CSULB Peep Meet, June 16

[MikeW]

BonnyW and I just finished our weekend at California State University Long Beach, helping run the Bocce Venue for Southern California Special Olympics. I will post more details later with pictures.

A PTY (Peep Thank You) to our fellow member Sideways, who volunteered his time on Friday to help me and a few other volunteers with the setup of the bocce venue. We transformed a women's softball field into a very good looking bocce venue with 11 bocce courts. Friday was, by far, the hottest day I have ever dealt with at CSULB for Summer Games. It is a few miles from the ocean, but for 3 hours in the middle of the day there was no breeze, 97 degrees and 100% humidity. We were dragging by 1PM, and by that night, it was the worst I had felt in a long time. Sideways just kept on going, even when I couldn't. This was the first time we had met Sideways in person, not much of a Peep Meet, just a lot of hard work with good people.

Sideways, I hope your finger is doing better.

[TAPPY]

Peeps helping Peeps !!!

Cant wait for the pics !!!!

[Susie Q Roo]

Very nice. You are both wonderful, giving, good people and excellent examples to the rest of us.

[jx2]

Way to go you set a good example for the rest of us

[monte]

Mike, thats really nice to hear. Thanks for sharing it with us.

[Nerak936]

Good peeps doing good things. LUV IT!!!!!!

Major kudos to you guys!!!


(OK, Mike.... fess up.... whadya do to poor Sideways' finger??)

[MikeW]

Originally Posted by Nerak936

(OK, Mike.... fess up.... whadya do to poor Sideways' finger??)

I'll let Sideways explain, I was in a bit of a dehydrated sun stroke daze at the time.

[playabum17]

Bravo! So glad there are people like you in the world...to make up for people like me

[BonnyW]

Agreed!
Great weekend!
I arrived on Friday just in time for MikeW and Sideways to have finished setting up. (How's that for timing? )
Sideways and I managed to squeeze in a game of Bocce. He's an awesome natural Bocce player. Yep...he beat me.

I am also looking forward to seeing the pictures MikeW

[MikeW]

Thursday June 15.
I leave my client early and head home. Have to finish a few last minute things before leaving early Friday morning for Summer Games.
Wash the truck.
Load the scoreboards, tools, etc into the trailer
Fill the truck up with gas.
Help Bonny finish printing the team roster tags
Get ice and 3 cases of bottled water for the cooler.
Load the cooler, bocce paperwork, chairs, computer, printer, bocce balls, screw guns into the truck.
Start and finish packing.

Hook up the trailer, check the lights on the trailer, check the brakes.

Check, check, and triple check.
We're good.

Thanks Bonny for all the help this week with getting things ready for me.

[MikeW]

Friday morning, June 16

Alarm goes off at 5:30AM, arghghghgh, those 2 margaritas last night for celebrating getting everything ready to go are still in my system.

Take a shower, throw the last things into my truck.
Good bye kiss to Bonny
And off we go.
Just have to drive 10 miles to pick up my son Michael, and we are headed to Long Beach.

Step outside the house and a news helicopter is over the freeway a short distance from the house . That's never good. Pull out slowly, as I approach the stop sign at the end of my neighborhood; the stop sign I normally do a rolling stop and go; I have to come to a complete stop because of the traffic. WTF???? Get pulled into that traffic and approach the on-ramp, it's closed SOB, Thing 1, 2 and freaking 3

Okay, quick decision, do I get on the freeway headed in the opposite direction, away from my son's house and go around the back, or do I follow everyone else through our little town to the other side of town to the other on-ramp? Quick analytical "hung over" thinking cap kicks in (slowly), if I go the opposite way and then try the back way, everyone else is probably doing the same thing. Stay on track and go through town, shouldn't put me more than 15 minutes behind.

I start following all those cars and trucks winding under the freeway bridge, and there it is, the cause of the problem. What was once a semi truck and trailer is now a just a blackened shell burned of a truck frame, with no sign of a trailer being towed off the bridge. Along with overpaid Cal Trans workers collecting overtime picking up all the pieces. The traffic on the two lane road I'm on under the freeway comes to a stop. Not a crawl, but a freaking stop . I should have gone the other way. 10 minutes later I hear the train whistle, and then the train goes by. Yep, we're waiting for the damn train. 45 minutes later I finally make it to the other on-ramp. Not a problem, I'll just speed all the way there with a 4500lb trailer in tow. Get on the freeway, at least the normal traffic isn't there, because the freeway is closed a half-mile behind us.

