MBBB24 Recap

Saturday, August 7, 2021

Bellmore, NY

Schedule

• • Breakfast from Sunrise Diner and McDonald's at Marc’s house in Bellmore, NY at 10:15AM

  • Geocaching at Seaford, Huntington, Commack, NY at 11:00AM

  • Mini-golf at Heartland Golf Park in Brentwood, NY at 2:15PM

  • Lunch at Westfield South Shore in Bay Shore, NY at 4:00PM

  • Disc golf at Heckscher State Park in East Islip, NY at 5:45PM

  • Dinner from Lazzat and Subway at Marc’s house in Bellmore, NY at 9:00PM

  • Watched the Summer Olympics at Marc's house in Bellmore, NY from 10:00PM to 12:00AM

Participants

Dave (24th), Marc (24th), Span (), Brian (), Eugene (), Matt (), Mehr (), Eric (10th)

Photos: Highlights | Complete Set

Videos: Highlights | Complete Set

Anecdotes

Reviews

Planning

The first real push to start scheduling MBBB 24 actually started in May. Was that because MBBB usually occurs much later in the year nowadays, because the MBBB crew has planning events down to a science and so it takes very little time for them to whip something up, or perhaps a little of both? Anyway, the specific date was May 11 which was when Marc sent out a group text, but accidentally not to everyone, only those that were a part of a fantasy football league. Matt immediately let him know that they needed to open the text to include Eugene and Brian, and so David did. Eugene texted back quickly that he was in and also that he was fully vaccinated from COVID.

A few days later, on May 14, Matt sent a text asking about the possibility of poor weather. With everyone still in the thick of the pandemic, that would put most of the events indoors, and so perhaps it would mean that they would need to table the event until the next year. However, most everyone agreed that even indoor events would be fine; they would all be fully vaccinated, and no one had an issue with wearing masks during any indoor events that would occur.

With that concern out of the way, on May 15 and 16, the group began talking about one of the most important aspects of the day: location. Mehr noted that a neutral location (Camelback) had worked out really well last time and could be a good idea again as it would allow them to stay physically away from their families (again, the virus). David chipped in his thoughts and said that it would be easier to arrange lodgings and meals on Long Island due to their familiarity with the area.

It took a few more weeks until the planning really started getting rolling. On the first of June, David sent out a text to everyone to re-confirm that they would all feel safe having the event. Everyone (except for Eric who usually isn't fully involved in the day) responded the same day (which was probably a new record for these guys!) and said that they were in. This was followed by Mehr positing that Long Island was probably the best choice for the location to which Span and David enthusiastically agreed.

The next day, now that the location of the event was settled David asked the next most obvious question: what dates in July and August worked for people? As their answers would be difficult to track in a text, Brian, as he usually does, took the initiative to create a Google Table that everyone could use to confirm their preferred dates. A number of people started using it the next day.

Throughout the rest of June, there was some chatter about dates, but it didn't take that long until July 31 and August 7 became the two most desirable dates. The only person who had potential conflicts for those days was Eric, and since he was only a part-time member, he said the group should move ahead even if it meant that he couldn't attend. Towards the end of the month, on June 28 to be exact, David asked everyone if they could lock in August 7 as the date for the next MBBB 25. A few days later, on 07/02, Span became the final person to confirm the date after which David immediately asked everyone to start suggesting events that they wanted to do and restaurants that they wanted to eat at.

However, this was followed by a big lull in the planning. It wasn't until July 23 that things ramped again. David followed up via text for ideas for the meals and events and noted that it was now only two weeks until the day of the event. He referenced disc golf, the Survivor blind leading the blind challenge, softball, and geocaching as events that people had previously suggested. Disc golf was a popular idea, and so David and Eric combined their efforts to find three courses on Long Island. Eric said that he would call the one in Cedar Beach which was closest to their center of operations in Bellmore. Eric further advised that the course in Heckscher State Park was only five minutes further than the one in Cedar Beach and, as a big bonus, had a dedicated disc golf course instead of one that simply mirrored a regular golf course. Mehr also suggested that perhaps they could do both pitch and putt and disc golf to save on travel time.

