The northern half of the United States found itself stifled by a sudden blizzard and cold wave on Friday, January 23, 2009. Most of the O.U.T.R.A.G.E. volunteers who'd helped set up for Inauguration Day in Washington D.C. were now back home. A large contingent, however, had made a 'pit stop' at Jil Adams' flagship bar in northeast Indiana before heading back to 'parts unknown'. Phil and Janie Baker, along with most of the Double B Pig Farm supervisory staff, were halfway back to Iowa when the snowstorm blanketed northern Indiana and made travel impossible. So, of course, the only reasonable thing to do was 'hunker down' and wait it out. Weather forecasters were predicting at least a three-day onslaught of high winds, freezing temperatures, and heavy snow. Through all those bizarre blizzard conditions, the O.U.T.R.A.G.E. crowd managed to make it to the bar without incident.
Since most businesses were officially shut down by the severe storm, this gang of revelers had Jil's bar all to themselves for a three-day weekend of drinking, dancing and debauchery - a seemingly fitting reward the what they'd all accomplished in the past few days. Bobby Cowles had called the farm hands, who reported that things were operating normally at the pig farm, despite drifting snow and howling winds. Mike and Donna Osborn checked in with their staff and got the same blase' reaction: "no need to hurry back; things are under control". Boo and Jo Warren, Bobby and Lovey Boyles and the rest of the group were ready to party! The AROB group (Jil Adams; Bob Ryan; Ron Oetting and Phil Baker) was, as usual, prepared to stay 'for the duration'. "Hammy" was there already stoked up and starting to party. Doc's lime-green O.U.T.R.A.G.E. motorhome managed to get through snow-blocked highways just in time for the festivities. Lynette, Michelle, Kathy, Connie, Suzan, Lynn and Jil's other friends were already there. Cher, Dee, Janie, Chris and Hooter were all there. Bottles were broken open, beer tops were popped, the ice machine was working overtime, and Jil jump-started the jukebox. Doc got stuck back in the kitchen preparing piles of pancakes, sausages, hamburgers, chicken wings and red-hot ribs. "Hey!" he bellowed to no one in particular, "I could use some help back here!" Bobby Cowles immediately volunteered to be Doc's grill assistant. Christine and John managed to arrive about 9:00 Friday night with her thirty-five 'working girls' in tow; how they managed to get there was anybody's guess. All thirty-seven of them had been dropped off by a fleet of taxicabs; to a man, every cab driver seemed to have a subdued, smirky smile on his face. It could be reasonably assumed that no cash had been transferred in payment for the treacherous trek to the bar. Like postal carriers, cab drivers are dedicated to their duty through rain, snow, sleet or hail; nothing kept these cabbies from their appointed rounds, not even the blowing snow.....and something told Jil that it wasn't just the snow that had been blown.
"As the party progressed, everybody was feeling merry....then Mary left.....so they jumped for Joy!" It was one of Ron Oetting's most tired-and-weary jokes, one that he'd been telling before he'd been old enough to even understand it. By 11:00 Friday night, Donna was singing, "And I'm Proud to be an American" - while the jukebox played "The Rose" - - and Mike was sitting at the bar in a state of somber stupefaction. Phil was ordering more "Jim Ream on the Bocks", Janie was 'dancing' with Bobby Boyles (actually, to be politically correct, they were hanging on, trying to hold each other upright). Cher was trying not to laugh as she kept pulling Bob's face out of a vat of beer (when Bob complained about the small pitchers, Doc slammed a punch bowl down in front of him and poured twelve pitchers of beer into it. "Here," Doc barked, "try swimming in this!" Bob, of course, tried, only to almost drown everytime he 'Bobbed for beer'). Lynn had somehow, somewhere, latched on to her long-lost 'military man' and brought him along to the party. By midnight, they'd managed to snuggle under the shuffleboard court, complaining that there was sand in their drinks. Ron was acting like a buffoon, as is usual when he drinks too much, making unwarranted sexist remarks to girls who simply leered and felt sorry for such a pathetic, harmless old drunk. Harold, Hooter and Hummer had quietly stashed themselves in the corner, content to pretend like they knew exactly which card game they were playing. Sally was talking to Lovey at the bar, while Dana looked on, hoping to strike up a conversation with some good-looking dude she'd never seen before, wearing Navy "blues" and sipping a Dewars on the rocks. Christine and John sat at the bar trying to keep "the girls" from "giving it all away". As long as they're here, Christine reasoned, they might as well make a few hundred bucks. "Hammy" was huddled in a corner with Dee, passing out "some of the best shit I've ever smoked in my life!" to anyone willing to go for the gaunchy. Jil was, typically, in her "party machine mode" as she mingled with everyone and saw to it that they were sufficiently imbibed. Pam was pouring down little pink drinks. Boo sat in a stupor, unsure of anything going on around him. Jo had just scored 1,507,656 points on "Word DoJo" - and as she got up to announce her record-breaking accomplishment, she spilled her drink on Phil, who quickly lapped it up before it evaporated on his new blue-and-white Colts sweater. He then asked for another "Jrim Breem onna' Crocks" as his eyes glazed over and his head hit the bar with a distinctive 'thud'. It was becoming a Sturm-and-Dang kind of tumultuous unrest.....and it was only Friday night! Who the hell knew what Saturday and Sunday might bring?