It was the best of hashes, it was the worst of hashes, it was a hash of wisdom, it was a hash of foolishness, it was the hash of belief, it was the hash of incredulity, it was the hash of Light, it was the hash of Darkness, it was the hash of hope, it was the hash of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us ... and then, like bat's piss, that thin glimmer of gold called Live Bait shone ahead of me in the darkness. My year would never be the same.
A new birth
I blink a few times, still bleary-eyed from the demons of last night. It's nine-thirty, I suddenly remember that it's my duty to do the hash line for the 11:30 hash. I drag myself out of bed and pick up the phone, I get a message from Halfmoon, then more from Fire Tunnel, yet more from Eargasm and then finally Auld Lang Syne from Gaslight. It's too early in the morning for this, but I must admit it wakes me up. Time to hash in an hour or so.
Pulling into the parking lot of Live Bait (the start and the end), I see a pickup truck smashed into a tree in a parking lot. I hope it's not a hasher. I look around for the hash and see no one, I see On In painted on the sidewalk and panic that somehow I'm late and everyone had already started running. I wake up a little more and realize that everyone is in Live Bait (thanks to Riff Raff). Entering the bar, I see Halfmoon doling out Mimosas. I swore that I would take it easy today so I only had two or three before the start.
We finally take off about 12:15, there is about 35 to 40 hashers, it's cold and dreary. The trail heads due east to the new bridges over 59. We cross the first and head toward Rice U. Trail is pretty easy to follow with a few tricky checks. After Rice, we head ENE and end up at a check about 3 blocks west of Bell park. Hounds go every direction, but no one finds trail. Pee Wee and I end up in front of Halfmoon's house looking for a cider check, no luck. We decide to run straight west and end up running into flour heading towards Mandell (I think). We cross the bridge and are soon at a cider check on Dunvale. People were complaining about the distance so far, so I checked my GPS and saw that we had already run 4.3 miles. A bit long for an advertised short hash, but I was enjoying it.
From the cider check we head south again over the bridge, then west to the next bridge and back over. The rest of trail was uneventful, at about 5.8 miles we are back at live bait. By now everyone is in, we were the last (Me, Grind, Pee Wee and Dumpster Digger).
We circle up inside Live Bait, I dread the noise but Grind makes the best of it and we have a great circle. One new boot (local who innocently came into the bar), I think two out of town visitors and only three reboots. I get stuck doing a down down for Gaslight's birthday, we are of similar stature. Accusations start slow but get pretty nutty once the mimosas and beer sink in. I don't remember a lot, but somewhere in the fuzz, I see Will He Peter hopping around on one foot showing off his surgery scar and Grind trying to get everyone to taste his gizzard. (I seem to remember that it was bitter)
Thanks Hares, I had a great time. Oh by the way, This was the hangover hash for 1/1/1, the hares were Halfmoon, Fire Tunnel, Flounder and Cums Happily.