G-town: The fourth will go down as the time I posed for the Harold Liberal

I could not sleep the night of the 4th. It had nothing to do with Tressel sittin’ on it in the third quarter and everything to do with what was about to unfold over the 33 hours. I got in bed at 9 PM like someone who had a 4:20 AM alarm coming. The problem was I didn’t fall asleep. Finally at 12:32 AM, I decided to get up and stretch my legs. I logged on and read all about how the Arkansas Razorback’s football comeback attempt fell faulty to an interception by Ryan “Hanarhan” Mallett with :18 ticks left on the clock. Two big bowl wins in a row for the Scarlet and Gray.

I laid back down and somehow fell asleep. Sleeping lightly until 4:20, I got up, showered, shaved, and got my final belongings ready. I managed to get down a small bowl of cereal and was on the road by 4:55 AM to Georgetown, Kentucky for my Fourth ChickFila opening. This opening was going to be cold but I knew what to expect and the range of emotions my body would have to endure.

I pulled up at 5:25 and pulled ole Red into the Ruby Tuesday parking lot since CFA’s lot was coned and flagged off. I got out, rounded the corner and much to my surprise, no line had formed. I guess this was due to the cold or the lack of individuals present. Either way, the only person I saw was Mike, from Mylan, Indiana. This was his 14th opening. He had made the drive in and was full of IRA and investing knowledge. He was just one of the many Chick Fila fans I have met that are super nice people and love to share their of Chickfila.

6 AM rolled around and only 63 bravers were in line. The 5-0 counted to confirm and the powers at be made the announcement, “There will be no raffle!” We all cheered. I was going to be in the top 100! Hip Hip Hoorah! I was excited because this would have been a big disappointment to be raffled out of. We signed in, Mike as number one, and me as number 2. 3-6 were John and his wife from Cincinnati, their neice and granddaughter. I allowed John my chair for a place to sit inside his heated tent. I had forgotten but John and his family were at the opening in Lexington back in June of 2008. I had helped them set up their tent and they were grateful because of it. We played Euchre and drank hot cocoa as his propane powered heater gave us a 65 degree respite from the 28 outside ambience. I knew it was cold outside when the water in my Nalgene froze and created Ice water.

The line checks came and went for breakfast and lunch with not a lot of excitement. As of 4 PM, there were still not 100 in line. I couldn’t believe it. The date was moved up a week, but this was just confounding as other openings see 200 to 300 people waiting at 6 AM. I did peek my head out and got captured by a local newspaper which was cool. It brought back memories when I used to slide around the diamond for the Eagles in highschool and get some photos of the occasions.

Lex 18 graced the premises around noon. A fellow line person exclaimed, "I've done made the news!"

Anyway, I got on the horn and called my buddy Scott and said you need to skedaddle over here as soon as you can. He was working the VA and their sawmill shift ended at 4. He burned up the highway and pulled in at 4:30. Now some excitement! A woman about the same age, but a track star out of Wormyville, Kentucky, arrived in her car just ahead of Scotty. Both knew they were close to 100 so they got of their cars, hopped over the conage/flaggage barrier and started what will go down in CFA lore as “the sprint for the chikin.’” Here is Scotty, in his shirt and tie, against “Jackie Joyner”, they were neck and neck up the fresh black top parking lot, through the cornhole game, through the four square championships, round the corner, round the big inflatable cow, and into the door to the registration desk. Even though Jackie nipped him by nose, Scotty was fortunate to be number 99 with her 98. What a race though! I have never, nor will I even again, see Scotty run that fast. The only thing that compares was when he was legging out a triple up on the Zwiefel fields for Firehouse back in the day.

Dinner was served and what a dinner it was. I finagled my way back in after consuming a number 2 to get a parfay, medium fry, and black coffee. It was cold outside and I need sustenance! We had dinner with a sweet lady from Berry, KY. She also has a lake house down at Cumberland, real nice.

We did get to meet Kerry Kenny “Tank”. He hauls something in town and had quite a few stories to tell and none of them appropriate for under 17 year old ears.

The DJ played his tunes until 10:59 and then cut it off for quietness. I think I drifted off around midnight only to be woken up with Riney B thought it was 5 because it was so bright outside. It was only 2 AM. I may have gotten back to sleep around 2:30, it’s hard to tell. Inside the tent it was a balmy 38 degrees compared to the outside.

We lined up at 5:45 AM and had to wait on live TV for the official time to go through and open the store. The moment arrived at 6:10. Lex-TV captured the experience as pots and pans rang throughout the restaurant. Rumor has it that Louisville and Frankfort are coming within a year! Yee Haw!!! Saddle up the horses!