Stark Raven Mad 2002

After weeks of uncertainty as to whether or not we'd be going, Natalie and I finally decided we'd be heading down for my first and her 2nd SRM. Now that it's all said and done, it was MORE than worth every cent spent and every hour of driving. It was easily the most fun I've had so far at any kind of enthusiast event.

We headed out from Michigan on Friday morning to make it to Holiday World just in time to meet up with Natalie's friend Criss and head in for the first night of ERT. Ran into Mamoosh who spotted us around the front gate. He also found my nametag that the Legend claimed on our very first ride of the night! What a first ride, the PTCs are most assuredly a major improvement to an already amazing ride. After getting in a ride before the park closed for the day we ran into Sean Flaharty who I hadn't seen in ages along with Jon Smith, Cory Patrick and Neil Rupp. That'd be a theme through the 2 days of the event... a big part of what made this event kick so much butt, seeing everyone!

The pre-event presentation included an auction of various items, with all the money going to the Make-A-Wish foundation. They also let us know that wrestling man Mick Foley (aka Mankind) would be at the park on Saturday with some kids from Make-A-Wish. Also learned that he's a coaster enthusiast as well. Kewl...

At some point after the start of ERT we were treated to pizza, fudge and chips at Kringle's Cafe. It was a welcome thing since we hadn't eaten since we left for the park. The ERT was a blast! Got countless rides in with everyone, saw lots of mullets, and ended the night with a double lights-out ride on Raven... wow. There'd be more of that fun stuff Saturday night too.

Decided to sleep in on Saturday and skip the Zoombabwe ERT and just take our time getting back over to the park to spend the day. Didn't do too much walking/riding since it was insanely hot. Got on the non-snapping Flying Eagles, rode the bumper buffaloes, horses and whatever else was in there, looked for more mullets... was a good time. We spent a good part of the afternoon just hanging out at a picnic table by the Alamo food stand talking to James (ACEerCG) and his friend Mike (it was Mike wasn't it?) also talked to Jeff & Stephanie for awhile too. Ran into Scott (minus the plastic hair!!!) Robb, Elissa and Fred while wandering around the park too.

After a quick trip back to the hotel after Natalie went in the wave pool we met back up with Criss for dinner. Ahhh the wonder of the world that is an ACE buffet. I still don't know where I put all of it! Jeff, I *DID* eat all 4 of those cookies. Saturday's ERT was just as fun as the one Friday with even more rides with more people. Raven and Legend running unbeleivably fast. Lots of fun with Mr. Po!nter, James Draeger and everyone else. Finished out SRM with the last ride of the night on Raven, which ended up being three rides!!! Big thanks to everyone at Holiday World for putting on such an amazing event, we'll be back next year for sure. Extra thanks to Paula for holding onto my nametag after Mamoosh found it

Hope everyone else had a great time too, and hope I didn't leave anyone out!!

(Edit: Ooops... I did. And how could I forget! Saw Joe C, Clay, Dave Althoff, and Shawn Mamros countless times over both days. And yes, Joe DOES jump... that airtime isn't real!)

Thanks for reading!

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Jeff Tobe
tobejeff@pilot.msu.edu

*** This post was edited by Mantomatic on 6/2/2002. ***

Great TR!

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