From: Scott <nittanylion96@hotmail.com>

Sent: Sunday, January 11, 2015 11:38 PM

To: Dan Hoelke; Eric A. Drossner; Paul S. Rovner; Scott

Subject: MBBC XVIII Trip Report

The wait between the 2013 and 2014 Myrtle Beach Birdie Championships is believed to have been the longest in the history of the tournament, a little more than 16 months.  Scott Woods became the first player to cause a schedule change on two separate occasions.  He disrupted the 2009 schedule by holding his wedding in May, and screwed things up again in 2014 because of the birth of his second daughter, Emma, in early May.  Despite the birth of his daughter, Woods took advantage of the extra prep time by largely ignoring any work obligations and playing an obscene number of warm-up rounds. Eric Drossner also took advanatage and played a plethora of rounds at his club.  Dan Hoelke was somewhat less active despite the fact that he purchased new clubs earlier in the year.  The most intriguing development was Paul Rovner's decision just 2 months before the MBBC to begin taking lessons and revamp his swing.  Part of the excitement of the MBBC is the fact that the players have not seen each other in several months.  However, the players actually saw each other just a few days before the tournament, as they all attended the Penn State/Rutgers game in New Jersey, a game won by Penn State 13-10 on a last minute touchdown by Bill Belton.  Rovner and Drossner booked a direct flight to Myrtle Beach out of Philadelphia.  Hoelke and Woods booked flights through Charlotte.  Woods booked the rental van from Sixt through Hotwire. 

Myrtle Beach fever was at its usual peak as the players awoke very early in the morning for their flights.  Rovner and Drossner were the first ones to arrive in Myrtle Beach, actually landing before Woods and Hoelke met up in Charlotte.  Woods and Hoelke found each other with little problem in Charlotte and had time to watch Andrew McCutchen's fiancee's bachelorette party entourage, which had been on the flight to Charlotte from Pittsburgh with Hoelke, stroll through the terminal.  Woods and Hoelke's flight into Myrtle Beach was a bit bumpy, but they made it with no problem and Drossner, Rovner and the recently redesigned Big Woody were there to greet them.  All bags and clubs arrived with no problem.  Woods grabbed the rental van.  The group exited the terminal to downright pleasant conditions.  The players went through the traditional debacle that is loading the vehicle.  (For future reference as it seems to be dicussed in the parking lot every year, we take our clubs out of the travel bags before loading them.)  Woods tore through the parking lot heading south to lunch and then the site of the opening round.  Woods wasn't exactly sure where the course was, but with the assistance of his trusty navigator Hoelke and Rovner's WAYS traffic app, there was little difficulty in finding it.  In what would prove to be something of a theme for the trip, the foursome almost immediately broke from one of their traditions.  Normally, the group eats lunch at the Burger King located just outside the airport and near Sticky (Stinky) Fingers.  But the group, somewhat baffled during the summer by the revelation that they had only eaten at Chick-Fil-A during an MBBC on one prior occasion, decided that would be the location of the opening meal.  Hoelke revealed during lunch that he had broken a tooth the day before the trip, but that Dr. Eddie wasn't able to squeeze him in and resolve the problem before Hoelke left, instead advising him to put chewing gum over the exposed area.  A round of spicy chicken sandwiches hit the spot and it was almost time for the 2014 Myrtle Beach Birdie Championship to begin.  Woods and Hoelke had spent much of the time between MBBC's discussing how much they were going to drink on the courses this year, including in the opening round.  Initially, the plan was to pick up beer on the ride down to the opening couse.  Woods seemed to back off of that plan, as he decided they could just grab some beer at the course.  However, shortly before reaching the course, Woods changed his mind, and made a last minute turn into a Kangaroo Gas Station/Convenience Store where he grabbed a 12 pack of Miller Light at a very reasonable price.

