Labor Day Weekend, I flew to Raleigh, NC, where Mark Clark picked me and Jeremy Graves (Tuscon, AZ) up at the airport and shuttled us to a riverside cabin outside of New Bern, NC to meet up with Larry Wray. Graves needed a "guys weekend" right after spending 14 days in Maui (none of us are quite sure why you would need to get away after being in Maui). Clark found an awesome cabin on-line and Graves booked it.
We got a great deal on the place. It sat on the river, had a fully stocked kitchen, grill, dock for fishing and canoeing, canoes, and had DirectTV (no local channels as we learned when trying to catch the 3 PM CBS SEC football game). 
Larry Wray served as our Grill Master and Chief Chef for the weekend. He brought seafood for a boil, beef for cheese steaks and steaks. The food was AWESOME!!! 
The boys relaxed and fished a bit. I would make fun of Graves for this "whopper" that he brought in, if Larry had not caught a tree along the bank (unfortunately, I could not get the video of that event to upload). 
Graves got out and canoed a bit. I tried to go out with him, but I felt that the canoe was very unstable with me in it (I can't imagine how frightened he must have been). It was peaceful and uneventful, except for the guy who came whizzing by at 30 mph in his speed boat twice a day. He about ran over Jeremy once when he was canoeing as he came through.
Of course, no guys trip with Larry, Clark and I can be complete without video games. We had the Wii and Tiger Woods 2009 (seems so ironic now). I also brought the old N-64 and Larry, Clark and I took Glasgow Rangers through the phantom "World League" unscathed in Fifa 1999. It's a classic!
A view of the fully stocked kitchen and bar area.REFLECTIONS - New Bern, NC - Cultural Capital of North Carolina
Little did we know, but New Bern is the cultural capital of North Carolina. I always figured most of the action occurred in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill Research Triangle, but New Bern had many activities Labor Day Weekend.
Saturday morning, we loaded up and headed into town to watch the UT vs. Western Kentucky game. We went to Halftime Pub and Grub, a new sports bar in New Bern. This sports bar would stand up to any sports bar I have been to. They had 27 high definition televisions, and Chef Ben Wheat (the owner) took really good care of us. The highlight of the day was that we were able to watch the game with Montario Hardesty's Dad (pictured with us above). Hardesty, Tennessee's star Running Back, is from New Bern. Mr. Hardesty and a friend were there watching the game. When the younger Hardesty was recruited, he originally committed to North Carolina and then changed his mind on National Signing Day and came to Tennessee. I think the picture shows why he was originally going to North Carolina, which is where his younger brother is projected to go.
There is also downtown "Historic" New Bern to visit. Ironically, I will not be able to write about the experiences there, as there were none - we never ventured to "historic New Bern".
On Sunday, they had wrestling, or as it is better known in the south - "Wrasslin'" at the area high school. Unfortunately, we thought the festivities began in the evening. The event started at 2 PM, so we ended up missing it. Robert Gibson, of the Rock and Roll Express and "Hands of Stone" Ron Garvin were the headliners. The most interesting match to our group was the Lady's Champion, Tracii Taylor vs. Little Brutus, the Midget Champion. I can only imagine the stories I would have been able to write about if we would have had the time straight.
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