      Road Trip of the R&P  Part I:  THE JOURNEY     

          Ah, those were the days.
          40 maniacs
          crammed in a charted bus
          and headed for excitement.
          but first, the fuel...
          $30 each and an LBS means that
          this puppy is juiced and ready to rock.

          On the road, the games begin.
          Kaiser soon loses fans to
          blackjack for shots.
          A run of bad luck means 14 ounces in five minutes,
          a possible combination pointing to things to come.

          Three hours in and the 
          hunger strikes.
          This is where the show begins
          for one
          and all, or at least those who can still 
          see.

          The mystical KFC across the highway
          offers life to all.
          Those first few off the bus head for 
          the ribbon of pavement
          separating them from the servings of deep-fried
          destruction.
          but they soon find that not only is that snow on the ground,
          it's filled the deep ditch.
          If they were too drunk to make it across,
          they just made snow angels 
          until reinforcements arrived to pull them free.
          Most just stumbled, fell, and added to the snowy silhouettes.

          A blackjack induced haze conveniently fills
          the next three hours
          as day transitions into night,
          hiding Calgary until it's all around us.

          The bus rolls quietly into 
          the hotel that this band of 
          nutjobs
          will call home for the next few days.
          A breezy whisper of airbrakes...
          then every possible opening of the bus
          pours forth dazed and drunken bodies
          eager to claim a piece of floor to call
          their own.

          One quiet evening at the local nightclub
          getting blitzed on green beer and bargain shots
          belies the coming storm of insanity.

                              -WindRider 
