October 2 – 8, 2024

We had full day scheduled starting the next morning, with a breakfast meeting with our Charlotte cycling friends up in the farthest northern corner of Concord at an obscure, but definitely worth the money establishment, the Crack of Dawn Diner.   Normally we meet with this group of friends on a Monday night at the Bonefish Grill at Concord Mills, but a calendar conflict pushed us to Saturday morning, an OK switch that additionally freed up our Monday night for another set of friends. 

We arrived a few minutes late as traffic was a mess, the ongoing result of the Charlotte area’s rapid growth in population and subsequent lack of the same in infrastructure to accommodate it.  We joined our group at the table and soon ordered, the two-piece French Toast Platter for Joanna and two egg plate with city ham for me.  I could have ordered country ham instead, the difference being it is are saltier and funkier, while city hams are milder and moister.  It was all good and again, an amazing bargain at $28 out the door including tax and tip. 

A filling breakfast was just what we needed as we would be attending the UNC Charlotte 49ers football game that afternoon at their on-campus stadium.  The campus introduced football for the second time (an initial run from 1946 to 1948) in 2013 while I was still working there.  I have mixed feelings about this, in particular the need for the school to levy a $300 a year fee per student to support the program.  Over the years the nature of college football, and athletics in general, has changed distancing itself from the concept of the student athletes, perhaps not for the better.  Only time will tell.  In the meantime, students at UNC Charlotte will pay a fee each year so that alumni can more closely associate with their campus and perhaps, pay more attention to its fund-raising efforts.

OK, enough of that rant, back to the game.  In the eleven years of its existence, the program here has had four coaches (the one we saw that day got fired at the end of this season) and those first three had a combined record of 43 wins and 88 losses.  So, with a decent East Carolina (ECU) opponent on the docket we didn’t have high hopes for the day.  We arrived at the stadium and after parking walked to the outskirts of the stadium to take in some of the tailgating activity.  Both Keith and Jim, my former bosses, know a lot of the alumni and it gave them a chance to touch base with many. 

The intent of the campus to curry favor with alumni had apparently succeeded as there was a crazy amount of people in multiple lots eating, drinking and generally having a good time.  Many had traveled to support ECU and when we finally got to our seats inside the stadium, the yellow colors they sported seemed to outnumber the green of UNC Charlotte.  The game though turned out to be a shockingly good surprise, with our guys taking charge offensively and defensively and eventually thumping ECU 55 to 24, a highlight in a season where they would finish with five wins and seven losses. 

The game ended early in the evening and as we’d eaten enough food while it was going on, Joanna, Keith and I made our way to the Flying Saucer for a round of beers.  As mentioned early, more so than the Wine Vault, this was our Charlotte area bar.  Close to campus and not far from our house, with a decent food menu and ever-changing selection of beer with 82 on tap, one can always find something to fit your mood. 

They have a reward program called the UFO Club where when an individual drinks 200 different beers (limited to three beers per day), they are awarded a numbered plate (their order in all the plates issued) replete with the saying of their choice.  It will come as no surprise to readers of the blog that I have three plates and Joanna as one.  My saying is: ‘High Gravity Equals Low Anxiety’ and if one wonders how difficult it is to drink 200 different beers, with constantly rotating taps its actually quite easy and would generally take Joanna and I two years to accomplish each plate. 

I would often come here before and after I worked with Keith and would we’d gather with folks from his office, a great group if there ever was one and we would take a position at the end of the long bar and hold court, enjoying stories from work and talking about our personal lives in a meaningful way.  As the song says, “you never know what you got until its gone” and I do so miss those days. 

The next morning Joanna and I went out for a short bike ride not far from Diana and Jim’s house on the McAlpine Creek Greenway, a relatively short stretch that would be just right for our continuing development of some sense of conditioning.  We had to ride a long section of sidewalk to get to the trailhead as is the case in Charlotte, the street one could take is unsafe for cyclists, two lanes in each direction without a bike lane and high-speed traffic. 

It was good to be out on the bikes and actually, we could have done more but our short section petered out and we returned to the house to get cleaned up so that I could take Joanna to the Petty Thieves Brewing Company to meet at 1pm with the ladies of her Charlotte book club, having been a member since just after our arrival in town in 2008. 

Joanna’s been able to maintain a connection with them, through Zoom during Covid and our ability to time visits to Charlotte around their monthly meetings.  So, while she met with the group, I sat in an adjacent room and watched an NFL game while sipping on one of the excellent beers that is offered here.  I can think of no better way to start an afternoon. 

Once the meeting ended Joanna and I drove to Lyndsey and Dave’s place to meet them for drinks and food for the rest of the day.  We’ll cover that and more of Charlotte in the next post. 

Links

Crack of Dawn Diner: https://www.crackofdawndiner.com/

Charlotte 49ers: https://charlotte49ers.com/sports/football

Flying Saucer: https://www.beerknurd.com/locations/charlotte-flying-saucer

McAlpine Creek Greenway: https://www.carolinathreadtrailmap.org/trails/trail/mcalpine-creek-greenway-and-campbell-creek-greenway

Petty Thieves: https://pettythievesbrewing.com/