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AoS-Fest III : Ohio or Bust!

Intro Friday 1  2  3   ) Saturday 1  2  3  4   ) Sunday 1   ) Afterwards & Sponsors

Day 2: Saturday October 22nd

After the Session and Dinner

   Well, as the day wore on, we old men wore down. We all started to “hit the wall”. It was getting to that point where people are getting closer to hurting themselves on even the simplest of tricks. One by one, we began to unpad. My knees and ankles were throbbing. I hobbled out to the parking lot to join the others. It was near dusk at this point. What would AoS-fest be without beers in the parking lot?!?! Tim took Rob’s car and ran to the store and back. It was funny….as others in our group heard of beer outside, they all made their way out to join us. Cold beer after a great session just caps off the day! We all stood around just cutting up, talking about the day, and general BS while Miranda and Rob skated a bit more. During this time, I asked Tim who he had selected for the "fuzzstache"/facial hair winner for this year’s unofficial side-contest (*last year was the "drink off" won by "The Green Monkey"). Since most everyone had recently shaved, Tim laughed "I’m sorry…we have a pathetic showing of entries this year". In the end, Brian won. He was sporting a fu-man-esque goatee…and had the only facial hair of anyone in the group. haha
    It was well after dark when Rob and Miranda came outside. Apparently, Saturday nights are big with bikes because slowly their numbers grew until that’s all that were going into the park. We had timed the end of our session just right.
    Miranda had not taken kindly to us ribbing her about not dropping in on the deep end of the bowl (yes, yes….please insert your comment about us picking on a little girl here), and it was worse when her dad, Rob, joined in too. Now she was pretty good at handling herself. She was very quick to run over and poke or punch us in the arm when she did not care for what we had to say. But for her dad, she knew a much quicker counter-move….she called her mom. Haha Miranda handed the phone to Rob with a sly smirk on her face as she said "Mom wants to talk to you". Rob’s tone changed. Apparently, he was about 3 hours late for being home. Haha
    With that, we were quickly on our way out. We decided to grab dinner on the way out. It’s like when you were late coming home when living with your parents…..if you’re going to be an hour late, why not be four hours late…it’s all the same in the end. Haha We followed Rob and gang in their car to a local Macaroni Grill. Surprisingly, they were able to seat us all right away. We had this special side room with a huge table. I am not sure if they put is there because we were treated more special or if they put us there to hide us away from the other patrons. Haha We were all starving, so it took little time to decide and order. The service left a bit to be desired, but the food came quickly and was good. As we had waited on our meal, Tim Birt began work on his masterpiece. It began as a doodle....a simple AoS-fest 3 logo. However, it soon grew. Tim tried to incorporate some part of each person at the table into the logo. Mike's "hipper", Jay's "swellbow", Brian's "cracked wrist", Rob's glasses, Dan's hair, Issac's sweatpants....all were there. Tim even included his good pal Roy, whom he never goes anywhere without (I will let Tim tell you Roy's story another day.). The doodle grew and grew into the final AoS-fest 3 logo (The one pictured on the intro page is not the completed version. Mike has the original art signed by the artist hanging proudly in his home.) Anyways....I digress. We wanted to all sit and let it settle after eating, but it was now close to 10 pm and we were far from home. AOS picked up the bill as thanks to all for making it out, and then we were off.
    I can not tell you much of the trip home, as I slept much of the way. Thankfully, Jay really enjoys driving and did not mind. When I awoke, Tim was playing dj via his iPod. He decided to put in C.W. McCall’s "Greatest Hits" which began with the old favorite "Convoy". Good stuff. We got to hear just about everything on the album, but it began to wear on the nerves a bit with monotony. Time for a shuffle. DJ Tim Birt qued up the next tunes which happened to be Kiss’s "Detroit Rock City". I think his iPod has just about everything on there…Johnny Cash to Kiss to Angry Samoans to CW McCall to the Cult to obscure punk and much more.
    Around 12:30 am, we made it back to the hotel. We told the Ohio crew good-bye and made plans to skate Powell together tomorrow. We said thanks once again, and they headed off. We all shuffled up to our room to take turns getting showers and cleaned up. I felt like I had wallowed in dirt and been beaten with a baseball bat. The hot shower was heaven! Mike and I ventured downstairs while Jay cleaned up. We checked out the hotel bar, and it seemed pretty happening. There was apparently a big wedding reception here tonight. Mike and I found a spot on the bar to order. The bartender asked if we were in town for the Paul McCartney concert, apparently yet another reason for so many people staying at the hotel. We told him we were in town for skateboarding. Of course, he came back with the standard reply, "You guys know Tony Hawk?.....he stayed here a couple of years ago". We acted very interested with our "Oh wow! Really?" response hoping he would pour stronger drinks. No dice. We got out typical hotel bar drinks and found a table. It was fun watching the folks from the wedding come and go…some drunk, some pissed off, some horny, etc. Right as we ordered, they announced last call. It was already close to 1 am and everything closes in Columbus around 1:30 am. I had to keep explaining this to Mike as he was all amped up to hit the town. Finally, Jay joined us, and we explained the situation. He was cool for not going out as he too was pretty beat. I suggested we grab our beers and hang out by the pool. That turned out to be the right plan. The hotel has a great hot tub right by the pool. Jay went all in and got in it. Mike just soaked his legs in it. I sat on a pool chair and drank beer. Mike and Jay said the hot tub really helped out their aching joints, but I just wasn’t about to get in there and then have to get back out in the cold. After a while…and a drunk football fan and wedding guest visiting with us…we decided to head back up. A few beers in the room and it was lights out. A long, fun filled day came to an end.

The Session moves Outside (MC)

Hanging out at Ollie's(CS)

Brian gets caught red-handed (CS)

Dan, Tim, Rob, Chris(Amorone) and Jay (MC)

Dinner at Macaroni Grill (CS)

Another view of the Dinner crowd (CS)

Tim, Rob and Miranda (CS)

Tim begins work on his masterpiece
AoS-fest 3 logo while Rob supervises (MC)

Brian, Jay and Chris (MC)

Dan, Mike and Brian (CS)

Rob, Miranda and Issac after the meal (CS)

The ride home was all a blur (MC)

Mike and Jay soaking in the hot tub (CS)

Mike breaks almost all the rules (CS)
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