Friday

Friday morning I had planned a bike ride. Dawson got us up early, like 7 am, and happy, so we went to breakfast. Everyone was already there, which was cool. I had a plate of french toast or two and I was out of there. I also found a great mocha for Carolyn that I would get her all weekend. On my trip to get the mocha, I also procured 10 pounds of coffee beans in two varieties. Getting the beans was a ridiculous deal. The barista constantly yawned and his advice and help was of very poor quality. I ended up with 10 pounds of excellent coffee and we ended up with about 5 pounds at home. This is not a problem, this extra coffee.

After the coffee and the breakfast, I felt great and I went over to the bike shop, arriving at 8:58. The proprietor arrived at about 9:06. I figured out how to buy coffee with my phone and an "app" as I waited for my bros to arrive. They did arrive at the shop, and we got our bikes, and we headed out to the trail around 10:30. Jimbo, Shane, Chequamie, Jerry, Jess, and myself rode east toward Horse Gulch and we rode up telegraph and then Stacey's loop and Mike's loop, coming down Cuchillo ridge and the meadow loop descent and back into town. I was impressed at the newbie's ability (Jimbo, Shiz). They were strong climbers, though not as strong as I, though maybe they let up since it's my weekend. it was beautiful. the only problems were the proximity to town and the lack of beautiful vistas. Also the top of telegraph is tough, but it's worth it. Man that mountain bike ride was fun. I would never host a wedding party and not do a pretty significant mountain bike ride the day before or the day of. Jim rode with no clips and no helmet on a $5k bike and it was his first ride and he killed the climbs and was slow on the descents. Jess woke up at 3:00 am in Texas to get on two planes and get to Durango in time to do the ride. Jerry and the Shiz just rolled down from their homes. Chequamie and I brought bikes from Denver.  It was perfect though.

After the ride, what did I even do?

We still had booze to buy and I had a haircut planned. The haircut was great - Lars had a new venue (his house) and a brand new car that morning (a 2012 Subaru Impreza). He was Lars as usual and he only charged me $20. My hair was looking good. There was a cloud of hair particles flying, which meant he was doing his job.

Next I went to the hotel de los de lla shiz and grabbed helpers in Jimbo and the Shiz. We had booze to buy. To the booze store we would go. We were to receive a nice discount on everything, so we did not hold back. We spent plenty of time there; Shiz and I worried about beer; the wine was already selected, and the booze needed to be pulled and scanned. It was insane, since the owner was gone and he had left his wife working the place with two young children and two helpers, and Durango's insatiable appetite for drunkedness constantly distracting her in the form of more customers always showing up interrupting her between ringing us up and feeding her screaming son yogurt.

We were now late to our own rehearsal dinner, so Jim b-lined over there. We planned to have 50 people at the dinner and for one reason or another the restaurant was hesitant to give us the reservation. Jim got there at 5:00 or so and let them know we'd be there shortly. People were showing up on time and we had a good time. I lost my voice and by the end the owner of the joint was coming up to us thanking us for being there. I thought it was dumb that he had a problem with me bringing guaranteed business from 50 people but that's my problem, not his. We did easily get to his loose minimum of $1,000 and we enjoyed ourselves. I paid for people's drinks, which totaled $440 plus a tip. I thought it was a great bargain to get to see people a bit early. Nothing too crazy happened but the few folks who would be the most socially awkward gave us warning shots this night. In no order, they were 1) my aunt ann, who does not know when to let myself or the bride move along and talk to other people, along with her hisband dennis the baby snatcher, 2) my brother Alistair who is just socially akward and wants all of my attention and leads off conversations with words like "hey" and "yo" and can't seem to find anything to say, and 3) Misty's husband steve who yells loudly and has nothing to say. These folks should have just had their own table at the rehearsal dinner and also at the wedding. That would have been fine. Glad they came but man, it causes stress to a host to have to deal with that brand of social incompetence.

After dinner a few of us grabbed drinks down the street. It was fun and uneventful, and soon I would be home with Carolyn trying to get a good nights sleep. I would fall asleep, then wake up worrying. I honestly can't remember what all I was worried about; the small things that actually did go wrong were not the things I was losing sleep over the night before. Maybe I'll remember, but it's probably lost forever. The three of us did sleep good that Friday night.