Thursday
8:30AM Not much sleep to be had last night. I did try to use my iPod and some Robert Rich music to cover the snoring noise. Unfortunately, all the sleeping pill did was finally get me to sleep for about 2 hours or so (not in a row), and then leave me groggy for the rest of the morning. Judging by the fetal position Al was tucked in, I think the ambient air in the room was colder than he had anticipated.
I ambled over to the new breakfast place in town…the Subway in the truck stop. I ate at the gas station last year and it was okay, but I was hoping for Subway to come through this year! With my 6” sandwich in hand, I ran back to the DOG Truck to get it hitched to the trailer and we were off to Lake Rawlings.
It was a pleasant surprise to see all of the new pavilions set up near the lake, and the slightly wider set up area for the DOG Tents, which would mean we were less of an impediment to water access, with a great little path passed the tents. Errol and Keven waved as I crept through the gate while avoiding scratching the trailer. Since there were no cars at the water I opted to back the trailer in right away. It’s just easier without all that pressure of backing into another car or crushing someone to death…you know?
All things considered, the set up went fairly quickly for Lake Rawlings. The ground is quite hard and it takes about 3 times as long to sink the tent stakes. Thanks to Keven for all of the help on the jack hammer with Al.
The BBQ groceries were already on order at Walmart in South Hill. So after turning all the suits we had about an hour to shower before we headed down to shop and grab dinner with Pete from Dive Rescue International at the Applebee’s. I immediately crashed on the bed for a quick nap. Once in the shower, it was at this point I realized that I had forgotten to bring my own towel with me. As I got out of the shower (the showerhead broke as I used it) I grabbed a towel that:
a) may have been used as a burial shroud judging by its’ age
b) was so threadbare you could see through it
c) was rough enough to sand lumber
d) was about the size of a legal pad
e) left more lint than it removed water
Yup…nothing but the best.
After only mild confusion among the Walmart management, the groceries were all packed away and we were off to dinner. BTW Al called for more blankets for tonight, and they arrived with the same “ventilation holes”. We did run the heat on full blast until it was time to sleep. 9:30PM
Friday
8AM Back to Subway once again for breakfast. The Public Safety Diver event promised to be quite a show today, with Dive Rescue International, Video Ray ROVs, and Divers Alert Network (our good buddy Eric) in attendance…along with the DUI show! Quite the party.
The day passed quickly with presentations, demos, dives and lunch. Soon it was time to start the Dealer Repair Seminar followed by the Product Knowledge Seminar and a pizza dinner for all! I slipped out in the rental car to drive to Petersburg to find a few essentials to keep the DOT inspectors happy…I have to peel off the window tint from the truck front door windows. Too bad to, because that was a really nice tint job that the previous owner had done!
Once back at the hotel, I began working on a magnetic decal and got a message that Faith and Al were hanging out at the quarry with Steve, Judy, Keven et al. A few hours later it was time for lights out. 11PM
Saturday
6:45 AM At least it was warming up a bit and we didn’t need the heater on all night. I think the Subway Crew was a bit late for work today, as they were still making the bread when I walked in.
We unloaded the trailer quite quickly with the help of a few bright and early crew members… (Thanks Fred!) and within the hour everyone began to turn up and pitch in. We had some dealers and staff that had never been to any of the 7 previous demo days here, so the veteran CREW and I got them up to speed right away, and quite frankly we kicked some serious butt. The crowd began to form around 8:30AM and we got them rolling right away. Howard did an amazing job along with the dive leaders getting everyone into the water and diving all day long. The action under the tents was quite something! With a little rain here and there, we were a bit crowded, but we managed to get everyone fitted and out to dive with only a brief wait.
The CREW really was impressive to behold. It is quite an amazing thing to see it all come together. With all of the CREW that sees each other once a year just diving right in to lend a hand. The amount of work we get done between all of us is quite amazing when everyone just pitches in and does a little. By the end of the day the word from registration (Brooke, Judy, Marc) was that we’d seen 105 divers get suited up, and make multiple dives (according to Howard and crew by their Beachmaster notes). Tim led the charge behind the grill and kept everyone fed, while dodging the occasional grease fire flare ups. The staff from DAN stayed busy throughout the day handling lots of questions. Thanks to Greg for pulling the weekend shift!
All of this and we hadn’t even started the dinner yet! Many thanks to the Cinnamon Café for yet another home run dinner. It is rather nice to dine under the stars with 80 of my closest friends, but under the DOG tents was a much better call tonight, since it started raining just a bit. We had some fun with some airborne prizes and trivia. Still the biggest issue I had was coming up with trivia questions that were hard enough that EVERYONE didn’t know the answer! Oh, and I learned that bread pudding is yummy, as is Camper Closet Zinfandel.
Sunday
Once the set up was complete and the DOG Truck parked in the “special spot” (the law of tonnage applies and we get to park wherever we like…as long as Keven says it’s okay), Tim and I had to go forth and find the Food Lion to make sure we had enough food to feed the CREW and divers today. Thankfully there were some leftovers from the ribs and chicken from last night, and that kept the hunger at bay for a few moments while Tim got some more food on the grill. The divers were out in force early (as usual) and preparing to head home by mid afternoon. As things quieted down, we slipped the trailer into place (and by slip I mean back it up a few times to try to get it in the right place and then give up when it became obvious that things weren’t improving) and began to pack away the first tent.
There were lots of hugs and high fives as we all said goodbye. Things were definitely rockin’ at Lake Rawlings and it was all because of the amazing DOG CREW. We are truly blessed to have such great friends over these many years, and so very fortunate to meet some amazing and energetic new friends. I can’t wait to see you all again soon! Thanks so very much for all you do!
Monday
This morning featured a run into the rental car return and another early flight out of the remodeled RDU Airport. At least I think it was remodeled…I may have been completely asleep in previous years and missed it altogether. The flights were full, as they always seem to be these days. Once I had killed the laptop battery it was time to get lost in thought and preparation for the next event and the 2010 calendar. Besides, Ice Age 3 wasn’t really that good anyway. I just stopped to watch the parts with the funny squirrel guy.
By the time I got home there was time enough to throw some laundry in the machine and pass out for a few hours before re-packing said laundry for the next trip!
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Dave's DOG Blog