About a week later, the group agreed that disc golf and softball batting practice were now locked in. A flurry of texts were then exchanged regarding the final events: geocaching (which Eric could arrange due to his extensive experience), mini-golf, pitch and putt, axe throwing, the Survivor game, and wiffle ball were all offered as ideas from different parties. Mini-golf and geocaching led people's interests, and so a search for a mini-golf location began. Eric said that there was a good course that was very close to Heckscher State Park; they now had the chance to schedule almost all of the events in the same general area which would save them a lot of travel time as well as make fitting everything into the day much easier.

On the morning of August 5, David texted out a tentative schedule for the day and asked if anyone had any objections or concerns. Thankfully, no one did, and so the event took place just as the timeline above indicates, though there were a few changes as noted later below.

Pre-Breakfast

The morning of the event occurred like so many MBBB's before it: with the participants arriving at Marc's house one by one. Most everyone drove, though David had to pick Brian up from the Bellmore train station. Even still, Brian was the earliest arrival at 9:00 with Eugene bringing up the rear at 10:00. Everyone chatted, mostly for fun, but one serious topic had to be broached, and it related to the fact that, instead of everyone gathering inside Marc's house, they conversed outside on the front lawn. Due to the ongoing health issues with COVID, the group decided that they would split the driving assignments into four (so that each car only had two people in it) and also that they would wear their masks in any indoor situation, including the cars.

Breakfast

The group soon turned to the topic of food as they would need to fuel their bodies for the long day ahead of them. Not wanting to eat any of their meals inside of restaurants if they could help it but still wanting to eat some hot and tastily cooked food, they decided to put in an order for pick up. The place chosen was the Sunrise Diner, done so because the gang had eaten there in person so many times, that it seemed apropos to order breakfast from there. The breakfast fare was pretty basic: for example, Matt got an omelet, and David ordered some avocado toast. And, as noted above, as they wanted to keep inside eating to a minimum, they ate their breakfast in the backyard using Marc's deck and patio furniture.

As Marc is a vegan and was hosting breakfast at his house, it is very likely that he made his own breakfast (who can remember what?) at home. Due to Eugene's intolerance to lactose (and even fruits such as cantaloupe and honeydew melon - Span mentioned he's sensitive to watermelon?), he may have also brought his own food (actually, both he and Brian ate before arriving). Finally, did Mehr go to McDonald's (yes!)? He does love his fast food joints. Unfortunately, some of these are guesses at best. Topics explored at the table included Mehr's and Eugene's track and field exploits from high school and incentives that each person receives (or doesn't) at work.

Two points before moving on. The first is that David usually has his avocado toast with scrambled eggs, so he was quite surprised when he saw that his order came with poached eggs instead. 24 hours later, David felt very sick. Instead of coming down with COVID (as they were very careful during the day), he gathered that he had gotten food poisoning from the eggs; it took him a full week to recover from eating them.

Secondly, David paid for Matt's breakfast. Why? Well, both David and Matt are avid tennis fans and decided to make a bet on the French Open. David favored Rafael Nadal who has won a mind-boggling 13 French Open championships. Matt therefore took the field. Matt was pretty nervous during the tournament as Nadal continued to advance but was delivered relief when #1 seed Novak Djokovic defeated Nadal in the semi-finals.

Geocaching

After eating breakfast, the group broke into groups among three cars (Marc rode with Span driving and Matt, though Marc would ride with Eric the rest of the day; David drove Brian, and Eugene drove Mehr because he had a big car, and it was clean because he doesn't have a bunch of kids like Mehr?) and drove down to the Seaford? train station to begin the first event: a series of geocaches located by Eric. Here are two recollections of how the event went.

Eric's Recollection

"Geocaching Returns to MBBB – 10 Years Later"

On July 9, 2011 (MBBB 15), Geocaching made its debut at MBBB thanks to a suggestion by Brian after he found out about it on an Internet search. That day, the seven people involved would find a total of five geocaches, and one member (Eric) would wind up playing the game for the next 10 years.

Geocaching would pop up here and there at future MBBB’s. At MBBB 17, Eric would find a geocache near the bowling alley that we were all at before everyone grabbed lunch. That same year, on the drive home from Watertown, Eric, Marc, Eugene and Brian would stop along the way and hike to the Massachusetts-Rhode Island-Connecticut tri-state border marker. Eugene would do the Captain Morgan stance in three states at one time.

At MBBB 18, everyone would participate in a scavenger hunt that included geocaching elements, although no actual geocaches were found.

