Wow, Have I Been Lazy or What!?!?

I fell off my blog schedule!  Sorry!  See what taking time off does?  Totally screwed me up!  Damn!  I am a bad person.  

Okay, enough self-flagellation.  The 50@50 Project has moved forward since Event 16 all those weeks ago.  The next event completed was - duh - Event 17, silly.

Last weekend, we drove over to beautiful Burbank, WA to hook up with our good friends, Kyle and Raynee, and my brother Rich.  As you recall, Burbank is just outside the Tri-Cities, and lies at the confluence of the Columbia and the Snake rivers.  The drive over was good albeit hot.  The AC in the SUV apparently needs recharging - it was blowing barely-cooler-than-the-ambient-temperature air, so we cruised over with the windows down and it was a little sweaty.  Meh, no biggie - although Camera Crew's window arm got a little reddish-pink.  Okay - burned.  Aloe vera to the rescue!

We arrived at the Miller's house and were greeted with a big hug from Kyle and a 'be right back!' from Raynee, as she was leaving just as we pulled in.  Errands!  Rich showed up about two beers later, then we loaded up and drove into Richland for packet pickup.  After we successfully navigated the Shilo Inn lobby, wandered out back to a gazebo and found our stuff, we headed to McKay's Taphouse.  Couldn't find a website but for reviews, Google 'em.  Great beer line up!  We met Raynee and her brother, Benjamin, there and had a brewski.  Then we drove over to Jack-sons for beers and wings (three kinds: Rajun Cajun, Mexi-Lime, Golden Garlic)  www.richlandjacksons.com  Our server was fun - sassy, smart ass-y - just the way I like 'em to be.  Made for a good time, even though she teased me about my 'pink drink' (vodka cranberry).  Wings were really good.  They have close to a dozen heat levels to choose from - we stayed middle of the road.

We tried to convince Raynee that we signed her up for the ride.  Camera Crew almost had her convinced when she presented her with a race wrist band.  Good times!  Back to the Miller's home for a little relaxation before dinner.  We had a great meal!  It started with bacon-wrapped jalapeno poppers, cooked in the most unusual fashion by Kyle.  We'll just say that even though we were in the back yard BBQing, the smoke detector in the house still went off.  They were delish, though!  This was followed by dinner which consisted of steaks, salad and sauteed mushrooms and onions.  And of course beer.  Fed and comfortable, we watched some TV then hit the sack kinda early so we would be rested for the big ride the next morning.

We had grand designs on being up ultra-early to get started right at 6:30.  Oh well.  We got up around 5:45 or so, got dressed in our riding gear, had a damn good breakfast casserole that Raynee put together the night before and then loaded the bikes.  Kyle has a crew cab pickup and a rack that held 3 of the 4 bikes.  We argued for a bit over who got to leave their bike behind and skip the ride.  Then we realized we could just put the 4th bike in the bed of the truck.  Drats.

The skies were overcast, which was nice because it made it much cooler.  In fact, it stayed that way most of the morning and didn't actually burn off til later.  Whew!  Cuz we were all worried about the temp for this ride.  Don't get me wrong - by the time we finished, it was mid-90's.  But at least it wasn't too bad for the first 2/3 of it.  The ride itself was mostly non-eventful.  Rich left us in the dust almost immediately.  I really don't know why he got all the bike riding genes in the family.  The guy just gets in a gear and takes off, doesn't even breathe hard.  And he climbs hills like a mountain goat.  I take some solace in that I got the looks and the brains, but it would have been nice to be a little better rider.  Oh well.

The course was kind of hit and miss with the signage.  In some areas it was awesome.  In other areas we got lost.  Our 50 mile ride turned into about 55.  In fact, the very end of the route was supposed to take us along the river on the bike path and lead us to the finish line at the gazebo behind the Shilo Inn.  But there were no signs, arrows, race people, etc. pointing the way, so we did the best we could.  We knew where the finish line was and knew the general direction, so we meandered through the parking lots and finally got there, albeit from the opposite direction.  It was sort of anti-climatic, to say the least.  Rich had been finished for almost 2 hours - yes, I said TWO hours.  He said he was about ready to send out a search party!

The ride advertised a beer garden and food at the finish.  Couple of things about that:  the beer wasn't even set up when we finished, in fact was just being iced down; and the nothing was included in registration, we had to pay for food, beers, etc.  A let down to be sure, especially living in Portland where even the smallest 5k fun run has free beer at the finish line.  Strange event, this one.  We choked down a lukewarm Corona and took off for Jack-sons, where we had lunch and drinks.  Same server, too, so more teasing about my drink selection.  Then we headed back to Casa de Miller to get cleaned up and power nap.  We had to get ready for the REAL event of the weekend - our visit to the BBT.

All I can say is that the Beautiful Burbank Tavern was everything it was made out to be and so much more.  Couple of pool tables, darts, a huge beer selection (Coors Light, Bud and Rainier) and a menu that was mostly deep fried.  We were able to talk Rich down from ordering the deep fried chicken gizzards.  We got jalapeno poppers instead.  Not anywhere near as good as Kyle's from the night before, mostly due to a lack of bacon wrappage.  We ordered the BBT burger special which was two patties, bacon, ham, a fried egg plus the usual burger toppings of cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion.  And tater tots, of course.  It was damn good, especially when washed down with ice cold Rainier.

In fact, the beer choice was very appropriate because our ride earlier in the day as well as our evening at the BBT was on Dad's birthday, May 11th.  Rich and I raised a glass for the folks and had a really great day.  It's always good to hang out with Rich.  And Camera Crew was getting into the BBT scene.  In fact, I think she came home and ordered her American flag bikini almost immediately.  It was a fun day and good time for all of us.  Since Kyle is the principal at the high school (Go, Coyotes!) everyone knows him.  There were even one or two former students in the BBT!  Kyle got hugged a lot that night.

Back home, a little hanging out time with rum and cokes and Ghost Hunters, then off to bed.  The next morning brought Kyle's infamous biscuits and gravy for breakfast.  Truthfully, some of the best I've ever had.  Scratch made biscuits and a nice think sauce.  Two words:  Yum.  Yum.  After eating, we loaded up and headed for home.  Cooler weather and a better angle with the sun shining in the car made for a more comfortable drive home.  Camera Crew slept a good chunk of the way.  Thankfully, I resisted.

After some time off from the 50@50 Project, it was good to get started again!  Next up is a double header - the Heart Walk, a fundraiser for the American Heart Association, on a team organized through CC's work; and XDog's Havoc at the Hideout.  Yoinks!