Western Maryland Meetup - w/Woodsroad & Lestrout

[ssjones]

I'm still laid up from a hip replacement, so it was great to welcome Dan (woodsroad) and Les (lestrout) to my home in Hagerstown, MD this afternoon. Dan and Les are two of my oldest pipe buddies, and I had not seen either in quite a while.
Dan picked up one of my GBD's and decided instead of shipping it to him, he would drive down and pick it up in person.
Les Young (reigning slow Smoking Champion of the US! ) is always up for a meet-up, so he tagged along.
We had a light lunch, a couple of pipes and some great camaraderie.
Les brought me a tin of Murray's era 965 (Les introduced me and hooked me on MM965 about a decade ago).
Spending some time with them really made my week!

 

[lestrout]

Phenomenal day all the way around.

 

[woodsroad]

What a great day!
Al and his lovely wife Liz had lunch ready to go when we arrived. A quick tour around the Jones residence included Al's bedazzling collection, then it was burgers and hotdogs on the grill with all the fixin's. Long talks of cabbages and kings, soaking up a beautiful Western Maryland afternoon, watching the hummingbirds and butterflies in their garden. It was so nice to see Al, it had been pre-pandemic since either Les or I got to spend time with him.

On the long drive home, Les and I solved all the world's problems. Now if y'all would just listen to us and get it right....

Thank you, Al and Liz!

 

[ssjones]

We definitely enjoyed the company. I know that was a long drive, and I really relished that visit!

 

[scloyd]

Fantastic. Thanks for posting.

 

[Ahi Ka]

@lestrout what is that monkey you are holding?

 

[ssjones]

@lestrout what is that monkey you are holding?

That's my tamper holder, a flea market find.

 

[Ahi Ka]

Ok that is seriously awesome. Would make me smile every time I grabbed a tamper

 

[georged]

TIL someone actually lives there

 

[woodsroad]

TIL someone actually lives there


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It is beautiful country.
Because it used to be part of Pennsylvania!

 

[ssjones]

Western Maryland, also known as the Maryland Panhandle, is the portion of the U.S. state of Maryland that typically consists of Washington, Allegany, and Garrett counties.

George - Hagerstown is in Washington County, I live two miles from the Potomac River and WV. That part of WV is getting too citified....


I grew up in the town in the foreground, and that's WV in the background.

TIL someone actually lives there


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[RookieGuy80]

I've done hunting out in Western MD. I had to be careful my shot didn't land in WVA. I know a bird I winged ended up across the border one time.

 

[mikethompson]

Looks like some beautiful scenery and wonderful company.

 

[ssjones]

Looks like some beautiful scenery and wonderful company

Every Sunday AM finds me out here early with my pipe, coffee and laptop. The hummingbirds and finches are out early. This AM, a baby bunny sat beside my chair for a few minutes, before realizing, hey, thats a human! No doubt scouting out which of my wife's flowers to eat. We considering selling this home, to get close to the grandkids in Louisiana. It's going to be tough, not sure that I can easily replicate 24 years of work. (and amazingly, fantastic neighbors)

 

[jguss]

Don’t know if this is a possibility in your case Al, but the problem with moving to be near kids and grandkids is that they’re mobile. I have a friend who uprooted to be closer to his son only to find that less than a year later he (the son) took a job a thousand miles away.