If warm and fuzzy stories are not your bag, do yourself a favor and ignore this thread. This is something I have to post, but you don't have to read 
Those of you who have been on the forum for a while know about the health issues both Bill Martin and myself have been going through this year. Both Bill and I (as well as all the well wishers and prayers from the forum members) have tried to keep each other's spirits up with the dream of being able to make it to Kerrville Texas, or at least to Maggie Valley. It looked like that was going to happen for both of us before Angie had her tooth problem and Bill had to miss the event. Then Alberto did its best to keep it from happening. LOW. After deciding that I needed this trip come hell or high water (and that was before they talked about flooding and possible dam failure), we did what we had to do and went to Maggie Valley. HIGH. I must openly admit that with the massive infection that took me down in January, my memory has slipped some more. There will be friends I will meet this week that I can never thank for what they're about to do, but it will tax my brain to remember all their names. That's something that bothers me the most. Another LOW. Their comments of "you're looking good" to "I'm so glad you beat this illness" even one of "I would have never believed that you could have died from this" hit me hard. It almost turned me into a crying fool to see how many people in the forum really care and not just post hollow words
Once we arrived, I wasn't prepared for a LOT of what was to follow. I had planned to trade my Slingshot body panels to Allen so I would have plain panels to make it easier for Jim (Painter) do do his magic later this year. Removing my graphics would easily have taken me days if not weeks and the chance to damage some panels in the process was great. Allen ended up having a Slingshot with the Attach graphics from AMR at no charge, and I ended up returning my slingshot back to stock appearance. With the rains forecast for all week, Allen and I were going to place both Slingshots side by side in the self serve car wash next door to the Comfort Inn. Those plans were changed for me. I still don't know how it was planned without me hearing about it. Between Jim (Painter), Trent, Jarred and others, the offer to have both of us show up to Heather and jarred's home Wednesday and have them "wrench" on both Slingshots and do the swap for us. Initially I said no. Allen and I with the help of a couple others would do this ourselves. I was easily convinced that people with more skills, experience and in better health could do this a lot faster. HIGH. So off to South Carolina we went and watched the magic in motion.
About now, I didn't know what to expect since these were people who were friends with each other and ones that I've minimally interacted with on the forums. Being received into their lives as friends and not as another "project" to be worked on was one of the greatest thrills since taking delivery of this thing in November 2014. After being led to the massive table of hams, turkey, bourbon pulled pork and seeing all the pies and cookies waiting on the side, I said to myself this isn't going to happen. they're all going to be taking a well deserved nap after eating all this.
When it was time, the two Slingshots lined up (as our Canadian friends would say) side by each and the tools were flying. Never having had the body panels off, my knowledge of this was limited, but i did what I could to assist in converting mine. the intensity these guys put into making this happen was amassing. They worked in concert form with no yelling screaming or throwing of tools. When all was said and done, there were no broken pieces, no missing tools and no spare parts. How can you ask for anything better? It takes more than friends to do these kind of things for someone that some of them have never met before. So back to Maggie Valley with a naked SL Slingshot HIGH and LOW, but knowing that one day soon it would be sporting a properly tailored hand crafted suit by Painter HIGH
Now that we're back in Maggie Valley with a "new" Slingshot, I'm off to see Dave@DDMWorks to see if he can get to the bottom of why my ride is running this rich. After speaking with Dave and him hearing about what it's gone through and the ecu trips back and forth to Bob, he said he really wanted to help, but since it wasn't his system, he couldn't just pull parts off the shelf to try. I left it with him as he was busy doing another s/c install, so I took my wife shopping to Pigeon Forge LOW lol When I returned he had dusted the engine with some of his limited edition sprinkles and said to take it for a ride. It worked. He now has it running like it hasn't run since - NEVER. HIGH
Now that the rain has stopped and it's Saturday morning, it's time to get the first and only run in the mountains with a great group of guys (and gals). Along the ride, we pulled over to wait for a few riders to catch up with us. I took that opportunity to sneak behind an abandoned building to "see a man about a horse". On the way back to the road, I failed to notice a group of vines and my foot got caught up in them and I went down like a ton of bricks onto a pile of 2" aluminum pipes. I still can't believe that it happened. All I could think of on the way down was to stay away from those stumps that almost looked like spears. My chin hit first into the tubes, my chest and ribs were next and leg completed the trifecta. LOW. I was able to see my doctor this morning and x-rays were done. Still waiting to hear the results, but the treatment for bruised, cracked or broken ribs are all the same. The only difference is the amount of time it takes to heal and how strong the pain meds are going to be
All in all it was a week that will never be forgotten no matter how bad my memory gets. The highs were so high that they outweighed the lows. While I hope I don't have to go through another week like this, I can't wait for Maggie Valley 2019. To those of you who I'm known and met before, it was great seeing you again and your friendship and kindness can never be replaced. To those of you I met for the first time, you're special and are in an elite group of people that I'm proud to call friends. I may mix up your name, but the memories of you will never be taken away from me
