Nathan's Famous

On the morning of Nathan's hot dog eating contest Mark was nowhere to be found, he hadn't come home the night before. The natural thought was he had a long night drinking and passed out somewhere. Sean was worried and made phone calls to several people and hospital and police while we headed towards midtown to look for him... he called eventually, he'd been out drinking.

We arrived in Coney Island a bit too late to have the premium spot in the splash zone front and center, but a decent spot all together. We filled up on hot dogs and beer and enjoyed the morning, about 2 or 3 hours of music and drunken America crowding the corner of Surf and Stillwell waiting for our heroes to devour some hot dogs.

The contest itself was incredible, Joey Chestnut pulling ahead early by a couple hot dogs, then Kobayashi took the lead, and when the 10 minute clock expired it was a dead heat tie at 59 dogs a piece. There's are to be no ties in competitive eating, they put 5 hot dogs in front of each man, Chestnut finished first and was declared the winner, possibly the single greatest sporting event in the history of man.

Before heading out to Connecticut I got a tip from the neighbor Alex about a beer place he discovered right in Astoria with a nice selection, Mark and I mixed and matched a 6 pack and worked on it on the train ride. Once in Weston, CT we had our share of great food, one of the best meals I've had in some time, and met up with some more friends at a diner before calling it a night.

Later today I may head to where Heather is staying, Heather's the girl who responded to my ride post wanting someone to hitchhike along with her to New Orleans. It shaping out to be a great time ahead.

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