1. I gave the Sube a day of rest today and dashed straight out the door and set out on a trek to uptown Kellogg, Idaho late this morning.
Today was, after all, the Kellogg Elks Roundup parade. Back when I played Little League baseball, all of the Kellogg teams put on our uniforms and walked, team by team, in a group in the Kellogg Elks Roundup parade. Then, starting in 1969, I participated in the parade as a member of the Kellogg High School marching band.
I arrived uptown early and, as I thought he might, Cas opened the Inland Lounge early. I strolled in, plopped down on a stool, and it was so cool and comfortable in the Lounge that I watched the parade through the Lounge's open door.
The parade featured no Little League teams nor high school marching band. Unlike earlier days, no horses were in the parade; therefore, no Elks Club initiates were tasked with cleaning up behind the horses.
It was a short parade.
The Wallace Elks Drunk and Bugle Corps provided marching music. Carol Young, the reigning Elk of the Year, rode in the parade in one of Jim O'Reilly's vintage cars, with Jim at the wheel. The parade featured several other classic vintage cars, some good looking dogs, including a corgi, being walked by the local dog rescue group, fire trucks, an ambulance, and cars from the police and sheriff's departments. Several of the parade's participants tossed candy to the spectators lined on the street.
Not one piece of candy came to my stool in the Lounge.
2. After the parade, I hung out in the Lounge and got to see a bunch of people I haven't seen in many months. Kellogg city government luminaries Ron Delcamp, Rod Plank, and Terry Douglas were in the house. I got to see Wanda. Ginger and I reminisced about our tight battle last week in fantasy baseball. I yakked with Eddie Joe, learned about this summer's classic car gathering from Jim O'Reilly, and learned all about Tuesday's election for the Central Shoshone Water District board from Terry and Rod.
For the last 12-14 months, given, by choice, that I've stayed close to home and busied myself with books, movies, cooking, live streams online, and other things that I could do anywhere, I didn't really feel like I was in Kellogg.
That changed yesterday and today, both at the Elks on Friday when I had a burger and both days at the Inland Lounge. It was easy, comfortable, and fun to step back into the scene at the Elks and the Lounge again, to get caught up on local news, see people I haven't seen for over a year, have some good laughs, good conversation, and feel like I was home again.
3. I took a break from all the fun at the Lounge and hoofed it up to Radio Brewing to have either a late lunch or an early dinner. Back in March, Byrdman and I were at the Country Lane River Resort up the river and Josh introduced us to a new IPA from Radio called 43 Is for Me. Its name honors Idaho being the USA's 43rd state and is made with Idaho 7 and Cashmere hops, both grown in Idaho.
I ordered myself a 10oz pour and enjoyed the balance in this beer between the hops and the malt. The slightly maltier profile (to me) made this a smooth and tasty IPA, but, no need to fret about the malt -- it's also a deliciously hoppy beer, full of flavor, and moderately bitter, weighing in at 35 IBUs and has a nice ABV at 5.4%
I didn't know any one at Radio, so I enjoyed my beer and ordered a delicious burger with fries, and slowly, quietly, ate my meal and enjoyed hearing "The Blitzkrieg Bop" and other fiery music playing on the house system.
On my way back home, I stopped in the Lounge for one more beer and more fun conversation and then walked back to the house.
It was a pretty good walking day for me: 6100 steps, just shy of three miles. I welcomed having a couple of benches to sit down on while walking home. It was a very warm and sunny day in Kellogg and I started to get overheated a couple of time, but cooled off nicely once I walked in the front door.
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