Friday, September 19, 2014

Defending Champion Eric Drossner had selected The Founders Club as the site of the opening round.  The Founders Club was built from the ruins of the much maligned and now defunct Sea Gull Golf Course.  Very little was known about the redesigned course, as the website was lacking in any significant information.  There were some "concerns" since some reviews of the course wee not particularly favorable.  Woods pulled into the parking lot and avoided the bag drop, so that he and Hoelke could load the beers in their bags.  The group was met by an enthusiastic bag drop guy, although none of them really listened to him, and he loaded the bags into some rather used golf carts.  There was almost immediate confirmation that The Founders Club would prove to be a questionable selection, when the bag drop guy informed the group that they didn't have a driving range but that the group could warm-up by hitting balls into the net located near the first tee.  The group was sent to the first tee, where they hit some putts on the practice green and then hit some balls off mats into the net about 15 feet away.  Woods and Hoelke cracked open their first beers of the trip and the 2014 MBBC was officially underway.  There were actually a couple of decent birdie opportunities on the opening hole, but no one was able to convert.  With The Founders Club being an unknown venue, oddsmakers had set the over under for the group's opening strike at 9.5.  The under would prove to be the winner, as a mini-barrage came on the Par 5 6th hole.  Eric Drossner found the fairway with his drive and had a green light to go for the green in 2.  He hit a solid second shot and found the green leaving himself 40 feet for eagle.  Drossner hit an excellent lag putt and was able to tap-in for the opening mark of the tournament.  Immediately after Drossner's tap-in, Scott Woods was able to drain a 25 foot putt for birdie.  It didn't take long for a third member of the group to strike and raise the possiblity of a birdie barrage.  Dan Hoelke announced his presence on the Par 5 10th hole.  Hoelke's performance on the hole likely showed the pros and cons of drinking on the course.  Hoelke hit a poor drive to the left of the fairway.  He managed to find his wayward drive and essentially punch it out into the fairway, where he was left with a nearly impossible 210 yard shot to the green.  His cart partner, Woods, may have even suggested that Hoelke lay up, but feeling the effects of a few beers, Hoelke striped a 5-wood to the green and no more than 8 feet from the hole.  Hoelke promptly drained the putt for an impressive birdie.  Hoelke was not done as 2 holes later, he fired another birdie on the par 5 12th.  There were no other birdies, and once again Paul Rovner failed to convert, which would have made The Founders Club the first course to be birdied by all four players in the same round.  After the opening round, it was 2-1-1-0, with Hoelke in the lead and Rovner yet to mark.    

The players left The Founders Club and made the long trek north to their condo at the Barefoot Resort.  Drossner ran inside the headquarters to grab the keys, but had to wait while they dealt with the darkies in front of him.  The group decided to head to the grocery store right away to pick up some necessities for the week.  The trip to the grocery store seemed less schizophrenic then in years past, as the players now seem to generally agree on what should be bought.  An 18 pack of beer made perfect sense given how much drinking the players were going to be doing on the trip.  Eric Drossner managed to get everything through the self checkout machine.  Paul Rovner grabbed some scratchoff tickets and quickly made a little bit of money and it was off to the condo for showers, Face Time with family, and getting ready to head to Broadway By The Beach.  As usual, there were discussions about where the opening night meal should be.  For some reason, the group has never found the perfect place for the opening night meal, with several major misses in recent years.  The group agreed to return to Amici's Italian Restaurant at Broadway, a place they had been a few times before with solid, albeit unspectacular results.  Amici's lived up to its reputation (solid but unspectacular), as nobody had any complaints, but the group is likely still looking for a home for the opening night meal, with Outback seemingly the obvious choice. The group started to head toward Crocodile Rocks with the debate still raging about whether or not their favorite waitress, Arika, would still be there or at Revolutions.  Since it was still relatively early, Woods convinced the group to sit outside and grab a few drinks at Good Luck Charlie's, where they met the latest contender for MBBC Hottest Waitress, Caitlyn.  Caitlyn, a student at Coastal Carolina (aren't they all), was easy to leer at and at least tolerated talking with group.  The group had a few beers and a few girlie shooters.  Caitlyn agreed to a picture with Hoelke and Woods, and it was time to head to Crocodile Rocks.  Crocodile Rocks was crowded, although not overly so, and after standing at the bar for awhile, the group was able to find a tall table to sit at and watch the festivities.  There were the usual shenanigans that have now become somewhat old hat, but are still somewhat interesting to watch.  The group probably stayed longer than expected after a long day, and eventually decided to pack it in around 12:30, but not before checking Revolutions to see if Arika was there.  The group saw a good looking girl tending bar, but it really was not clear if it was her.  Rovner took charge and asked the bouncer if Arika was working there, and the bouncer pointed to the girl behind the bar.  The players leered at her for awhile, trying to figure out how to get a picture with her.  Woods took charge of that leading to probably one of the funnier exchanges in MBBC history.  Woods asked if she was Arika, prompting her to get a somewhat disgusted look on her face and ask, "How do you know my name?!?!"  Woods explained that she was unknowingly involved in a group tradition in which she takes a photograph with Hoelke.  Arika at least did a good job of pretending that she remembered Hoelke and agreed to come over the bar and take the annual picture.  While not her best picture (as the group would find out later), it served its purpose and the foursome was able to head home to bed for Day 2.  Unfortunately, getting to bed would take longer than expected, as the cab driver missed the exit off of the bypass for Barefoot and had to go a few miles past it before turning back.  The cabbie was nice enough to turn the meter off while he backtracked.

