"We're Built for This Shit." Part 2.

Werd,
So I drove for a while as the mist, and the sun, rose over Kentucky.
I successfully avoided running red lights.... and running deer. Finally, after over an hour of sleep-driving down an empty highway, we pulled over to swap drivers. KT, who had spent nearly the entire drive sleeping while her intrepid crew maintained caffeine IVs, was surprised by being called on to drive. I got out of the driver's seat and fell down in the gas station parking lot when my legs gave out. Chris smoked a ciggarette next to a propane tank with a "No Smoking" sign on it. Life was good.
We arrived at the conference site within the next hour or so (Friday morning). It was right along the Kentucky Dam, ironic due to its fame for being both an environmentally destructive dam and a nuclear power plant. Apparently, we used to hold the conference in Ohio but were kicked out. Cool.
We were fairly early, so we had some time to check out our cabin/condo thingy. Screened porch. Cute little kitchen. We put the Kerry/Edwards yard sign we has swiped in Allentown up and placed a pumpkin on the front steps. Awwwww.
Then it was on to the all-important decision of what to do next. We could a) buy food or b) buy alcohol. The fact that we were in a dry county made this a crucial decision. Should we buy the groceries first and let them sit in a hot van while we trekked out to buy the beer and back? OR..... Should we go out the buy the beer and risk it getting warm while we did the grocery shopping? Clearly, we opted to protect the coldness level of the beer. After confusing/offending the locals several times (I was on nearly permanent damage control at the grocery store.), we returned home to take a much-needed nap. And by "take a nap" I mean introduce ourselves to the Florida canvass crew next door, get hopelessly drunk, and follow them to the other cabins to meet all the other canvass teams as they arrived. Ooops.
The fact that I had not slept since Wednesday night became more and more important by the time we got to the opening speakers Friday night. I already know about globalizationfreetradeWTOFTAAGATTNAFTAFUCKME, so I was a little bored and employing the crucial "stay awake during a lecture trick" of occasionally picking my water bottle off the floor and drinking from it. On one of these attempts, I managed to crack my head on the back of David's chair, causing a cool bruise above my eyebrow. Chris and me traded keeping the other one awake. When the speaker mentioned "New Jersey!" we were all caught completely off guard and wondered if we were supposed to wave when we realized, just in time, that the speaker was talking about port security in Port Elizabeth. Close call.
Post-speaker was a blur of dinner, drinking games, people mentioning that I hadn't slept yet, people congratulating me for this, and finally a party at some other group's cabin. Some kid with a mohawk sang "We Didn't Start the Fire." I convinced Eric it was a good idea to drink one of those little bottles of whiskey (it's a bad idea!). Swapped some stories. Got story-trumped (YES! Finally!). Wandered home around 4:30am or 5. Slept for 3 hours. Prepared for DAY TWO.