Six weeks ago, Brugger's mom, Fern, fell and broke her leg in several places.
Kimberly immediately booked a flight to Michigan so she could look after her
folks, since her dad has physical issues of his own. For all these weeks,
she's played nursemaid, household manager, and gofer; here at home, the cats
and I have done our best to cope (it was certainly not easy on us cats!).
Finally, at last, after this extended sojourn, Brugger returned home on
Wednesday of this week.
Many moons ago, unaware that life would
throw her a series of ripping curve balls, she had reserved a spot at an
(expensive) arts & crafts retreat in Rock Hill, SC, for this weekend. So,
rather than come and go with only a couple days back home, she decreed that I
should accompany her to Rock Hill. And hey, how cool is this anyway? A weekend
at a nice hotel (the
Holiday Inn Rock Hill), numerous restaurants and bars to check out, geocaching in a place I'd
never geocached, individual fun times when she's at her activity, and fun
times together when she's not. For me, all this equals a great big woot!
Friday, April 10, 2026
We headed out about nine o'clock this morning, stopping along the way for
coffee, caches, peeing, and lunch at
The Smoke Pit
in Salisbury, NC. It's one of my favorite BBQ restaurants, which I'd
discovered it while geocaching several years ago. This was Ms. B.'s inaugural
visit, and happily, she found it as enjoyable as I do. Then we moved on and
arrived at the hotel in Rock Hill about one o'clock in the afternoon. She set
herself up in the big artsy-craftsy area, and I went geocaching. Of all
things, there was
supposed to be a cache hidden inside the
bar of our hotel, except the bar had been recently remodeled, and the cache
was a casualty of the alteration. Alas!
Still, several caches lay
within reasonable walking distance, so I hoofed it to a handful of them, which
I found. On my geocaching map, I saw a cache in a park along the Catawba River
about a mile farther on, so I decided to go for it. It was a lovely walk on a
trail through the woods, but when I arrived at ground zero, it was clear the
cache was not there. Fuckboogers! That was one long walk for naught,
caching-wise, but the scenery was gorgeous, so I figure it was anything but a
waste of time.
By the time I reached the hotel, I'd put in over five miles on foot, so it was
a relief to take a shower, kick back, and work on my sequel to
The House at Black Tooth Pond. About five o'clock, Brugger reappeared, and we sought dinner in downtown
Rock Hill at a place called
Ay Papi Tacos & Tequila. Lord have mercy, the food, drink, and service here were incredible. I had a
smoked margarita made with mezcal, served in a skull, that about sent me over
the edge of ecstasy (see photo above). The two tacos I had—the
Heat Wave (grilled chicken tossed in house spicy sauce, black garlic aioli,
candied jalapeños, cilantro) and
La Bebé Verde (Ox tail slow roasted in a tomatillo sauce, onions, cilantro, queso
fresco)—rated as high on
the
Taco Fantastique scale as
it gets.
Then we returned to the hotel, Brugger went down to continue her artsy-craftsy
activities, and I worked on me book. A lovely fooking day, I must say. It's
so, SO good to hang out with my wife (a.k.a. the Stranger) finally, at last,
again.
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Brisket sandwich, red slaw, and fried okra at The Smoke Pit in Salisbury, NC. Heavenly.
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L: Grogu on the caching trail??? R: I wonder what that is in yonder
crevice?
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A purty sunset from our hotel room window, Friday, April 10, 2026
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Saturday, April 11, 2026
There is an emotional downside to this particular date, and that is
because my dad passed away on April 11, 2001. For me, April has historically
been a bad month for losing loved ones. Apart from Dad, several good friends
and three of my beloved cats passed away in April. These sad events have
tarnished a month that, in my younger years, I found tranquil and generally
heartening, what with the onset of spring, the blooming trees and flowers,
moderate temperatures, and an upcoming birthday in May (though nowadays, the
birthday is a date to ignore rather than celebrate). Still, with the passage
of time, the pain of profound loss has at last given way to joyful memories of
love and companionship. May April not be a bitch from here on out.
Once we were up and about this morning, I wandered down to the hotel
restaurant for a quick bite at the breakfast buffet, which I found satisfying
(far better than the last hotel breakfast buffet I'd had), and Brugger went to
her crafty event. I got myself together and headed out geocaching. My first
destination was the nearby
Manchester Meadows Park, which has a few nice trails and several caches. There was a soccer game or
two in making, and tons of people were filing into the park, but thankfully,
the caches were mostly off the beaten track, so dodging muggles didn't present
much of a problem. One cache was missing and disabled, but I figured I'd give
it a look anyway because, occasionally, I have found missing caches by
searching areas where they might have washed away. No luck on this count
today, but I did find a very old, archived geocache—a plastic ammo box—that at
some point had been smashed by a falling tree. Pity I can't claim a find on
it, but at least it was an interesting item to turn up.
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A smashing discovery
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After logging my final cache in the park, I managed to bang my shin pretty
good on a metal bench. Since it broke the skin, I hit the wound with some
Purell sanitizer when I reached my car, and people probably heard the
hollering most of the way across town.
From Manchester Meadows, I headed toward downtown Rock Hill and
Winthrop University, which I ended up touring
à pied. It's a scenic campus, and I
encountered lots of muggle activity. Again, the caches were mostly tucked
away, so muggles were barely a concern. Several of the hides were very nicely
done too, much more satisfying than the all-too-common park & grab
variety. After this bunch, I settled for a light lunch at
Katana Kitchen—a couple of spring rolls and a cup of miso soup—because I figure we'll be
having a substantial dinner somewhere this evening.
R: Turtles! L: Woops!
L: Artesian well. There might have been a cache there. R: Winthrop
University clock tower
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| Whee! |
Once back at the hotel, I settled in to write, first on this blog entry, and
then on Broken Barriers (assuming that's going to be its
title). I can finally see the light at the end of this book, so I'm hoping to
finish it within a month. I'm very happy with the progress I've been making so
far.
For dinner, Ms. B. had taken a shine to a place called
The Pour Market, down at Winthrop University, where I'd been caching earlier today.
Once we got there, though, we discovered the place was closed for a special
event. So, upon searching some nearby, apt-looking locations, we settled
on
Old Town Kitchen & Cocktails. This turned out to be a great choice. The surroundings here are all modern,
industrial style, but the interior of Old Town has a warm, bookish atmosphere.
The service, food, and drink turned out to be first-rate. Brugger went for
white wine (seriously, she's
usually all right) and a superb
smashburger. I had an excellent dirty martini and smoked chicken wings with a
white BBQ sauce, which I'd rate very good. So, despite being denied our first
dinner choice, our second turned out quite loverly.
Back at the hotel, Brugger returned to artsing and craftsing, and I wrote many
words. I must say, it's nice to be away, to have an enjoyable weekend that breaks the routine.
And lord knows, after six weeks and every variety of stressor in the book, Ms.
B. was due for a major respite. Of course, she's still had to spend a lot of
time on the phone sorting out her folks' care since she's not there to do it
in person. For me, finally managing substantial quality time with her
plus caching, dining, writing, and excellent spirits have worked wonders
for an aging inner spirit.
In the morning, we'll get up and get going. All in all, our Rock Hill
excursion has been a treat, and I hope it helped Ms. B.'s stress level. Sadly,
it won't be going down appreciably anytime in the near future. We just have to
take what we can get whenever we can get it.
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Tonic for the spirits at Old Town Kitchen & Cocktails
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