Saturday, September 20, 2014

The group planned well by scheduling the Barefoot rounds for the morning after what is traditionally a late night.  This allows the group to sleep in a little bit longer.  After a short but solid night's sleep, the foursome awoke ready for their favorite courses. Love and Fazio.  They were the first ones off the first tee on the Love course.  Predictions of a birdie barrage on the opening holes proved to be very wrong.  The players had talked for weeks/months about birdying the first four holes.  That was not to be... Efforts on the first hole were lacking, with Woods scoring a 9 and no one else doing any better than a bogey.  The players' favorite hole, the Par 4 4th, was an unmitigated disaster, not helped by a strong headwind and probably summed up best by Drossner's experience.  Drossner unloaded with his driver crushing the ball into the wind.  The ball was heading toward a fairway bunker, but it appeared it would have no trouble clearing it.  After that, the group lost sight of it, with there being some debate about where it had landed.  Unfortunately, that debate will never be settled as Drossner's ball was never found.  The first birdie on the Love course would come just two holes later.  One of Woods' favorite stats to track (a stat no one else really seems to care about) is how many of the Love and Fazio holes the group has birdied.  One of the unbirdied holes on the Love course was the seemingly easy Par 4 6th hole.  Surely a group as a good as the MBBC should have little trouble birdying such an easy hole...  After more than a decade of trying, the 6th hole would finally be birdied.  Scott Woods was able to find the fairway with his drive and then hit a decent approach onto the green, but did not really have what could be considered a legitimate birdie opportunity, a 35 foot downhill, double-breaker.  Somehow, Woods' putt found the cup for the elusive birdie.  Somehow, that would be the group's only birdie on the Love course.  Rovner, who was struggling with his game, somewhat, had a decent opportunity on the Par 5 8th hole, but was unable to drain a difficult downhill putt.  Efforts on the Par 5 13th hole were also disappointing and failed to yield a birdie.  As in years past, the group was forced to deal with a fairly lengthy backup on the 10th tee, leading Woods to suggest that from now on the group play the Fazio course first (because it does not have double teeing) and the Love course in the afternoon.  After the second round, Woods had tied Hoelke at the top with 2, Drossner lurked with 1 and Rovner continued to struggle. 

With Penn State kicking off against Massachusetts at 4:00, the group decided to break from another tradition and eat lunch in the Barefoot Clubhouse instead of going to TGIFridays and stopping off at Martin's.  Lunch was actually pretty good, and the players were able to catch a little bit of football and take relaxing dumps in the clubhouse bathrooms before heading back out on the Fazio course.  The 1st hole continues to be a major thorn in the group's collective side, as once again no one even sniffed a birdie.  For years Scott Woods has suggested that the short, Par 5 4th hole, should be birdied by someone during every round on the Fazio course.  Yet, each year, it seems to be a struggle to birdie.  Things did not change significantly in 2014.  Woods was pin high to the right of the green in 2, while Drossner was also just off the green to the left.  Woods hit a terrible chip that actually rolled off the green on the other side and left him with no chance for birdie.  Drossner hit a beautiful chip to no more than 2 feet that left him with a sure birdie.  However, as he did on the same hole in 2012 (which he has no recollection of) Drossner blew the easy birdie conversion and stormed off the green.  Drossner made up for it on the Par 5 7th hole, as he managed to make his 4.  Drossner's momentum continued on the Par 4 9th hole, as he chipped in for his second birdie in 3 holes and what should have been his third birdie on the front 9.  Dan Hoelke responded by firing the group's first ever birdie on the Par 4 14th hole.  Woods continued to struggle and with the Penn State-UMass game playing on IPads and IPhones, his attention on the last several holes was focused on anything other than making birdies.  But, Woods managed to focus just enough on the Par 4 closing hole to put his approach to approximately 6 feet and the drain the birdie putt.  And after 3 rounds Drossner, Woods and Hoelke had 3 birdies each (with Drossner in the lead by virtue of the champion's tiebreaker), and Rovner was still searching for his first mark.