On the way to MBBB 23, Eric would stop along the way to Camelback Mountain Resort to find a couple of geocaches, including one at the Paterson Great Falls in New Jersey, however, no geocaches were actually found during the MBBB events that year.

MBBB 24 though would mark the 10-year anniversary since those first geocaches, so Eric (strongly) suggested that Geocaching be on the agenda to commemorate that first day. While the other members only found a couple of geocaches in future years (mostly with Eric), I think the only one who actually ever found another geocache on their own was Span (a few in Delaware shortly after MBBB 15?).

Eric on the other hand had gone on to find another 3,000 geocaches in 20 different states and 6 different countries. He had also hidden close to 100 geocaches on his own and hosted numerous geocaching events. So, the plan would be for Eric to cherry-pick some really nice geocaches that were on the way to the mini golf course so that the experience would be a lot smoother than it was 10 years ago.

“Down-A-Clown” – The first cache of the day was at the Seaford train station. While there was a farmer’s market going on in the parking lot, none of those people would see us looking for the geocache in the overgrown area to the northeast of the lot. David and Span volunteered to try and “find” this one first. The finding was not difficult as this is called a “gadget” cache, where the trick is to access the paper log as opposed to trying to find the hidden container. After a few minutes, Eric walked back to see how it was going. Unfortunately, the gadget cache was not working the way that it should. Essentially there was a clown head and 3 small “baseballs” in the large box. The idea was to hit the clown with the baseball and that would cause the small container with the log to fall out of the box. Since it was not working correctly, we took a few pics and decided to move on to the next geocache.

“Full Metal Jacket” – The 2nd geocache of the day was hidden along the Massapequa Preserve Bike Trail. After parking near one of the trail heads, the group made the short 0.2 mile walk to a small walking bridge where Eric instructed everyone else that the geocache was hidden. After everyone took note of the hint, “With the strength of your left hand, you can get what you want with your right” the search was on. Eric stood back (knowing where the cache was and even taking a picture of it) while the others searched on, over, under and around the bridge. After about 5 minutes, Eric announced to the group that he could see the cache from where he was standing. The group now focused the search on the south side of the bridge. A few people had astutely noticed that there were no caps on the beams on the north side of the bridge, but there were caps on the south side. From the top of the bridge, Span reached down and grabbed one. To his surprise and delight (I assume) the container started sliding out from the beam and Span had found the geocache. While taking a couple of pictures, Eric stood near the cache in Span’s hand to make sure he did not drop it in the water below. No one had any interest in going in after it! Thankfully, after a few pics, Eric was able to help Span guide the geocache back into its hiding spot. An elderly couple was on the bridge watching this all happen. The wife asked a few questions and seemed genuinely interested in what we were doing. The husband was less impressed and grumpily walked ahead without her! How rude!! In any case, we were on our way back towards the cars so we could move to the next geocache and closer to mini golf.

“Close Encounters” – After the four cars (on varied paths) made the way north to Sweet Hollow Park in Melville, everyone met up again to try and find the geocache that Eric was very excited about. The geocache is a mechanical wonder which he assumed everyone would really enjoy. Unfortunately, Eric immediately realized that the area where the cache was hidden was completely overgrown. Not wanting to go through a ridiculous bushwhacking experience, it was quickly decided to move onto the next geocache instead. The stop was not a complete loss though. While standing the park, the group observed a bunch of people playing pickleball! The group seemed to make a mental note that pickleball might be a potential future MBBB event. There was also a port-a-potty at the park which a few took advantage of. While it was suggested by some that we should tip the port-a-potty over with Span inside, this never came to fruition. Once everyone was ready to move on, we all decided to form a four-car convoy to the next location as it was only 5 minutes away.