Pick up Michael, and we're off. Got to skip freeway traffic, so we're going to take a circuitous route to Long Beach. We head through Malibu canyon, with the 4500lb trailer in tow, and down to PCH. We take the coast drive to Santa Monica.

As I'm driving along PCH there's a problem. Takes me awhile to figure it out, being of unsound mind and body from last nights margys. It's 7:30 in the morning and it's a beautiful day out, not a cloud in the sky. Oh, that's not good. Where's the clouds, the morning fog, the early morning, the marine layer, June Gloom????? It better get cloudy as we head south another 50 miles.

Driving on PCH can be fun, but through Malibu it's a bit treacherous with garage doors 5 feet from the road, wizzing by parked cars at 50mph on a winding bouncing 4 lane road. Now imagine early morning rush hour on PCH, 2 lanes North, 2 lanes South, everyone headed South. The lanes are about 9 feet wide, and my 4500lb trailer is 8 feet wide (sometimes wider when it's swaying). I'm holding my speed at 45 to 50mph, while these Porsches, BMWs, Jaguars, Bentleys, surf mobiles, and Hummers go flying by at 65mph 1 foot from me. Even the buses are going 65mph. Posted speed limit 45mph.

We get all the way to Santa Monica without a misshap. PCH is now 6 lanes wide, each lane 9 feet wide. I'm in the middle lane, just before the California incline, and some impatient moron in a BMW in the lane to my left can't wait for traffic to get all the way into the left turn lane. As I approach he starts to creep into my lane, I've got nowhere to go, I pray he quits creeping because I can't stop in time, as I slip by with 3 inches to spare. I saw the look on his face, it was priceless as he jerked his steering wheel to the left. One of life's pleasures, scare the out of a careless driver.

Get on the 10 East (Christopher Columbus Highway), 405S and I might make it to CSULB by 8:15. Just past the airport traffic stops. Damn, I should have moved into the diamond lane (2 passengers or more), I have my son good enough for me. I start to move over to the left lane (with the 4500lb trailer), and slowly creep along waiting for the legal time I can move into the diamond lane that hardly no one is on. Cell rings. Answer it, it's Sideways. He's at CSULB, where am I. I try to explain, he's probably thinking I'm late to everything. Every once and awhile a car flies by on the diamond lane next to me. My analytical (still hungover) thinking cap kicks in. There are Special Olympics logos plastered all over the trailer, opening ceremonies are tonight in Long Beach, the California Highway Patrol is participating in them, the CHP is a major part of the torch run running to CSULB, I haven't seen a CHP today, they all must be running to CSULB, so I illegally cross the double yellow into the diamond lane, and floor it (with the 4500lb trailer in tow). About 1/4 mile later I pass the reason for the slow down, an accident, and the freeway is moving. Now I gotta get out of the diamond lane, and back to where I belong.

Finally make it to CSULB 45 minutes late, meet Sideways (Greg), go through the usual BS to get parking passes, walkie talkies, etc. And it's still a beautiful day , without a cloud in the sky

[sideways]

Our mini peep meet was awesome!! It was really a pleasure to meet Mike, Bonny and the family. As Mike said we had a great time transforming an empty softball field into this great looking venue. I was very dissapointed that I had to work the dayshift during the weekend. I really would have liked too participate in the actual competition days . I think Mike, you need to get with the planning commision and set dates for next year on my weekend off I'm sure you have the pull to do it Mike .

Regardless of what Mike said.....I was the one dying at 1pm, while he kept plugging along. 97 Mike? When I got in my car at 5pm it was 93. I KNOW it was hotter than 97 on that field . Bonny showed up in the afternoon ready to supervise us slackers...hehe. She commenced to give me Bocce lessons, then in her very gracious manner, allowed me to win. I get the gist of the game, which is really fun, just dont know why they named one of the balls the "Polenta"

As far as the Finger....It still hasn't fallen off :P. Stupid me manages to punch a whole in my finger with a 14v cordless driver. I was thinking, "Oh man ....This is all Mike needs at this point, having to find a bandaid for the klutz"
.
All in all I had a wonderful time. Meeting Mike, Bonny and thier wonderful Family was again...fantastic! Can't wait to see you guys again! We'll have to hook up before next years event.