The group hustled to nearby Overtime Sports Bar.  Hoelke had called in advance to confirm that the "southern" bar had the Big Ten Network, which it did.  The group watched the second half of Penn State's demolition of UMass, while a large contingent of East Carolina fans cheered their demolition of North Carolina.  Since the group basically ate dinner at Overtime, and since they were tired from a long day of making birdies, it was fairly clear that the group would be heading back to the condo obscenely early on a Saturday night.  Someone suggested getting ice cream, which was a very popular idea.  Woods happened upon Painter's Homemade Ice Cream, which actually happens to be one of the more "famous" ice cream places in Myrtle Beach.  The current owner learned his "trade" at Penn State and seemed to talk incessantly to Rovner and Hoelke.  After devouring some decent ice cream, the group piled back into the mini-van and returned to the condo to snack and head to bed.                

Sunday, September 21, 2014

The foursome awoke very early for the long trip back south for the Caledonia/True Blue combo.  The players were greeted at Caledonia by what is likely to be the most attractive bag drop attendant they've ever seen.  That's not saying much, since 99.9% of back drop attendants in Myrtle Beach are older men from the Pittsburgh area, but this young woman was pretty easy on the eyes and was at the very least, a refreshing way to start the morning.  For the most part, the foursome was looking forward to Caledonia, as they had had some moderate success there over the years.  Paul Rovner finally got on the board on the Par 4 4th hole as he sank a decent length putt for birdie.  Rovner struck again just 2 holes later, when he chipped in on the Par 3 6th hole, most famous for a picture taken by Woods a few years earlier of the foursome on the green with birdie chances, none of which were converted.  Eric Drossner continued his mastery of the frustrating Par 3 9th hole, by stuffing his tee shot to no more than 1 foot and drilling his 4th birdie.  There were no birdies on the back 9 as the group limped home with attention focused on where to eat lunch and watch the Eagles/Redskins game.  The scoreboard at the midpoint of the 2014 MBBC had suddenly tightened with Drossner at the top with 4, Woods and Hoelke 1 back with 3 and Rovner finally on the board with 2.  The attractive bag drop girl (whose name this writer cannot recall despite noticing it on her name tag and vowing to remember it) recommended the Island Bar & Grill, which proved to be a good recommendation.  The group headed to the upstairs bar, which was relatively quiet 30 minutes before kickoff, but grew more crowded as 1:00 approached.  South Carolina still has not banned smoking in restauants, which is a bit annoying, but wings and beer hit the spot, and the crew watched the first halves of the 1:00 games, before heading back to True Blue for the afternoon round. 

After arriving at True Blue, Woods hit the snack bar and paid a small fortune for a 12-pack of beer.  The beer came in 2 cooler bags.  Woods was unsure if the bgs were complimentary, but given how much he paid for the beer, when the round was completed, he and Hoelke decided that they were in fact complimentary.  The round got off to a promising start with al four players finding the fairway with their drves on the Par 5 opening hole, but it would not lead to any birdies.  In fact, there would not be any fireworks through the first 10 holes, and there were some concerns that the group's latest modest courses birdied streak would be broken.  However, those concerns would be put to rest by Scott Woods on the Par 3 11th hole, as he made his first ever birde at True Blue.  Woods found the green with his tee shot, but was left with a difficult downhill 20 footer, which managed to find the cup.  The fireworks continued on the Par 4 13th hole, when Drossner hit his aprroach close and drained the putt for birdie.  There were even more fireworks on the next hole, the Par 3 14th hole, when Hoelke and Rovner hit solid tee shots and drained their putts for birdies, making True Blue the first course to ever be birdied by all four members in the same round.  After the mini-barrage, there would be no more birdies the rest of the round.  During the round, Woods and Hoelke would learn of the passing of Eric The Midget from the Howard Stern Show.  The scoreboard at the end of Day 3 was unchanged in the order, with Drossner on top with 5, Woods and Hoelke 1 back with 4 and Rovner lurking with 3.  

