The Artificer's Studio

June has been the month packed full of adventure!

My adventure began that Friday night on the way the camp ground. I stopped to get ice and somehow managed to lock my keys in the trunk. Yep, you read that correct, my keys in my locked trunk. Somehow as I closed the trunk, my keys got hooked on the latch, and flipped out of my hand as it shut. Damn, was I screwed. I quizzed the two pimply faced Loganites in the quicke-shoppe on how long it usually took AAA to arrive. The outlook was less than promising. As I stood there trying to get AAA on the phone I realized that my sunroof was open.

I turned to the quickie-shoppe boys and said “Lads, get your cameras! There is about to be a show!”

I walked out, climbed up onto my trunk and into my Jetta through sunroof. Dropping into the driver’s seat, I tried the locks and was sorely disappointed. A feature of Volkswagens anti-theft package is once the valet lock is engaged and the vehicle is locked from the master remote, it can only be unlocked by a master remote or manually by a valet key. It cannot be unlocked from the inside without a master remote in the ignition. So, the power locks and trunk release were disabled until I retrieved the keys from their dark hiding place.

I grabbed the interior handle and opened the driver’s door. The alarm sounded. I stood there, alarm wailing away, and the plan crystallized. I opened the driver’s door; reached back opened the rear door and laid down the back seat to expose the opening into trunk. Looking in, I did not see my keys. This was mostly due the load of supplies for the weekend. I pulled out a good portion the load but could not see the keys. They must be on the other side of the cooler. Taking a deep breath, I climb in through the opening and into the confined space of my trunk.

Arms failing around, I desperately searched for my keys. It was hot and unnerving in there, and I could feel the panic gathering in my gut. Then it hit me; hooker handle!

I reached up and pulled the glow-in-the-dark trunk release and the sun slow pushed back the inky darkness of the trunk. I pulled myself out, turned and saw my keys, laying there, mocking me. I picked them up and struck a triumphant poise and heard Loganite number one shout “Suma-bitch! He did it!” I reloaded the car and grabbed a couple well deserved beers and dinner at Milestone BBQ.

I arrived at the Top of the Cave camp, located our cabin and joined Chris and Terry for an evening of drinking. I would like to say that the evening’s festivities are nothing new for me. That would be a lie. I really don’t drink much, but peer pressure is even a factor for chubby, middle-aged dudes. We had approximately 48 cans of beer and three drinkers until 11PM, when Bill made it down and then there were four of us. I finally hit my limit around 1 AM and went to my bed in the loft. Sometime around 3:30 AM, I woke up panicked and screaming “SNAKE!” I quickly froze, heart pounding and terrified of a snake in my sleeping bag. Slowly I reasoned it was too late, if there was a snake in the sleeping bag, I was already bit. I might as well go quietly in my sleep. The next morning when finally got out of bed, at 7 AM, I counted two cans unopened. I could feel the pain already!

We fixed a breakfast of bacon, eggs and toast. None of us seemed too terrible for the wear and looking forward to the race. Personally my goals were simple; don’t puke and finish the race. My training regiment was a simple one, walking. That’s it, just walking. We fixed a lunch of hamburgers and chips and assembled our race gear. After policing are cabin and a round of mini golf, we loaded ourselves up and head to Logan.

Arriving at the Logan fairgrounds, we were loaded into school buses and driven to the location of the Warrior Dash. I was not prepared for the course, 3.1 miles +, of uneven terrain, with roughly 2.7 miles uphill. Now, the uphill was not a gentle slope. It was a hillside in the Hocking Hills! These are the foot hills of the Appalachian Mountains and the path was little more than a deer trail, add in the walls, the crawls, jumps and swims, I am truly surprised I finished. I had made it to the top of hill three (?); I stumbled upon a young woman crying and scream at her two friends “I hate you! You fuckers made me do this! I hate you!” Wow, my confidence was seriously shaken by that display, but I was determined to finish.

I completed the race in one hour and sixteen minutes. I actually enjoyed the race itself and the night before was a blast! I’ve signed up to run another race in September. I guess we see if I improve.



On June 14, 2011, I began an adventure with Hansen. We drove 2500 miles in just under 37 hours, across ten states and had a lot of fun. I really enjoyed the trip and miss my friend Hansen who relocated Seattle, Washington. We started our trip from Westerville and went north. Crossing the Mississippi river after nine hours of driving and continuing west, we spent the night in Minnesota. The second day we visited Wall drug and stopped at Mount Rushmore. I really forgot just how big the monument is. The next day we hit the road and stopped at Little Bighorn and Lake Coeur d'Alene and stop for the final night Washington State. The final day we rolled into Seattle around eleven and spent time in the CH2M Hill office and visited with Sean Troyan. The final leg of my adventure was the flight home and the emotional homecoming for my son’s birthday.



Below you’ll find pictures from both events.

Warrior Dash Hat

Little Big Horn Monument



Mount Rushmore



Five greta Americans.



The map to adventure