My virgin Austin hash

Since Chlamydia doesn't know what he's talking about...

Being that I started running and drinking about the same time, age 13, I had always wanted to hash. I knew Pittsburgh and Philly had great kennels, but I never had any transportation while I was there, so I was unable to join them.

Finally, after enlisting in the Army, someone was dumb enough to loan me the money for a vehicle. And of course my first trip was to Austin to hash!

The Sunday hash I went to was way out of town, at a joint called Laga Vista. Remember meeting GloWorm, Cherry Popper, IDJM, and a few others. Two other hashers would be heavily involved in the Austin hash scene for the next few years also had their virgin hash that day, Grabber and PP Longstocking. Chuckles was the hare, probably the first out of the closet gay guy I ever met.

But it was a great trail, and I was already hooked on hashing. Heard there was gonna be a full moon hash during the week, and I decided to make the drive down from Killeen.

Hash started at a bar called Oil Can Harry's. Time was 7PM or so, and I figured I'd head down early to enjoy a few beers and hang out with the hash before the start of trail. So I got there around 6PM. Of course, it was the boxer shorts hash, and I was all decked out.

So I'm sitting in the bar, the only guy there wearing boxers, and did notice that everyone in the place was being very friendly. On my second beer a light went off in my head, and I figured out what the deal was. I finished my beer and went outside to wait for some female hashers to show up, and that's how I originally met Swallowmander (who was still Just Bonnie at the time).

So yeah, my first two trips to Austin gave me more exposure to homos than the first 25 years of my life had.

Ended up being a great trail though. Smeg hared. Met Hot Wheeles for the first time. Downtown trail, which was all new to me at the time. Even hashed by the state building, never thought I'd end up working there one day.