Events, With Big And Little “E”

I pulled into a bar parking lot in Kilgore, a town a short distance from Longview. The last time I had been at that bar was over fifteen years ago, doing karaoke with my now ex-wife. This time, I had a new memory to attach to the place. I wasn’t able to make it to East Texas in time for the Wednesday post-Pi Day Event in Marshall, but I did make it in time for a Thursday dinner Event in the lead-up to the Big Show. I immediately ran into friends, but many of them were already ditching the Event for a different event (with a lowercase e). They would be planning for a cache trail run that I would not be attending. If it were any other time or city, I would, but as a board member of the TXGA, I felt I should remain available in case anything cropped up that needed attention. I probably didn’t need to worry about it (half the board was planning to go on the run), but I’m weird like that. Besides, Friday would be a good time to take my caching daughter out to grab a few around the area. But that would all be tomorrow (which, as of the time of publishing, would be now), and I wanted some dinner.

I ended up chatting with a few cachers, one of whom I had met before and two others I hadn’t. One of those new caching acquaintances happened to be the CO of the Arkansas County Challenge. We all chatted about stuff and things over sandwiches, burgers, and a grilled chicken baked potato that, while delicious, turned out to be more than I was expecting. Other cachers I knew buzzed around, going to and fro, some of whom I gave handshakes and fist bumps, others of whom I gave friendly sneers since they would be on other teams in a couple of days and, until the competition was complete, were my enemies!

Afterward, I adjourned from the Event to attend an event of my own. Every year, the board of the TXGA has two in-person meetings. I attended the first one of the year. A good chunk of it was spent going over last-minute details for the upcoming Events, but a good amount of time was spent meeting the new West representative and welcoming the newly elected North and South reps as well. We discussed arcane secrets, unknowable to others lest they go insane (but not really, since the meeting was open to all). We especially talked a lot about [REDACTED] reminded us why the cows wore “pants.” With the bovine issue resolved, we broke for the evening. I headed off to my resting place to write this, then drifted off to the sound of rain. Or some kind of crap like that.