Guys' Weekend, Part 1: Where's Bill?

Last year, Jeff, Randy, and I waited for Bill and Paul before leaving McHenry for the cabin. The original plan was to leave at 1:30. But because of work schedules and various delays, Bill and Paul didn't show up until 4:00 or so.

So this year, Jeff and I decided to leave whenever we were ready, get up to the cabin before Bill and Paul, and wait for them to show up. The first wrinkle in our plan was when Paul unexpectedly cancelled. He had some kind of foot injury, and he needed to have it checked out. Bill was more than slightly concerned about having to drive up to the cabin alone. We reassured him that if he printed out the directions on RJ's website, he wouldn't have any trouble. So, armed with RJ's directions, Bill told us that he was going to "take it slowly" and that we shouldn't expect him until about 11:00 p.m. Knowing Bill, we estimated that we wouldn't see him until around midnight...

Jeff and I arrived at the cabin around 4:30 - 5:00. We spent our time building a fire, playing Nintendo Super Pro Football (see "Guys' Weekend, Part 2"), and searching the area for The Rock (see "Guys' Weekend, Part 3").

But at about 1:30 a.m. we started wondering about Bill. The temperature had plummeted, and it was a very cloudy, dark night. There's absolutely no cellular coverage around the cabin (the nearest signal is 15 miles away), so if Bill got lost in the area, he might never find his way out again. So Jeff and I drove back down the road until we finally got a cellular signal. We were hoping that Bill had left me a message on my phone, "Hey guys. It's really late now, so I decided to wait until Saturday." But he didn't. I tried calling his cell phone, but I didn't get an answer. So we figured that either he was sleeping at home, or he was already lost in the Cellular Dead-Zone.

We couldn't do anything else, so we went back to the cabin and went to sleep. Almost the last thing we said was, "If Bill shows up tonight, we're gonna pay him back by scaring the living daylights out of him."

A few hours later (we found out later that it was 5:00 a.m.), Jeff woke me up: "Michael! I think Bill just pulled up!" We both scrambled down RJ's ladder-like staircase. I ducked into the doorway to the bathroom. From there, Bill would need to pass me to get into the cabin, but I wouldn't be in view immediately. Bill came in very quietly, passed me, and starting putting his bags down. I stood for a few moments, deciding how best to startle him. As I contemplated this act of absolute cruelty, I imagined the look on Bill's face. It was such a funny thought that I laughed out loud. Unfortunately for Bill, I was close enough to him that the sound of my laughter did the job nicely. He jumped straight into the air, cocked his fist, and spun around. I have to give him credit for such incredible reflexes; he moved faster than I thought he could.