The planning. [Back to table of contents]

It was a nice fall afternoon and I was sitting in my office after just hearing that it was going to be expensive to have my sister pack and ship several cases of Yuengling to me. What was I going to do? I couldn't stand to be without my favorite beer for too long. I was also running pretty low on vacation days but I got lucky. Thanksgiving was coming up and I don't usually fly home for the holiday.

I knew that if I flew home it would be a big hastle to get all that beer back with me on the plane. There was only one way...I had to drive. NO!! Not that!!! At least at first, the thought of driving 15 hours home was a tad painful especially after all those long, solo drives back and forth from home to Daytona where I went to college.

So, a compromise is what I needed. Some place to get my favorite beer without having to drive all those hours. I knew I had to at least get across the PA state line before ever hoping to score some cases. So Pittsburg it was. Being it was a holiday and I hadn't seen my brother and sister in a while I decided to see if they would be interested in meeting me in Pittsburg and we could turn this beer run into a chance to have our way with the city of Pittsburg!!

After some phone calls and some information gathering web browsing I located a hotel right in downtown Pittsburg which happened to be about a 1/2 mile from all of the bars I wanted to visit while there. I also asked one of my friends from St Louis, Eric Thompson. It was on..we were to meet my siblings at the hotel 7pm Thanksgiving Day in Pittsburg.

Thursday November 23, 2000 -- The trip out. [Back to table of contents]

Of course, Thompson and I went out the night before....it's funny how often I have partied the night before a long drive. Which, come to think of it, just might be why so many of those trips from school to home seemed to last forever. Thompson calls and says hes ready. He was actually ready early, which was a shock. About 11m we were off. Planning on it taking us 9 hours to get there, put us in Pittsburg about 7pm....Right on schedule.

It really wasn't too bad of a trip. Somewhere in Ohio we stopped and stuffed our faces with some Boston Market and bought some beer for the pre-party!! I love that place on Thanksgiving. No clean up, no cooking and they have really good food. On our way into the city we got a bit lost, but eventually ended up at the hotel around 8pm.

My siblings were there waiting for us ready to party. After the introductions it was back to the business at hand..PRE-PARTY!!! Several frosty beverages later we decided to check out downtown. Where to go?? Of course, we checked out Have A Nice Day. It was a holiday so we were a bit concerned no one would be out. Once we got to Have A Nice Day it seemed that would be the case. When we walked in, we doubled the number of people in the bar including wait staff and bar tender. They told us they were closing early cause no one was out. What next?

Just down the street was an establishment known as Bar Pittsburg!! It was clear this was the place to be...as we walk in we are greated by one of the reasons we chose Bar as our destination...women dancing on the bar!! I love this place. To the bar we went where I realized I could purchase the treasure that I was seaking. The next words out of my mouth were, "4 Lager bottles please!!" I love how that phrase rolls off the tongue. You know you are home when you can ask for Lager bottles and there is no need to specify WHICH Lager you are referring to...the bar tenders know you mean Yuengling.

After several more rounds of Lager, which by the way were something crazy like $4.50 each!! That was the only thing I didn't like about Bar Pittsburg!! But we were on vacation so it didn't matter. While dancing I noticed this group of girls behind us. I figured I would be a good sibling and attempt to introduce my brother, Scott (aka Santiago), to one of them. As I walked up the the girl something happened.....my mind went blank. Just then I said "Hello, my name is.....(I paused, as if confused....and continued...)my brother......(again I paused, my mind was blank..I decided to abort...and finished with...)I got nothing!!" If only I had a camera to capture the look on this girls face after I said that to her. It was hilarious!!

Couple more rounds of Lager and it was back to the hotel for the night.

Friday November 24, 2000 -- The beer purchase. [Back to table of contents]

As I awoke on the couch I realized today was the day I was going to purchase ALL of my beer!! I was excited. I have to explain something for those not from PA at this point. They have some of the most restrictive laws on where and how you can sell alcohol. If you want more then a 12 pack of beer then you have to go to a *distributor* who ONLY sells cases of beer and kegs. If you want liquor you need to go to a *state store* which in Pottstown is only open until 5pm. It's crazy....

While eating in the nearby Pittsburg mall, I can't seem to remember the name of this mall but it was near a train station. I asked the lady at the information desk where the closest distributor was located. Good....just a couple miles down the road!! After watching Santiago devour a HUGE sub and an interesting walk around the mall it was off the the distributor!!

The distributor we ended up at was huge!! We finally found the cashier where we could purchase beer. She told me this distributor was the Yuengling distributor for the surrounding 9 counties!! I was in heaven....

I spent $200 on beer!! They even had cases of Premium Quart bottles!! Does it get any better? They brought the 15 cases of beer out to my truck on a fork lift!! Wait til you see the pictures......

After the beer pick up it was back to the hotel for some pre-partying. We decided to try out another one of the Pittsburg bars....

Saturday November 25, 2000 -- The wedding. [Back to table of contents]

The trip home was rough. We had to get up and be out of the hotel by 11am. Sure, 11 sounds late, but after Saturday night, I could have used a couple more hours of sleep. Back in the Rodeo (now loaded with 15 cases of Yuengling) and off to Springfield, IL.