The Weekend: Part I, The Misadventures of Amy, Adam & Kobe

I wouldn't be being completely honest with my readers if I just pretended that all of our weekends are filled with fun and good times. Sometimes, we have misadventures - things suck and we want to kill each other. This weekend was clearly one of them and so, I will break it up into two parts. Today: The Misadventure.

The three of us headed north in the truck on Friday afternoon. Our mission? To pick up Adam's Jeep at his parents house, take it for a test run to Errol. Camp at Errol for the weekend and paddle and then take the Jeep and the truck home. That way, Adam could put the finishing touches on the Jeep and get it ready to sell.

This mission already makes me nervous. Why? You may be thinking. Seems simple enough. Because it involves me driving the truck, a standard. I have yet to master the standard. My mom can attest to the fact that I am no good at driving a stick. I think I may be solely responsible for her gray hairs, for that reason alone. I'm a little slow on the uptake when it comes to this task. But, I decided it was time to buck up and figure it out. The old Nike theme comes to mind.

We got to Adam's parents house much later than planned and when it was time to hit the road and head to Errol it was dark. It was about 9:00 pm and we had a 2 hour drive ahead of us. Uh huh. Off we went. I did fine taking off, no stalling. Sweet! Maybe I've got this, I am thinking. Ahh, not so fast, young lady. We get into town and stop for gas...And I stall it about three times.

Adam calls me on the phone and asks how I'm doing. I answer in one word sentences. He knows I am not happy, but I say to him..."I've just gotta do it. I have to." He tells me that we can leave the Jeep somewhere and abandon the mission. But I say no. So, we continue. I stall some more. He pulls over. I am on the verge of tears because I feel like such an idiot. "We're going to leave the Jeep." he says. "I used to work at a furniture builder, I'll leave it in the parking lot there with a note on the windshield. This is crazy, it's windy, the Jeep is loud, you're freaking out, we're both tired." "Fine." I respond.

So we pull into the furniture place. We're there for a couple of seconds when we hear this:

Man in the dark: This isn't an f-ing parking lot, get the f-out of here.
Amy: Uh oh (this is not happening, I'm thinking to myself)
Adam: Pete, is that you?
Man in the dark (aka, Pete - Adam's former boss): Yeeeaahhhh
Adam: It's Adam
Pete: F*&K. You stupid SOB, what do you want to get yourself shot?

They keep it simple in the North Country.

Adam goes on to explain the situation and Pete was our best buddy by the time we left. Sure, we could leave the Jeep there for the weekend.

Off we head, still with 1 1/2 drive left in front of us. Then, it starts raining. Adam tells me he can't make the drive - too tired. As am I. So we decide to try to find a hotel in Gorham. With the dog. We decide on the cheapest looking motel. Get a room there and sneak Kobe in. The place was nasty. But it was dry and had a bed (probably full of bugs). We went to sleep without saying a word.

The next morning we were both awoken by the pounding rain. "Maybe we should just go home?" I say. "Do you want to go get coffees?" Adam replied. "OK" I say. Adam goes out to the truck to get the bag with my raincoat and all of our warm clothes in it. It's gone. It flew out the back of the truck on our way.

Then we remembered that they were supposed to be blowing up the smoke stacks at the old paper mill in Berlin, right down the road,"The city that trees built" it says on their Welcome to Berlin sign. Once a booming mill town, Berlin is now a bit depressing. Every time we drive through there on our way to paddle, I am amazed. Everything is for sale, run down, the people look sad. Sweet - it could be fun to watch buildings blow up. This was supposed to be a new beginning for Berlin - a fresh start. We decide to do that and hope that it stops raining. Things are looking up. We got a great parking spot to view the stacks.

Little did we know that this is where THE biggest news story in the state was about to occur. They were to blow up three stacks. The first two toppled, no problemo. The third one, he was a stubborn sucker. They tried once...BOOM we heard. The thing doesn't even wiggle. "COOL!" I say to Adam and Kobe. "This is so symbolic. I love it. The stack is saying a big F-U. I worked hard for a lot of years and this is the thanks I get? I bet it's how a lot of the former mill workers are feeling right now too." They both just stared at me.

About 30 minutes later, they reset the charges and tried again. Again, nothing. Then, oh, maybe 20 minutes later, the sucker starts falling on it's own. "There it goes!" says Adam. And we watched the third and final tower fall. "I hope there wasn't anyone in there." we both say simultaneously. Check out the news story below to see pictures/video and what actually unfolded.

http://www.wmur.com/news/14121806/detail.html

We decided it was time to get out of town, and keep heading north. Up next, Weekend Part II: Things brighten up.