InterAmerica's Hash 2005 - Day One - Thursday, September 1
Let's Get Ready to Rumble
We were up and out early Thursday morning. Fortunately we live five minutes
from the airport, so we left at 6:30 am for our 7:40 am flight. No problems
with check, plus we got exit row seats for both legs of the flight. We had a
one hour layover in Newark, NJ, where we met SS Shagger. The second flight
was on a small Embraer. We could see the NYC skyline as we took off.
Soon
enough we were in Toronto, with a quick walk-through at customs. We got some
Canadian cash and took a cab with SSS to the hotel.
As soon as we walked in
we started seeing and talking with people we knew, and people we didn't know.
After we got checked in we headed across the street with a group of other PBH3
people to some sports bar ("Shoeless Joe's") for lunch and beer. That took a
couple hours, and then we went back to the hotel and picked up our registration
stuff for IAH. Everyone else had cool personalized name tags, but since we
had just gotten a registration the week before, we were out of luck. We also
signed up for the Okinawa prelude which would be that night. Although we had
mailed in our registrations the week before, they didn't have them. At least
they let us register for the earlier price.
After an hour of watching New Orleans / Katrina news it was time to head
downstairs for the Okinawa hash. I was spoiled by the airconditioned
motorcoaches we had in Costa Rica, because here we were ferried about in
yellow-dog school buses. There were long and short runs, plus walker's trail.
Most of us took the long bus. There was lots of singing songs, with the
usual verses, verses I hadn't heard in a while, and some new verses. Plus
we chanted "the other bus sucks" a lot.
The run was pretty good. We started in a parking lot, and headed into some
woods. We were on low, rolling hills running through neighborhoods and woods.
For a while we ran along a creek, and then the trail headed into a storm
water drainage tunnel. This must be why the hares said "bring a flashlight".
It was a nice tunnel, as these things go, about 6'6" high, 15' wide, and
with a flat bottom with a couple inches of water. The pack charged on in,
with the unprepared hashers (which was most of them) staying close to those
of us who had thought to bring a flashlight. The trail was well-marked with
glowsticks. After about a quarter-mile (that's what it felt like; the GPS
wasn't working, duh) we came to a checkback 10. Dang. So the whole pack
reversed direction and headed back out. When I looked at it later on the
GPS track I couldn't even see where the tunnel was. I was hoping we would
go out the other end of the tunnel so there would be a break in the GPS
plot. Here you can see the GPS plot and elevation.
After the the trail was mostly standard, with more neighborhoods and woods.
I did enjoy the cool temperatures. There was a beer check, where we
alouette'd a female runner who had joined us on trail. Then on to the end,
which came after a two mile section along a boardwalk on the shore of Lake
Ontario.
The on-in was in the courtyard of a place by the water. Dinner was chicken,
rice, etc. Me and C. ate with some Atlanta hashers, and caught up with what
is happening there. Dr. Doodoo is as much of a perv as always. Soon the
evening's entertainment started, with one of the Okinawa hashers leading the
circle. You can't see a whole lot in the pictures, because it was dark, but
there was the usual ice and beer. And the girl from beer check came along to
the end!
After a while we found the buses, and headed back to the hotel. Fortunately
we avoided the black-nosed taxi hash. I made an early evening of it, nodding
off as I watched more hurricane Katrina.
Day 2