The foursome packed up and began the long trek back north.  There was a rush to make it back to the condo for the Steelers @ Panthers Sunday nigth game.  Since the group had eate "out" the night before and missed on the traditional "pizza night" and since Hoelke had no itnerest in watching the Steeler game at a bar, everyone agreed that picking up pizza on the ride hom was the way to go.  Woods insisted on ordering from I Love New York Pizza, a place he'd found several years prior, but upon arriving in the shopping center where he knew it to be, he discovered that it had actually gone out of business.  Woods quickly found another New York-style pizzeria off of King's Highway, picked up two pizzas and an order of garlic knots and made it back tot he condo just after kickoff of a game the Steelers would mostly dominate.  The group was in bed relatively early with  lon trip to North Carolina approaching the next morning.            

Monday, September 22, 2014

For the penultimate day of the 2014 MBBC, the group decided to play 2 of The Big Cats.  After another good night's sleep, the group awoke before sunrise to make the trek to North Carolina.  The day would start at Tiger's Eye, a course largely unfamiliar to the group since it had not been played in many years.  The group struggled over the first few holes due to wet conditions, from heavy rains in the area in the days before.  However, as the sun came out and dried out the scourse somewhat, Eric Drossner suddenly woke up and caught fire and put at least one hand on The Big Woody.  On the Par 4 5th hole, Drossner would drain a putt for his 6th birdie.  Drossner had commented on a couple of prior occasions during the trip that he had never made back-to-back birdies.  Drossner gave himself the opportunity to do just that with a solid tee shot on the Par 3 6th hole and promptly drained the putt for his 7th birdie.  While that likely was enough to wrap up yet another title, Drossner saved his best for last.  The Par 5 15th hole was relatively short at 467 yards, but without GPS, the route to the hole was somewhat confusing the group.  In fact, during the hole, Woods suggested that Rovner use an 8 iron on his second shot, as he believed he had plenty ofroom.  Rovner took his advice but obviously did not have enough room as his ball found the water.  Eric Drossner seemed to know the path.  After a solid drive, Drossner still had about 215 yards to the pin, with much of that over water.  Not surprisingly, Drossner decided to give it a go.  He made solid contact, but seemed to think that his approach had found the water.  He was surprised to find that his shot had not only found the green, but was 15 feet from the pin for the first eagle in MBBC histroy.  Unfortuntely, Drossner did not convert the eagle, but tapped in for his 8th birdie.  None of the other players managed to birdie and with just 2 rounds remaining, the 2014 MBBC was all but wrapped up with Drossner with 8 birdies, Woods and Hoelke still with 4 and Rovner still with 3.  The group had decided that they wanted something different for lunch.  Drossner got some bad information, as he was told that there was a decent place to eat at Leopard's Chase, where the group was playing tis afternoon round.  Woods made the long drive to the Leopard's Chase clubhouse, but the group discovered that the place to eat was nothing more than a snack bar.  They headed back to the Tiger's Eye Clubhouse, but found nothing there either and ended up at the Panther's Run clubhouse, which had a decent bar.  A large group of members was wrapping up a tournament as the group ate a relaxed before heading back to Leopard's Chase for the afternoon round.

Leopard's Chase was a new course when the group played it several years prior.  Not much was remembered about, except that it hadn't been birdied and that it was close to 100 degrees when it was played and it was the morning after a late night.  During that round, Woods was on the verge of puking and convinced the group to delay the afternoon round until much later to allow for a nap and relaxing, which has now become the norm for the group.  So, the foursome ws eager to get ack to the course and at the very least, birdie it.  Teh group was sent out right away with no mention in the clubhouse of any conditioning issues.  Scot Woods was irate to find on the first green that the greens had punched relatively recently leaving them in fair condition.  But the group carried on.  Woods found an improbable birdie on the Par 3 second hole.  His tee shot caught a piece of the green but was still 50+ feet from the hole.  Woods smacked his putt and it bounced its way to the hole before falling in for the birdie.  THe most significant thing about Wood's birdie was that it was the group's 20th of the trip, establishing a new group birdie record, breaking the record fo 19 set in 2006 and 20012.  Woods continued playing well and had several decent birdie opportunities that he could not convert.  Dan Hoelke managed to find a birdie on the Par 4 10th hole.  Rain began to fall shortly thereafter and got heavier as the back 9 nine continued.  At one point, the group decided to stop and wait for the rain to slow down or possibly end the round if it didn't.  During the 10 minute break, Woods face-timed his wife, who was at home struggling with a 3-year-old and a 4-month-old, who refused to sleep through the night.  The rest of the group asked his daughter Annabelle if she wanted to watch Daddy hit the ball and she excitedly said yes, forcing Woods to tee it up in the driving rain.  Woods managed to make contact, but thought his "drive" found the marsh.  It turned out it had not, but it would not lead to a birdie for Annabelle.  The group finished in the rain with no more birdies.  Woods tried to let the guy collecting the carts and closing the course know that he was unhappy with the course consitions, but he didn't really seem to care.   The scoreboard with 1 round to go was Drossner - 8, Woods - 5, Hoelke - 5 and Rovner - 3.

