Reading (For Dummies)

Country Roads

SUOC Spring Break was an orgy of bicycles, caving, rock climbing, hiking, kayaking, and, well, orgies. Dustin and I loaded my truck with no fewer than seven bicycles, relevant gear, tools, etc, and left last Thursday night. We landed in our cabins at about 3am, tired and in desperate need of beer.

The rest of SUOC began filtering in over the next two or three days, and quite a few hikes and other such trips started heading out. It was a rather interesting setup...kayaking, biking, and hiking all day, followed by either binge drinking or caving at night.

While waiting for them to unpack, a few of us went creekboating in Sandy Ridge, just behind our cabins. A few days later, I would go on my first real whitewater trip -- the South Fork of the Potomac just a bit outside of Franklin. It was given a class 3 technical rating by our trip leader, far buffer than my brother's bachelor party. My core was hard; although I swam four times, I was beginning to read the river right and getting good lines on some of the bigger rapids.

Since I brought all of my bikes, I thought it might be good to take out a decent trip. I gathered up Dustin and David, and we headed up and over North Mountain and out to Seneca Rocks (another group was rock climbing on the east side of the cliffs, yet another group started a downhill ride at the top of North and met us at Seneca). The 30 mile ride was accentuated by a 4000 foot pile of rock, in addition to the general hilliness of West Virginia. Needless to say, I arrived first, followed by another 5 or 6 bike riders some ten minutes later.

I got to climb a little too, after the biking and kayaking. A bunch of us headed to Nelson Rocks on Saturday afternoon to soak up some sun and hard stuff. A torn something in my shoulder left me atop a pitch physically unable to grab with my left hand. Luckily no-one ragged on me too hard.

Of course there was partying, which reached its climax one night during a three-cabin drinking battle royale, complete with themes.

The party took its toll on all involved. Various occurences of digestive fluids finding their ways through sphincters via reverse peristalsis gave way to delirious dreams for more than a few. I stayed sober and took care of the dead. The reward for my efforts included a couple hooking it up in the bunk next to me; thankfully I'm old enough to laugh and move on. Doubly thankfully I brought my tent.

The week culminated in a country dance in Monterey. Several hundred rednecks stood outside of the high school gymnasium oggling each other's pickups. SUOC braved the inside, jumping and jiving to ACDC cover tunes by a somewhat twangy band for the close of the annual Maple Festival. It marked the close of our break too. The following morning was cleanup detail, repacking, and an 8-hour drive back to Syracuse. Somehow, I'm refreshed after the whole experience. A week of no internet and only cursory contact with the outside world is definitely a positive experience. And the future looks a lot different than I ever might have imagined.