| 2009 Trip to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia |
In order from left to right: Chuck "Devil Nipples" Carter, Sam "Precious" Volpone and John "Short Truck" Bielicki (who started the trip on Wedneday from Baltimore, MD) followed by Rob "Soup" Robinson, Matt "Silly String" Dempsey, Bruce "Glitterus" Griffith and in front: Jeff "Ankle Biter" Roberts (who met up with us at the Flying Dog Brewery in Frederick, MD on Thursday. We were not able to take a tour, but we did get to sample all of their beers. |
We traded John "Short Truck" Bielicki for the beer wench. What a super upgrade, huh? Yeeehaaaa!!! |
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Jeff "Ankle Biter" Roberts brought the two rookies of this year's trip. Matt "Silly String" Dempsey standing behind him and Bruce "Glitterus" Griffith reading the recipe for his favorite brew to our right. |
Now that our livers are beer boosted, we head westward to take a cave tour. |
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We arrive at the Crystal Grotto which is Marylands only public access cave tour. The cave entrance is inside the building down some steps and exits out of the rock ridge about a hundred yards behind the house. Sam watches the owner's dog eat Rob's leftover Chinese food. |
The cave isn't huge by any means, but it has some awesome features. John, Chuck and Sam are the only ones who took the tour with the owner's daughter as our guide. We were told to behave while under her guidance and were only allowed to take 3 pictures. (???) |
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Lots of cool formations. The green item is the casing for a floodlight. |
Super cool! |
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The founder of the Pine Creek Rafting Ass., Larry "Doctor Proctor" Hobdell arrives fashionably late to meet us at our destination at our hotel in Martinsburg, WV (just a short drive from Harpers Ferry, WV). John "Short Truck" Bielicki bows his head in the presence of his eminence. (Larry is always eminating something gaseous!) |
Craig "Uni-bomber" Hobdell rounded out the group of nine Ass.Men who made this years trip. He made a quick deposit and warned everyone to "Not go near the bathroom for at least an hour!". Noyce! |
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We went to this Harper's Ferry outfitter on Friday morning to arrange our day on the river. Yeeehaaaa!!! |
The outfitter has all kinds of gear, but no "two finger" gloves for Jeff. This will be his first trip in a raft since his accident. Not the accident that put him in a wheelchair, I'm talking about the accident he did in his shorts! Whew! |
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We pose for a shot in the outfitter parking lot prior to putting on our gear and heading to the river. We're not lumberjacks, but we're OK. |
We are about to head down river in our rafts and take a quick picture for the rafting special olympics. ??? I think John felt like he was at work with all the helmets. |
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We had some pretty good bumps and drops on the Potomac River and at one point we crossed the point where three States (MD, WV, and VA) meet. Great time!! |
There are six rafters in this picture. Three of the guys in the front are under the wave! Definitely felt good to get some cool river water on us because it was over 90 degrees during the April 24th heat wave. The water level was about 2 feet above normal too which made for perfect rafting conditions. |
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Both rafts are about to take a 3-4 foot drop. One of our guides took a camera and headed down river to take this approach shot. This is the first time we had helmets, guides and NO BEER on a river. WTF?? |
Sam and Craig strike a not so manly pose as we leave the river and head out for brewdogs and dinner at a local tavern. |
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The line formed to the right as we placed our beer and snacks orders prior to Tournament Day at Stonewall's Underground Pub in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. This town is just up the river from Harpers Ferry.
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This was the location of the Darby Cup Pool Tournament and the Skunk Eye Darts Competition.
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Shepherdstown, West Virginia has an old town look with many cool bars, shops, etc... The people we met were about as friendly as you can get. Cool place to visit!
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John, our cruise director for this year's trip, is hitting jackpots with the taverns he steers us in and out of. Awesome!
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Jeff is celebrating his trip down the river with multiple brewdogs. He not only rafted, but he insisted that his crew flip their raft with him at one point. Nobody in the water was happier after the spill than he was. What an Ass.Man!
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Sam Volpone adjusts a crooked picture.... (Who put viagra in his beer?)
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Rob Robinson and Bruce Griffith won the Darby Cup in 2009. The actual cup is missing (Papa Duke?) so Craig borrowed one from a bar he stopped at in his travels to use as a substitute until the real cup is located (Papa Duke?)
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Larry Hobdell and Chuck Carter somehow luck their way into winning the Skunk Eye Darts Competition. Talk about underdogs!
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Larry Hobdell and Matt Dempsey won the Tom Turkey Shuffleboard Contest and are posing with a backwards plaque because the actual plaque is also missing this year. (Papa Duke?)
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Striking the pose of a frog is Chuck Carter, this year's Bullfrog Award Winner for the most obnoxious belch. What an honor! He'd like to start off by thanking the academy and....
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John Bielicki won this year's Onion Ring Award for totally fumigating the billiard room at the tavern in Shepherdstown. Nobody needed to pull his finger, but we sure did need gas masks and bio hazard suits!!! NOYCE!
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The 2009 Pine Creek Rafting Ass.Men
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The 2010 trip will be the 25th Anniversary Ass.Trip We'll be heading back to the Grand Canyon of PA to raft Pine Creek. Are you going? |