Tom & Joanne Fest

So what was originally going to be Vince-Fest (defined as a gathering of Vince's closest friends at Vince's friend Tom's house in PA to celebrate all that is Vince by biking, eating lobster, and generally poking fun at Vince) turned into Tom and Joanne Fest when Vince-Fest had to be rescheduled because not all of the Fest participants were able to make it.

After weeks of corresponding (and flirting) back and forth over email, we both decided we were really bummed that Vince-Fest was postponed a month. Then came the magic invitation I was hoping for:

"I've got a great Plan B that you might be interested in. I have tickets to an acoustic show with Lyle Lovett and John Hiatt at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia on Feb. 6th. I thought you might want to join me?...If you'd still like to come for the weekend I have plenty of room. Bring your bike and if it's nice, we can ride."

Yes! (I should preface this with the fact that I had met Tom a couple of times before and new he wasn't a serial killer...although he does still joke about his prison record from time to time...)

I loaded the bike in the car and drove north to Springtown, PA and what an awesome weekend it was! We had dinner in Philadelphia at a phenomenal restaurant that bent over backwards to make sure everything was gluten free for me. Tom decided he was ordering gluten free too...or rather that I was ordering his gluten free meal for him since he was a newbie at the whole gluten free thing. No pressure there! I'd spent all of 2 hours with him so far and I was supposed to pick out his dinner. Geez. Fortunately he'll eat pretty much anything. The Kimmel Center was a spectacular venue with absolutely perfect acoustics and the performers were awesome. I don't think I've been to a better show.

Saturday we scored some great weather (high 50s and sunny) so we went biking for a few hours over in New Jersey. It was a great ride!

Tom had originally ordered lobsters to be shipped in from Portland, ME for dinner but FedEx had mechanical difficulties somewhere along the way so we had to settle for lobsters from Wegman's instead. They were still delicious and I discovered that Tom is an excellent cook!

On Sunday, after a stellar gluten free pancake and egg breakfast, at my suggestion (what was I thinking...), I had my first fly fishing lesson. Tom likened my suggestion to the Lyle Lovett song "Her First Mistake." Apparently I had just made mine. :-) Tom is quite the fly fishing fanatic and I wanted to see what this fishing thing was all about. Fortunately, he is also a very patient instructor. We headed to the creek down the street from his house so I could put on some waders, learn how to cross a stream (on my feet), and practice my backcasting. It was a fun time but I don't think I'll be trading in my cap and goggles anytime soon. :-)

All in all, it was an awesome weekend, definitely the best "first date" I've ever been on, and I really hated to leave. About 15 min it to the drive home, I reached into my bag for my directions and tucked in with the directions was a note saying what a good time he had that weekend and a picture that he'd taken of us on Friday night. What a guy! He thought of absolutely everything all weekend, down to the smallest detail, and has to be the most thoughtful guy I have ever met!

Two weeks until our next visit. Ugh. Nobody ever said long-distance relationships were easy.