Rollin' along

Ol’ man river, he just keeps rollin’ along

Ol’ man river

Tyler pulled into the car park, parked up and got out of the car to greet us. We were introduced and I resigned myself to a weekend of being called British, rather than Chris. The new nickname was actually starting to grow on me. I thanked Tyler for letting me crash their West Virginia weekend. We loaded our luggage into the car and headed into Shepherdstown. There was a liquor store en route so we called in to stock up on supplies for the weekend. The little liquor store had Hendrick’s gin and I duly bought a bottle. Tyler sent a message to some of the other guys who were at the grocery store to add tonic and cucumber to the shopping list for me.

The drive to the house took us through some great countryside. We turned off the main road onto a small country road that would be barely wide enough should we meet anything coming the other way. A short while later we turned again, going through a gate onto an even narrower road. Tyler explained that we were here and that he had to go slow because of the deer that roamed the grounds. We got to spot some of them on the drive up to the house. My fears about there not being enough room for me were instantly quashed as the house came into view.

  

View of the Potomac from the pool

Tyler showed everyone to their rooms. Robby and I were staying above the garage, a space that rivalled the size of my flat back home in London. We took our cases up and were finally able to say hello to each other properly. We headed back downstairs and made our way through the house and out to the back garden. I was introduced to some more of the gang – Robert, Bill and Jessica. There was a chorus of “Hey British” from them. The back garden was equipped with an outdoor kitchen, bar & dining. I cracked open the Hendrick’s and made myself a drink, joining Robby in admiring the view of the sun setting behind the trees, the Potomac River visible at the end of the garden.

By the side of the pool were a couple of boards with holes in them and some small red and blue beanbags. I asked what the game was and was introduced to cornholes. As someone who loves a good double entendre this was the game for me. Touching the hole, dirty bags, back door, woody…it was as though someone had built the game around a list of rude words. The basic rules are you take it in turns throwing your bags at the board, scoring three points for getting it in the hole, two if it is touching the hole and one for being on the board (a woody). I played Betty and he wiped the floor with me. Robby and Betty then took on Tyler and Robert, a rematch of the previous years championship final. Cornholes gets very competitive.

The final members of the gang arrived and I was introduced to Shelton, Dmitri and MacReadie. Everyone was soon enjoying a drink by the pool and chatting. I watched Robert and John play beer pong, another game I had never played. I wondered if you could play gin & tonic pong instead? In the excitement of getting to DC and the train journey to West Virginia I had missed out on lunch so the Hendrick’s was going to my head. I needed some food so I ate the cucumber slices from my drink. The original plan had been for the eleven of us to go out for dinner in town. Trying to get ten gays and a girl all ready at the same time would have been a Herculean task so Tyler made the great call to order some pizza.

After dinner and a few more drinks I was introduced to another American game I had never played before – flip cup. We split into two teams. My team consisted of me, Robby, Dmitri and Shelton. We faced Robert, Tyler, MacReadie and John. We played first to ten. I think we lost the first game 10-2. We fared slightly better on the second game but still lost. I think I may have been the weakest link on the team. Everyone was polite to me as the first-timer though. They were a nice bunch of guys and made me feel like part of the gang.

He just keeps rollin’ along

The following morning I woke fairly early. The kitchenette was stocked with the basics so I made a pot of coffee. Robby and I got ourselves ready and headed downstairs. Bill was already making a start on cooking breakfast. I offered to help but he had everything under control. Eventually everyone was up and we had breakfast before getting ourselves ready for a day of tubing on the Shenandoah River. I had never been tubing. It really was a weekend of firsts for me.

Shenandoah River

Having checked in, listened to the safety briefing and made our way by old school bus to the river and chosen our tubes we were ready to set sail. The first task was a lengthy paddle across the river to get to the faster water. Not as easy as it looked and I was pleased that I wasn’t one of the people having to tow the tubes that had our cooler full of beers. The group finally made it across and we were soon floating down the river, chatting, enjoying a drink and taking in the stunning scenery.

Highlights of the day included seeing Betty wearing his large purple tinted sunglasses as he perched on a rock surveying the crowds, avoiding the mental pirate guy smoking a cigar, watching Dmitri having to tow John, Shelton & MacReadie because they had all decided paddling was too much effort and getting into a conversation with a woman who I thought had said “Get a photo of the Brit” while pointing at me. She had actually said bridge.

Betty

Nothing however will beat the sight of Betty trying to exit the river after about four hours of tubing. It had been perhaps an hour too much tubing for Betty, the enjoyment having been replaced by the need for food and a stiff drink (a sentiment echoed by most of the group). The exit point was crowded with people who were making slow progress towards the bank. The progress was too slow for Betty who was determined to be out of the water as quickly as possible. There was a stumble and Betty ended up on his arse in the river, a string of mumbled expletives followed. We eventually all made it out of the river and back to the place we started. I had not done quite so much exercise in a long time and I knew I would be stiff in the morning.

The drive back home was fairly subdued, people were tired and hungry from the afternoon on the river. As we got closer to the house the mood lifted and even Betty was able to laugh about the sight he must have looked exiting the river. Everyone headed off to shower and change ready for another evening of food, drink and games.

“Ol’ man river, he just keeps rollin’ along” 
Lyrics from Ol’ Man River from the musical Showboat