The following day, I had to go to Newport News to a sports bar in order to find someplace in Virginia that would show the UofM football game on the Big Ten Network. Unfortunately, the game was a bit disappointing, but it was neat to watch the game with the local UofM alumni club. However, the Penn State Alumni Club was on the other side of the pub and started to heckle the UofM Alumni after their game was over, only making it worse when we lost. Later that evening, a group of us went to our friend Jeff’s heavy metal band’s concert. Though his band’s music all sounded the same, the true dedicated fans got really excited and I was glad we all went for a more unique way to spend the evening. Also as an ongoing project over that week or so, Sally and I painted our living room. Its walls had been pretty dirty and the colors of someone’s camping cabin (probably why some of our friends called it “rustic”), so we’d decided to spruce it up a bit. Beyond the previous activities, we also had a She-Ra revisited evening at Heather's house, a potential tropical storm landfall, and a finger injury after dropping the swivel gun on my finger (not badly injured, just splinted). Good times... (photos: UofM alumni watching the first game of the season; Jeff and his band Kaustik (Jeff being the blur on the left); painting the living room; our new "pet," Raúl; and my finger in its oh-so-period-appropriate splint.)
The following Thursday, Jack, Bob (marketing/interpretive volunteer), and I drove to Onancock for the first stop of our fall sail. Onancock is a small town of a few thousand people on the Eastern Shore of Virginia (the little dingy of land on the other side of the Chesapeake that is just south of Maryland) that made us feel like rock stars the entire time we were there. The residents bent over backwards to make us feel welcome – by buying us welcome drinks and food, throwing us a cookout, sending the town cop to the other side of town so that we could set off Jack’s North Carolina fireworks, and giving us free things all over town just because we were with the ship. It didn’t take long for Jack and I to decide that we’d each definitely want to move there with its cute historic homes from its heyday as a major Chesapeake shipping depot and its fantastic food scene. We spent the entire time that we weren’t working popping from place to place with hardly any time to digest from the prior place. All in all, one of the best ports of the year! (photos: The Eastern Shore welcomes us!; Mike talking to the tv guy while we wait for the ship to arrive (note the guys in the background, at the "Liar's Bench"); Crazy Uncle Bob; me waiting with my new friends for the ship to arrive -- one had a belt buckle that said "John Wayne Lives"-- and yes, that's what they do each day; and Mike and Jack outside the pub we frequented with the 400th Anniversary flag above the door (the Godspeed was the biggest thing to hit the town all year, no joke).)
(photos: Jack found his calling; Jack and Scott as they were often found all weekend; the Captain and part of his crew; me playing Shut The Box; and the ship coming into the marina with a flotilla of kayakers.)
(photos: The Godspeed at sunset; Todd, me, Jack, and Scott at the bench; Onancock loves history... A lot...; Jack in his Steelers gear; and Main Street Onancock.)
(photos: The sign Jack bought at the antique store; and the sign of apparently the best gas station food in this part of the state -- they even have a wine list.)
