From Here You're On Your Own

Labor Day weekend turned out to be a pretty big win over here at EPPdF. I woke up crazy early Saturday morning to drive to Winston-Salem for the comicon. It's a 5 hour drive so I had to get up at 3:30 AM and leave at 5:00 to get there on time. Much as I hate to admit, that was the right decision. I had just crossed the South Carolina border when the sun came up and made it to the W-S Annex right at 10:00 AM, at almost the exact moment that Matt Bolick pulled up in his Jeep. The doors opened at 11:00 so we had just enough time to set up and look around before the public was allowed to enter. Amber Dawn Fox, Jeremy Ambler, and Lauren Henneberg (also TWD alumni) were also there so it was a nice crew that I had spent time with and worked with before.
We didn't do a lot of business, per se, but hundreds of people stopped by our table to say hi and to take pictures with us so we had tons of fun clowning around and talking with all the TWD fans.

The promoter of the event, Ryan Lusk - owner of Burke Street Comics in W-S - was great. He checked on us throughout the day to make sure we had anything we needed, put us all up in Marriott Courtyard near the Annex, and then took us out to Hutch & Harris for dinner that night.

http://hutchandharris.com/

Protip: order the crabcakes!

Afterwards, Ryan's assistant Chris walked us over to an Irish bar - Finnegan's Wake - for a couple pints. Nice bar with a great bluegrass band playing that night - but one of the worst double pours I've ever had.

How can you call yourself an Irish pub and name that pub after the most famous book by the most famous Irish author and none your bartenders know how to properly pour a damn Guninness ?!

C'mon people! Get it together.

(I still drank them - but I wasn't happy about it.)

Sunday morning I was up early again and hit the road for the 5 hour trip home around 9 am. Made it back in time to relieve "The Source of the Trouble" who was looking after "the dog" while I was away.

Put in a good workout and dog walk - and even snuck in a nap - before a really old, close friend from Middleburg called for a "catchin' up" over the phone.

This is Wes and I working on my old '55 Chevy 210 somewhere around 1989-90 ish.

It's good to have people in your life that you've known 30+ years - and that still like you!

Late Sunday night I drove out to meet my old buddy Joey from the way back, garage rock, band days but, unfortunately missed him and his brother play a quick set on the patio. Joey and his GF, Pam, had driven up from Gulf Shores via Birmingham for the night to hang out and perform but I didn't get the message until too late.

Fortunately, Joey called me Monday (Labor Day) morning while I was walking "the dog" and he and Pam stopped in for a quick bite at El Taco before they got back on the road. Always love to see those two maniacs. They treated me so well - and let me crash on their couch for a week while I was doing my cross country motorcycle ride a few years back. Pam still doesn't quite forgive me for hogging the sofa for 8 days instead of the 2 I had planned ,))