Saturday Night Hutch: San Francisco, CA to Jacksonville, OR

Thursday, April 27, 2000

San Francisco, CA to Jacksonville, OR

Today is a driving day. We are heading to Jacksonville, Oregon – the venue for the Nagle wedding on Saturday. We pick up some people at the Nagle hotel, and headed over to Andy’s place, where everyone was distributed to cars. I am with Andy, Peter and Michelle. The drive takes 8 hours and we have a ball. Naags’ friends have been nothing but friendly and gracious to me since I’ve been here, and this trip is no exception.

After a lunch stop and a missed turn off on the highway we arrived in Jacksonville around 6pm-ish and went to Casi’s Uncle John’s place, where the party seemed to be starting to brew.

After a quick meet and greet, and a reunion with Jane and Beno (who I haven’t seen for 2 years) we went out to Larry’s place. Larry is a Neuman family friend who is kindly putting up the Aussie boys for the weekend. And to call Larry a character is an understatement. An ex-Arizona State Trooper, Larry greeted us in full cowboy regalia – boots, flanno, chaps and ten-gallon hat – with a big “Howdy!” We were shown to our sleeping quarters – Fabrizio (Naag’s best man) and I have scored the outstanding John Wayne Suite.

But now – time to party and celebrate.

An open fire BBQ in the backyard, complete with bails of hay, cowboy hats for all and a bucket of tequila. (Can you say hangover?) We were in for a huge night. The highlight as definitely the Chris Nagle Matrimonious Trio (Naag’s, Andy and Ali), who entertained the crowd with everything from Johnny Cash, the Rolling Stones and Men At Work, and kept us singing in good voice. The party didn’t finish once the masses left, as Larry put the spa on and we had a impromptu Aussie bucks night, which basically involved a bunch of drunken blokes having a good old laugh. At 5am I was happy to get to bed.