The Devil is in the Details - Part II

At this point, there was nothing I could do. I mean, I could panic I suppose. I did panic a bit, to be completely honest. But everyone already there - diaglo, Joe Blank, Loki, Strithe, biorph - they were all very supportive. Strithe knows a bit about cars it seems (an understatement of ironic proportions) and seemed to be only slightly concerned. In his estimation it was the transmission venting fluid because it had become so heated on the drive up the mountain.

This did, however, mean I wasn't going anywhere until it was time to leave on Monday. I mean, getting down the mountain is almost completely a matter of stopping your vehicle from plunging headlong in the ravine ahead of you at any given point. Once down, I could always call AAA if needed. So I checked the levels of the transmission fluid, the oil, the power steering and, seeing all of them at or near proper levels, left it for Monday and turned my attention to the purpose of the trip. Let us start with the Devil's Cabin, or diaglo's retreat.

Beautiful. Gorgeous. Stunning. Most of us might envy diaglo for the fact that he has a dedicated game room...now he has two. Only this one comes with views that are truly spectacular.

Here's the "cabin" from the front drive (this was taken later in the trip after some other folks had arrived):

And this view is from the right of the previous picture (where that white van is located):

See that back deck? It runs the entire length of the house. There are access doors on the first level from a screened in porch near the kitchen, the great room, and the master suite. Windows dominate the walls on that side. Mostly it's because you get to see this...wait...I'm skipping ahead....

Now, I was scheduled to get there around 11:30 AM....roughly. But my nap in Dandridge and my three trips between 76 and the Black Gates, including all of the phone calls and checking of emails, added some time. So I got settled in around 2:30 PM or so. I unloaded all the food I brought, put my gaming stuff downstairs in the basement gaming area, and took my air mattress upstairs to the loft. I picked a spot near the window (fortuitous for later events) and set up. I laid out on the air mattress and called home - the irony being that while I was unable to get a signal anywhere down below - when I needed it to call to get directions and such - I got a nice strong signal on top of the mountain.

I could not fall asleep, however. I was in that weird dream-like state where my body was ready to collapse at any moment but I was not tired. And I knew that once I did fall asleep it would be a long time before I woke up - possibly the next morning missing gaming time...

diaglo fired up the grill, I think, and he threw a bunch of hamburger patties on. I say "I think" because I'm honestly still a bit fuzzy on this time. Some of it seems to have gone missing in my head. I do know that it grew darker and people started arriving. Soon we were kibitzing and drinking and eating and chucking dice...