One Day More

Hi, Friends --

It seems that I've already fallen behind my posting schedule. Whoops! I was supposed, dear reader, to drive from Philadelphia to Chautauqua, NY to drop my brother off at camp. I had planned to update you all as to the events of the drive (including, but not limited to: how much Andrew "Snorlax" Lengel slept, at what pitches and amplitudes his snores interrupted my carefully cultivated driving playlists, and just how helpful he was as navigator) after my arrival, but the best-laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley, as they say, and what was initially planned as a relatively straightforward drive turned into a bit of a haul.

Why did we log an extra six hours of driving, bringing the daily total to an even 13 (More than my self-hatred, that is)? All for want of a bocce set. "But Tim," I hear you exclaim, "A bocce set?" Yes, dear reader. I drove six hours out of my way for a bocce set.

Those of you who are acquainted with me, Greg, and Tommy know precisely how athletic the three of us are; very. Paragons of physical virtue, we; I once saw Tommy outrun a gazelle at USC, and Greg once beat Jack Lalanne in an arm-wrestling match.

In fact, We Three Adonises are so equal in stature and body fat percentage that it can be difficult for us to solve disputes. Arm wrestling matches are useless; sprints a waste of time. What good to compete on purely physical grounds when we will always tie? Nay, the only means of competition left to us is that most noble of games -- where strategy is as important as skill, guile as prized as gold. The Sport of Kings and Queens. Yes; bocce is our game.

For years, we have played with a particularly fine bocce set donated to the cause by Mama and Papa Lengel; we played it on college roadtrips, we played it every Sunday at school, at reunions, and... You get the point: bocce, good; bocce set, necessary. How wonderful, we thought, how fitting a plan to play bocce at the various stops on our roadtrip? All agreed the plan a just one. There was just one hitch.

I had left the bocce set in Williamstown, Massachusetts by accident. Yes, one bracingly cold April morning, after helping the Springstreeters celebrate a wonderful concert, I had arisen and driven all the way home to Richmond, VA -- a distance, mind you, of about 500 miles (and I would have walked it!) -- before realizing that my prize set was sitting in the yard of the house where I stayed. A terrible thing, to leave behind an old friend like that! Thankfully, friend of the blog, professional meme-generator, and all-around-good-gal Sarah "Sarah Dewey" Dewey had agreed to look after the set. It was for this reason that, fresh of face and of lumbar region, I made the executive decision to head to Chautauqua by way of Williamstown.

My plan was something of a surprise to Andrew, who crawled into his passenger seat yesterday morning and promptly fell asleep after giving me instructions to wake him when we reached Chautauqua. Instead of awaking to the sight of a beautiful blue lake, he instead awoke to an even more beautiful mountain view; lucky kid!

After getting a lovely Tunnel City lunch with Sarah and retrieving the bocce set, Andrew and I headed on our way to Chautauqua. The drive itself was rather exciting -- nothing like some YouTubed lectures on American history to get the blood moving, eh, Andrew? (I mention here that Andrew is that rare child who has an American History teacher for a father and a brother. Can you say "jackpot?!") and we reached our final destination (not, you know, our Final Destination) without incident. In sum, Andrew was delivered and the bocce set was retrieved. I'll call that a mission accomplished.

Tomorrow, dear readers, I head to Cleveland, OH to meet up with Greg "Craig" Kaskan. But first, time for sleep...