“Game of Thrones” – The convoy successfully arrived at the parking lot near this geocache with no one getting left behind. Eric suggested that since this was another gadget cache, the group should break up into two “teams” so everyone would have a chance to participate in the solution. The first group consisted of Marc, Mehr and Eugene. The geocache was hidden in a small, wooded area at the edge of the parking lot. Great for staying out of the view of any passerby, not that we saw any in this commercial area on a Saturday. The geocache, which was mounted to a tree, was decorated with Game of Thrones symbols and the trick was to try and figure out how to open the box. After a few moments of examining, Marc noticed a plastic disc attached to the bottom of the box which was attached to a chain. They quickly realized there were some symbols on the disc that seemed to match some symbols on the side of the box. After fumbling with it for a moment or two, Mehr actually took the lead and seemed to come up with the combination “Six-Two-One” which was in fact the 3-digit code needed to open the box. Inside was a small Jon Snow action figure sitting on the “throne” which was meant to be a pun on the Game of Thrones title. We all returned to the parking lot and now it was time for David, Matt, Brian and Span to take their turn. Marc jokingly noted that the clock was ticking to see which team could solve the puzzle first. Back in the “forest”, Dave and Span took the lead while Brian and Matt seemed to be watching for “muggles” (Muggles are what geocachers call people who don’t geocache). David and Span found the plastic disc rather quickly and seemed to have an easier time with getting the code and opening the box. Once they were inside, they took some pictures and we all headed back to the cars. It was decided at this point that we would do one more geocache. Thankfully Eric had one in mind that was very close to the mini golf course.

“Zozo the Ouija Board Demon” – The final geocache of the day was about 15 minutes away from the previous one, but it would put everyone only a couple minutes away from the mini golf course. This was another gadget cache that was hidden in the back of the Hampton Inn Commack parking lot. Mehr probably wished he stayed here (or anywhere else) as opposed to the dumpy Gateway Inn in Merrick that he wound up at. The area where the geocache was hidden was pretty tight, (behind a dumpster along a chain link fence, so everyone went in two at a time. Marc and Brian were the first pair to give it a try. Once they walked into the area, they did not see anything other than a No Trespassing sign. Eric mentioned that the sign did not pertain to geocachers. Upon lifting the sign, there was a small metal Ouija board hidden underneath with a padlock and four orange thumbtack-looking items. (((Marc can fill in this section))). Then David and Span went in. Once again, Eric had to point out that the No Trespassing sign was not meant for geocachers. Once David and Span had the board in front of them, they made pretty quick work of it and opened the lock. The last group was Mehr and Eugene. This was the most shocking group as Mehr was the one who quickly figured out that the orange tacks were actually magnets. Before Eugene knew what was going on, Mehr had already placed three of the four magnets on the Ouija board and was quickly on his way to spelling REAL, which was the result of the magnets sticking to those four letters on the board. It was also the way of telling geocachers that Zozo the Ouija Board Demon was in fact REAL! Once everyone had finished, Matt walked over towards the area with that look of I’m ready to move onto the next thing on his face. He was probably exhausted from carrying around his large backpack everywhere, so Eric just explained how the Ouija board worked and everyone set their sights on the mini golf course at Heartland which was just a short drive away.

Marc's Recollection

The first geocache would prove to be the most difficult, however, as no one was too keen to venture into the woods just beyond the parking lot. Yes, as it was summer, some were worried about bugs or animals, but moreso than anything, it was the garbage! Lots of disgusting garbage just piled up at the entrance.

And so, they waited. They called Eric, and waited. After about twenty minutes, Eric arrived, and seeing as how he and Span were the ones who most enjoyed geocaching, they were the ones who went searching for the geocache. They found it buried about fifty feet deep; it was an interactive target game with a clown theme, but unfortunately, it was broken. Eric mentioned that it was actually created by a friend of his and that he would have to contact him to let him know.

It wasn't the greatest start to an event, but the next geocache was only minutes away. The group saddled up in their cars and drove to a residential area that adjoined to a preserve where the next cache was located. As they were parking, three of the four cars chose to park on the street. But Span pulled into a parking lot that the group wasn't sure was open to just anyone. They (jokingly) worried that Span would be quite upset if his car wasn't there when they got back and also that Span's wife would blame them for not stopping him.

This was followed by a nice brisk walk on a concrete path through the preserve. There was plenty of shade, and pedestrians and cyclists alike abounded. After about ten minutes, the group reached a bridge, and Eric gave them a clue (about reaching with your left hand?) and told them to begin searching. Everyone went left, right, up, and down looking for the hidden cache, but their searches came up empty. They were further confounded when Eric said that he could see the cache from his vantage point even though they had yet to find it. Finally, Span found the trick; he reached down from the bridge and inside one of the beams that hold the bridge up and released a box that fit seamlessly in. A few congratulations and photos later and the gang was walking back to the cars to drive to the next location.

