MapQuest and Yahoo! Maps said my trip would be about 7 hours, so I headed off at 6am sharp. I had my brand new EZ-Pass all loaded up and with Al Franken�s �Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right� loaded up on my iPod, I managed to make the trip in just five hours, barely going over the speed limit. This included the five-mile detour to get to the Salmon Creek Country Club where the show was. With plenty of time to myself to sit and sleep in the nice couches over looking the tennis courts.
The truck arrived after a few hours and load up went smoothly. Before the show started everyone celebrated C.M. Punk�s birthday. He received a six-pack of Lebatts Blue, a pack of Cigs, and a cigar. He apparently was never told about the �Well, it�s the thought that counts� adage.
I was assigned two matches for the evening. But first I was honored to ring the bell for a ten bell salute to Road Warrior Hawk. My first match was Hydro (w/ 10 million SpecialK kids) vs. Slyk Wagner Brown (w/o April Hunter). Slyk wins with a press-slam into a moonsault. My second match was talked about a bit in the reviews of the show and I�d like to clear up what happened. The match between Matt Lache (NYC Stryker) and Jared Steele was slated to go 3 minutes. I let them know that they probably shouldn�t go far over that. They ended up going about 2. Lache went to kick out of the finish just after three to keep strong, but took the finish a little stiffly on his head and was dazed and apparently kicked out before three. I didn�t see this and signaled for the bell anyways. The sound guy had fallen asleep or something and never hit the music, so the ring announcer / bell ringer didn�t think the match was over. That was the match that they planned out, that was the finish and it was close to the time that had. It just came off bad.
Clean up after the show took forever as there was no venue-supplied custodian on duty. Plus the ring truck got stuck in the mud outside and we had to wait for a tow truck. Much effort was made to try and push the truck out of it�s muddy prison, but, alas, no to avail. Chairs and tables were placed under the back wheels to try to get some grip but she was stuck in there tight.
I had planned on driving straight home, but due to the horrible weather, Kevin Dunn offered me his couch, which I accepted. The couch was fine, and except for the new kitten (Tony) sharpening it�s claws on my leg I had a nice sleep. I took off the next day at 10am sharp and made it home in another five hours. Total milage 652miles.