a
bit overwhelming after a winter SOBO.  She said they had thought about 
it and worried that it might be a lot of stuffed shirts, not real hikers, but 
that it didn't take her long to figure differently..HAH!!!  She said the
blueblaze to PA was a great addition to their hike!!!  And that was before
I slipped the Dad the present passed to me by some folks who found us through
a web search and just stopped by!  Well actually he was in WA on the west coast
two days prior so that's not exactly stopping by <g>.  They too loved it and said 
we were a bunch of help for their thru this year.  Another guy showed up after
hearing about us from the ATC (yikes) and the weird thing is, he was clued into
"napping" .  I tried to hang the name "theguyleavinginfebruary' on him but
he'll start the trail with "ChiliMac".  Say hi if ya see him!  

The slide shows were super, I'm told and can testify to same for the CDT.
The ooohs and aaaahhhs mixed with "is that the trail?????" were testimony
as well.  Thanks to John O for arranging them.  What a thrill for a dreamer
and good info for the planners!

Well I'm about out of tales that can be told on a family list.  Besides...I
never set foot in the campground so I have no clue......<VVVBSEG>

So the PaRuck continues.  Still a great family reunion for sure but squeezing in lots
of  info and welcomes for the folks who come to learn.  As long as our luck holds
with the weather, so people like me with severe crowdphobia can duck outside for 
some air, I think we're gonna be OK..

Big thanks and I mean BIG THANKS to those who did time in the kitchen!
I'm not even going to try and list the names cause some of the names have
escaped me.  Like the guy with the moustache and the dispan hands..
who was that masked pot washer anyway??? <g>.  One question....
have you ever met anyone more cheerful than Sweetpea or less flappable
than Bear Bag?  No wonder they made it to Maine!

Note to self..get someone to write down the directions for the coffeemaker
before it becomes lost as part of our oral history or Millie leaves for home<g>
Note to self..ban animal crackers<bg>

Now....who's gonna have the next RUCK????          RUCK ON!!

PS..Hey Fur.....my spellchecker wants dagnabbit to be damnable.is that OK? <VVVBG>