There was no doubt that dinner would be at Outback.  There was some debate about whether to go to Outback on the ride home or to go back to the condo, get cleaned up and then go to Outback.  There seemed to be some concern that if the group went home, it would never make it back out because some of the group (Drossner) were getting very sleepy.  After some discussion, it was finally decided to stop on the way home.  Outback did not disappoint (don't believe it ever has) with Outback Specials all around.    Much of the conversation during dinner centered on whether or not to reduce the number of rounds played during an MBBC.  This was an issue largely pushed by Eric Drossner, who admitted that the MBBC's current format drains him and maes him very sleepy.  The other members conceded that there will come a time that the numbe rof round will need to be reduced, but now was not that time.  Alternatives, such as fying in the night before or playing 36 holes on the final day and leaving late were discussed but not seriously considered.  *******  Since this report is being written so long after the 2014 MBBC, discussions have continued and the goup has decided that in 2015, it will fly in early in the mornign on the first day and play 36 holes on the first day and only 18 holes on Day 3, giving the group something of a break ******* Heavy rain continued throughout dinner and there were some serious concerns about whether or not the final round would even be played the next morning.  The group headed back to the condo.  There was some discussion about whether or not to stop at Martin's, but the consensus was that there was no need to.  However, Woods refused to allow the group to miss out on the tradition of going to Martin's and made a last minute decision to poull into the parking lot.  Everyone actually agreed that it was a good decision, as they browsed their favorite golf store.  Woods grabbed some golf balls which he paid for with a gift card the othe rmembers had given him for his 40th birthday.  He offered to buy the rest fo the members what they wanted, but they refused.  They finally climbed back into the family truckster and headed home with one last round to be played, if the weather would allow it.

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

After another good night's sleep, the group awoke to steady rain that had gone on all night.  They made the short drive Barefoot and were told that the course was wet, but still open.  Even at the bagdrop, as the group waited for the ok to play, there were some unspokendoubts by each member about how much of the round they would play.  It would turn out to be the first ever round in MBBC to be played completely in the rain.  The rain certainly played a factor, as the group largely struggled.  The drives on the 4th hole were not spectacular.  Dan Hoelke's drive went so far right that he thought it ended up on the 7th fairway.  He slippd and fell when he went running over the bridge to look for it (which he did not find).  Rovner hit a decent drive, but hi an even better approach to the green.  Woods hooked his drive to the left, but hit an excellent wedge to about 5 feet.  Rovner drained is birdie putt, amking it the second year in a row that Rovner was the only player to birdie the Love course int he final round.  Woods had a fairly easy putt to at least get himself in sight of Drossner, but his atrocious putt didn't even find the cup.  There were no other birdies the rest of the long, wet round.  Efforts on the Par 5, 13th hole (perhaps the grop's second favorite hole) were mostlyu disappointing.  Eliminations were announced and Eric Drossner wrapped up yet another title.  The final scoreboard read:  Drossner - 8, Woods - 5, Hoelke - 5, Rovner - 4.  The group headed back to the condo to clean up and pack and then headed to the airport in pleny of time for their flight.

Perhaps the most significant event of the 2014 MBBC occurred int he airport as the group waited for their flight to Charlotte.  The group grabbed lunch at their new favorite place, Steak-n-Shake and sat down to eat and discuss the highlights of the trip.  Naturally, one of the highlights that was discussed was the group's annual "encounter" with Arika.  SOmeone joked that they should try to find her on Facebook, but without a last name or any other information about her, it seemed unlikely that they would be able to find her.  Undeterred, Dan Hoelke went to work on his Ipad and relatively quickly found Myrtle Beach's best looking bartender, Arika Smalley, and some unbelieveable pictures of her.  The now giddy group boarded their flight to Charlotte, made their connections and everyone made it up with visions of the 2015 MBBC (and the possiblityof another meeting with Arika).