Unfortunately, the next stop would be a very short one. After arriving at a park full of playgrounds, tennis courts, etc., Eric went back into the woods to check on the cache. While everyone else waited, they chatted a bit. One of the topics was videos as Eugene was just then taking a video of the group. Marc said that some of the group's videos were uploaded to YouTube and had a fair amount of views, most likely because everyone from high school was so interested in what Eugene was up to! After a bit, Eric came back and advised that the cache was broken? and so they would have to skip it and head to the next one.

And so they did by getting back into their cars and driving to another parking lot with a wooded area. They got out of their cars, and Eric had the groups break into teams of four and three as having everyone look at the geocache at the same time would be counterproductive. David, Brian, Span, and Matt went first. After about ten minutes, they came back and Mehr, Eugene, and Marc went in. There was a box with a lock attached to a tree, and the only way to decipher the combination was to rotate a circular piece to reveal it. Opening the box revealed a very cool "altar" that had a number of pieces from the hit television Game of Thrones positioned in it.

The final geocache was again not too far of a drive, though it was a little difficult to find. A few of the cars overshot it and ended up in a strip mall parking lot before turning around and driving to the back of a building and its adjacent storehouse. It was behind this storehouse that groups of two would need to venture to conquer the final cache. The game included four magnetized pieces that had to be placed on a board with letters. The four letters were "L", "A", "R", and "E". This was unscrambled to become "REAL", the combination to the lock. As a side note, because Marc and Brian were the first to go, they noticed a fake "No Trespassing" sign and "warned" others to be careful not to trespass and get arrested when they went behind the storehouse.

Mini-golf

It wasn't a very far drive from the final geocache to the mini-golf course, and everyone arrived pretty quickly. There was plenty of parking, but before the group walked in to rent their clubs and balls, Marc and Eugene noticed something across the street. Both of them owned solar panels; Marc had them professionally installed on his roof while Eugene purchased smaller versions as a hobby. And so, they both were curious and delighted to see what appeared to be a solar panel farm in/on the parking lot across the street from them.

The rest of the member walked towards the entrance, and Marc and Eugene followed shortly after. Once inside, the group started paying for their equipment but not before a few took the opportunity for a bathroom break and also took a few minutes to discuss the somewhat sorry state of the interior. Normally, there would be benches and tables assembled for patrons to order and partake in food and drink. But today, with COVID still raging, there was none of that, and the food that was on display, including some cotton candy, did not look edible.

Soon after, with clubs in hand, everyone went out to the practice hole and took a few shots before deciding what groups they would split into. Mehr, Eugene, Eric, and Marc would start first followed by David, Span, Matt, and Brian. Everyone gave it their best effort, but the latter group appeared to be taking the competition a bit too seriously. Hole by hole, the first group noticed that the second was falling further and further behind. By the time that the first group finished, the second group still had around 4 or 5 holes still to go. The reason was obvious: each person in the group took quite a while to measure and line up their shots (i.e., every shot). In fact, they were playing so slowly that the first group was a little worried because there was a group of guys waiting behind them at each hole, and this group of guys seemed to be giving them the stink eye.

After the long wait for the second group was over, the final results were tallied and are listed below.

Note: Matt mentioned that he hit his head on some of the (fake) rock and that it knocked off his shades?

Note: Marc reminded his group of the mini-golf course that they played at last time which had a playlist of super classic 70's and 80's rock music playing over the speakers. This course didn't have any music playing, but it was still quite nice with varied holes, numerous bridges, and even a "lake" in the middle.

Note: The first group used the long-standing rule that the person who did best of the previous hole would have to putt first on the next hole. In theory, this puts the better player at a disadvantage as the others can see what strategies work or don't. When Eugene happened to find himself as the first putter, he let the others know of his displeasure. This happened a lot as he ended up as the person with the lowest score.

Note: Everyone in the first group other than Marc scored a hole-in-one. However, no one in the second group did.

Lunch

Driving over to the mall at Westfield South Shore, the gang realized that they would be able to choose from a large variety of eateries. However, because of the large size of the shopping area, it also meant that they wouldn't be able to eat all together as a group. Most of the members were interested in eating some kind of burger, veggie or meat, and ended up meeting at Five Guys. Meanwhile, Eric dropped Marc off in the parking lot, and he walked over to Chipotle for its vegan food options and met both Brian and Matt after arriving there.

