Vacation to San Diego (Part 1)

Don called and said they would be by my place to pick me up in 10 minutes. So at 5:30am I was outside waiting, and they were there pretty quick. Don’s SO was riding with us, and was our reason for getting to the airport so early. A few of the wives and SO’s of the boys going to OTL were doing a separate trip to LA area for the theme parks. The ladies flight left about an hour earlier than Don & mine did. We found our gate, then a bar. Two large beers each later, we were ready to board. Everything was going smoothly, the flight left on time and a double-Jack later we were touching down, then heading to the outside to meet up with Don’s friend Scott from Vegas, who had flown in a half hour ahead of us.

Geez! Just walking out the entry doors to the airport was like walking into a paradise. The temperature was 72 degrees per our pilot; the sun was shining, and the breeze coming off the ocean was just awesome. Man, a year was too long to be gone from this place!

The first bummer (and I say first because when writing this, I had no idea what else would happen) of the trip came when the three of us got to the hotel. We had had reservations for like four rooms for several months now, but in that year, the hotel had changed some of their policies, and now no reservations were allowed into a room until after 1pm. Here it is 9:30am and we all have a carry on bag. We asked if we could leave the bags there behind the counter, and was told no, that they had done that for some other customers and now had no room. There were four other guys that flew out before us, and they had gotten lucky to leave their bags. Nothing better to do, we grabbed our bags, had a cab called, and headed for Mission Bay. We met up with Eric, OBJ, Joe, and a few others at the Sandbar, across from the coaster. The rest of our crew were driving in from Phoenix, and were about 2 hours away still. They gave me time to have a quick bloody mary and a bottle of Bud, and then we started the walk to the Beachcomber, about a half-mile down the road.

One of the “virgins” of the OTL and youngest member of our party, Greg, was nice enough he bought all of us the first round at Beachcombers, and that set off the afternoon. Joe, the owner, poured my first drink, which was damn near a half pint of Jack (God bless this man!). As he was pouring my drink he made the comment, “I don’t let my staff pour them this much at a time, but you’re okay in my book drinking Jack straight up.” I tell you, the man knew the words to my heart. Sometimes my notoriety exceeds state lines, as Joe remembered me from the previous year, and the other guys, too. The last of our group finally showed up, and things really started to get moving.

The boys started up rounds of 3-ball on the only pool table. I sat at the bar trying to get all these notes down, as I was sure to not remember most the way I was drinking. A couple rounds of Golden Tee were played, where I ended up the winner, the only with a negative score. Worst score was a +39, but we all knew that person couldn’t hit a ball anyways. (Note: remember this for later). After a couple good drinks, we all cabbed back to hotel to get our rooms. Most of us were put on the 2^nd floor, though I requested 1^st due to having a cane with me, and I knew the steps would be hurting me in the next day or two. I roomed with Smitty, which seemed to work out well. He never complained once about my snoring. After dropping luggage off, we again called cabs and headed out to Fiesta Island where the OTL is played. We spent time there buying programs, shirts, hats, etc and then enjoying some beers and tunes. I got lucky and left on the first cab group out (Eric & Jimmy). We went to the hotel, and then walked down to Red Lobster for dinner.

After dinner, Eric & Jimmy headed to bed. I watched TV until Don & Smitty got back. They were headed down to the Red Lobster to eat, then wanted to go back out. I said I would wait for them. Five minutes later, Jan & Danny show up, and I left with them to head back to the Beachcomber. About an hour or so into partying, Danny & Jan had to leave, but Joe, OBJ and Greg had shown up, so I stayed drinking until late. I cannot even remember what time it was when I got back to the hotel. Smitty & I were having a smoke out side our non-smoking room, and security came by to inform us “Hotel rules require guests to be in their rooms at this hour”. SO they want us to smoke in a non-smoking room? He again repeated his sentence, so Smitty & I just waved him off, put out the smokes and went to bed. We knew that tomorrow we would be headed to Fiesta Island by 7:30am, and we would need our sleep.