If you're reading this you're invited,

As long as:

• I at least know who you are
• You consider yourself one of the fellas
• You're drama free
• You are not currently dating any of my ex-girlfriends. ( Fellow Ex's with war stories gladly accepted)
• You can guarantee to make me belly laugh at least once on the trip
• You can buy your way into the trip by sponsoring an official fella
• You happen to have family, a vacation home, or know beautiful women in one of our destinations
• All other applicants are subject to "Man Law" and will be decided on a case by case basis

Hey boys,

So everyone is getting older, except for you Dave (you're already old), and starting to move farther and farther apart. We are all going to get more and more responsibilities and stress which only increases the need to get away. It's time that we get organized. No more of this "Hey we should get together sometime" or "It would be sweet if we took a trip somewhere". We all need a little time away from our daily lives, work, school, girlfriends, wives, homework, deadlines, and the list goes on and on. Vacations keep us sane; and it isn't true vacation if you take you're life from home with you.

So here is my proposition. We need to start planning some trips. Ideally this would be something that we could do every year, but more realistically at least every two years. I know it is going to be impossible to get everyone's schedules to line up, and not everyone is going to be able/willing to come. But I also know, that more times than not, schedules can be rearranged. Eventually maybe we can agree on a certain week every year that people can try to keep things open, but we'll keep it simple for now. Also, as of right now, most of us are all still poor(minus Brian "Mr Wall St." Dora, who I expect to sponsor future trips for everyone). So we will try to keep the overall costs as low as possible. Obviously airfare is going to be the biggest expense, but once a group of people is together we can share costs, so the more people the cheaper we can make it. As we get older, and maybe make more money (no pressure) , we can start to take bigger and bigger trips to more exotic places, but for now we'll just work with what we got. I'm sure some people will claim they don't have the money for a vacation and sometimes that is a legitimate argument. For this year I will allow people to get away with it, although I will still be very dissappointed with you. If we can make this a regular thing, people will be able to create a budget for the trip and save up over time. Maybe you have to buy one less case of Natty/PBR/The Beast/Steel Reserve, but isn't a vacation worth saving your taste buds the torture of drinking that stuff anyways? I would recommend setting up an online savings account, i.e. Ing Direct(see dora for details), with an automatic deduction plan so that you will hardly realize that you're saving. Still people are going to complain about money. Think about it, what memories in your life stand out as some of the best times? Well yeah, there was losing your virginity, sure there was that one drunken threesome in college, and maybe various graduations are up there too. But I'd be willing to bet most of those memories are going to be of vacations with people you enjoy being around. You can spend $40,000 on a piece of paper that is arguably pretty worthless anways, but you can't spend $800 on a memory that is going to be with you the rest of your life? Let's get real!

Anyways, back to the proposition. Here's what I'm thinking. I think a good way to kick of this new tradition would be to hike part of California's Lost Coast. It is probably one of the most beautiful coasts in the world, not to mention the cheapest to get to. I propose we all meet in San Francisco, spend a night or two there, drive up to the trailhead, spend 4 or so nights hiking, camping, surfing, fishing, drinking, singing etc... up the coast. Then we we could get back in the car/s and make our way north up the coast through the redwood forests. Before eventually making our way back to Eugene/Portland and having people fly out from there. I was thinking about doing this the last week of August. I'm going to be back in MKG the weekend of Aug 15 for my cousins wedding, then I could fly with people from there straight down to San Fran. Obviously this is all very flexible and up in the air. So if there is another time that would work better for more people we can try to work something out. I found airfare leaving from GR 8-18 flying to San Fran then leaving Portland 8-25 flying to GR for $363! Bargain! Then for lodging we will try to camp as much as possible, hit up people we know along the way, and I can get 2 hotel rooms anywhere for $39 a night. So the only other expenses would be food, drinks(which let's face it will be significant), and activities. Just to give you a ball park figure I bet the trip could be done for under $700. Obviously you could spend more or less.

Please feel free to extend the invitation to anybody you want. In fact I don't even have email addresses or phone numbers, how sad is that, for everyone I wanted to send this to. As much as I'd like to believe that you guys haven't met any one as cool as me, I'm sure everyone has made new close friends. Bring them along! We like you, you like them, chances are we'll like them. The more the merrier, not to mention cheaper! I think it would be best for everyone if we allowed ourselves a break from the significant others. You have probably already taken vacations with them, you're probably going to take more vacations with them, and you see them practically every day. You should remind your SO's that it is your group of friends that helped to shape you into the man you are, and you need a chance to recharge that man for her. Maybe even suggest that she takes the opportunity to be with her girlfriends. It's win win.

Get back to me with any feedback and/or suggestions.

Let's make this happen guys! You have your whole lives to study, work and get old! What are you saving for anways, the chance to go more in debt with a new car?

Your Brotha from Anotha Motha,
Lenny
231-670-5682