Though Matt and Marc briefly discussed the idea of getting their food to go so that they could meet up with the other group, it was quite a long walk, and they knew they'd see them plenty the rest of the day, so they found a booth near the window and sat down to eat their very large Mexican dishes. A somewhat funny occurrence (at least for Marc) was when Brian tried to use the restroom, but found that both the front and back restrooms were occupied/locked at the same time!

Meanwhile, the rest of the group headed to Five Guys for burgers and fries. Eric, Mehr, and David would partake, though Eugene would again figure out his own meal and headed to a nearby supermarket for food stuffs. Span might have ordered lunch from the Chinese restaurant located in the area. In any event, since it was such a nice day and, again, to remain as safe as possible, this group decided to eat their food outside.

After everyone had eaten, the passengers had to rejoin their respective drivers. It took a few phone calls and texts, but it wasn't long before Brian, Matt, and Marc were picked up respectively by David, Span, and Eric. Reloaded with energy, it was on to the next event.

Disc Golf

After all of the separate cars arrived at the location, everyone got out and started to organize. There were discs, both large and small, to distribute and two kinds of application needed for their skin. As the day had been long, some chose to reapply their suntan lotion, while others thought it would be prudent to spritz on some bug spray seeing as they were about to venture into a heavily wooded area. However, as soon as the group moved towards the practice goal, it was quickly apparent that not a single person should forego the bug spray. In fact, the gang should bring a whole heck of a lot of it onto the course. Why? Mosquitos started attaching themselves to every exposed body part that they could, and so a ton of slapping of skin commenced.

After everyone was lathered up, the long walk to the first tee began. The gang had to walk back down the entrance road, past an abandoned building, hang a left, and go another five minutes or so before at the hole. Each tee consisted of a rectangle made of dirt, stone, or fake grass, and so the throwing began. As per the usual, Eugene flexed his throwing skills by keeping his disc extremely flat as it cut through the air on the way to the baskets. David commented early on in the goings that perhaps only Marc had the requisite skill to challenge Eugene's dominance. This was because both Eugene and Marc played an excessive amount of ultimate frisbee back in high school, both being yearly members of the cross country and track teams. But, interestingly, another competitor entered the conversation with his full out hucks of the dense and heavy discs that professional like to use: Eric. If you look at some of the photos and videos, you'll see the technique that he used in order to lay claim to an impressively very close second place showing to the aforementioned favorite, Eugene (score card below).

Each hole went pretty much the same. The members would locate the tee, then look at the sign and to the distance to figure out exactly where the goal was, before throwing their discs one at a time. Matt, Marc, and Brian chose to bring up the rear most of the time with Eugene, Mehr, and Eric often going first. Having eight people run each hole simultaneously meant that the play could be little chaotic , but plenty of communication prevented any disc-hitting-person mishaps, that despite Brian's best efforts!

All in all, it was a very enjoyable foray for the group. The only major negative was that the mosquitos mentioned earlier did not relent despite the gang's best efforts to keep them at bay. Undeterred by the bug spray, the mosquitos took to clamping onto t-shirts and pants as best as they could. And so, during the event and also on their walk back to the cars, people were slapping each other's backs (and not for their great shots, mind you) while also using their discs to swipe the hordes of bugs off of their clothing.

After completing 10 holes, the group agreed that it was best to head back to the cars if they wanted to squeeze another event in; sunlight was fading very quickly. Mehr and Span had actually started to walk to the next hole (clearly enjoying themselves!) but were called back in. There were a few interesting bits of conversation and one relatively exciting happening during the event. While walking from one hole to another, Marc remarked to David that the course was very well-maintained; wood chips had been laid on the paths between holes, and a large portion of the grass had been recently mowed. Also, though apropos of nothing, Marc brought up the fact that, during his best man speech at David's wedding, he considered mentioning that a number of MBBB members were in a Seinfeld fantasy football league together and that David's team name is Spongeworthy. However, he thought better of it because he didn't want to embarrass David, David's mother (who is also Marc's mother), or David's wife. Finally, during the walk back, the group saw a deer crossing the path; someone tried to scare it by throwing a tree branch to make a loud noise. Eventually, the deer did move, and they were able to continue on their way.

When they finally reached their cars, they talked about the next planned event: softball batting practice. There still was a decent amount of light, and they could still do it as scheduled in a nearby field, but most of them agreed that there wasn't enough light and that they were tired and sweaty and ready to head back to Marc's house with its air conditioning and sofas.