4/12/08: Still summarizing what I can’t remember. When Justin My Ass is hare, the wise hasher stays in bed (possibly with Basket’s wife, since he seems to show up, no matter what). There was fresh snow (about 5”) on the ground, making the parking area at Heritage Park in Chepachet a bit dicey for the Light cars. The hare greeted me as the first arrival with the news that a) it was about an 8 mile trail, and b) the only beer he had was Busch Lite! I immediately tried to back out of the parking lot, but my spinning wheels soon dropped my gas mileage from 50.6 to 48.5 mpg, so I had to stop. Luckily Amish and Basket had both thought to bring decent beer. Take note. This kind of planning ahead should be SOP for a JIMA trail in the future. 

WIPOS was last to arrive, and strapped his skis on, the rest stuck with the traditional shiggy shoes. Off they went, with many a misgiving. Trail was marked in completely invisible pink Kool-Aid (perfect for Basket’s color-blindness). The ‘marks’ led southeast. There was an early check that led to an unmarked falsie that effectively was the straw that broke the camel’s back.seven marks over some rocks and downed trees leading to nothing. Not a footprint. Not an “X”. The hare chortled. The rest came back to the trail, now marked with WIPOS’ ski tracks. 

Basket, Fuwangi and I followed the footprints and ski tracks. A check which led either to the trailer park or back to the main trail was encountered. We chose to range for marks along the main park trail. Amish and Concrete stuck with the hare, at least for a while. Ah, the lure of Busch Lite! It became clear to Fuwangi and me that the best course was to circle back to the cars. We knew that Basket had left some beer in the snow next to his car. I brought out (and made the mistake of showing Fuwangi) my new GPS which I had been trying out, and we went straight back to the parking area. Nothing at this point was clear to WIPOS who by this time had lost his glasses in the snow. Basket was off in any direction, as usual. 

Back at the cars after about 1 ½ miles of pleasant wintertime jogging, we opened some beer and waited. I don’t know exactly when Amish and Concrete rebelled against the hare and turned back. I don’t know how WIPOS ever found his way out without glasses. I don’t know why Basket keeps showing up for these things when he knows the hare will be marking in red or pink on fresh snow. But somehow, everyone made it out of the woods. 

The circle was joined. The pack couldn’t decide whether the actual trail encountered was even shorter than the hare’s previous world record attempt (See Run #1108). Or whether the marking was even worse than his last attempt at Heritage Park (See Run #1128). Regardless, this was another memorable one. Total: -69069! Hashit went to WHO for technology on trail. We swung low and headed for Chester’s. And that’s all there is to say! 

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