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12/20/2003 Archived Entry: "Turkey Roll - November 30, 2003"

Our Turkey Roll
On Sunday Morning - November 30, 2003

If there is one single event that I’d been waiting a year for (well, besides the Miami Great EsSkate), it was this exact Turkey Roll. I’m not suggesting that I helped to organize it or anything like that. It’s just that I’d been mentally dreaming about it for… well… a year.

Enter Javier (from Puerto Rico) and Isabel (from Columbia).

Javier is one of the handfuls of good friends of mine living in Miami. He’s not a drug dealer or anything like that. Simply… well… a close friend. So he telephoned me a couple months back: “What are you doing for Thanksgiving???,” he excitedly asked in his Puerto Rican accent. I at first thought I was being invited to either Puerto Rico or to where the rest of his family lives, in Peru. (But Thanksgiving is simply an American-type thing. So I surmised that the phone call was about a long weekend type trip – to New Orleans or Cancun.) “Do you mind if my girlfriend and I come up to Atlanta and have Thanksgiving with your family?” Actually, most Latino people are not so direct when positioning their questions. Neither really is Javier. He did quite a bit of talking before coming to the point.

And during the next telephone conversation that I had with him, I learned that he had purchased a plane ticket; though not happily. (He ordered the ticket when it was way too much money; and chose a flight that stopped and changed planes in Charlotte, N.C - as opposed to flying directly and non stop to ATL from MIA.) I learned that he was to arrive into Atlanta on Thursday during the exact time when my family was to be eating Thanksgiving dinner; and, departing back to Miami during the exact time when APRR was to be carrying out my year long dream.

MARTA came to mind… I slept on the idea for four nights straight. The dreams turned into a nightmare. And the nightmares turned into no sleep. Nah, I couldn’t do that to my good friend.

Although I missed out the skating portion of the Turkey Roll, I can vouch that the weather was beyond perfect for the occasion. There was not any way that one could ask for a nicer day! It was The Best !!! And when I did arrive to the Continental Park Café, in downtown Stone Mountain (after having taken Javier & Isabel to the airport), the satisfaction could be read on pretty much everyone’s face. Everyone was sooo… relaxed, and sooo… chilled-out, and sooo… much having a good time. I was with my friend Annette, who’d traveled from Germany to also have Thanksgiving with my family. The two of us were able to easily fit right in with the relaxed and chilled-out skaters.

So, what makes the Turkey Roll so special to APRR? It is not merely the true fact that there’s a fair amount of tradition involved; but hey, what more can one ask for? The annual event is a moderate round trip distance, say 25 or 35 miles – where you feel as though you’ve accomplished something on an otherwise sleepy day (well, except for the game of football in the front yard). People of all ages participate in the Turkey Roll. All the people who do participate are warm, friendly, and accommodating to each other (unlike the friends and family members in the game of football in the front yard). There is almost always a good turn out of us, say 25 or 35 skaters. And the coffee, brunch/lunch/dinner (whatever you think it should be called) beer, wine, dessert, etc. etc, is always just what the doctor ordered. Let me tell you my friends, the Turkey Roll is something for any level of skater, and is ALWAYS something to look forward to. Thanks Paul and Cindy for your ongoing contribution.

One of the very first images that I made with my new
Nikon D1X digital camera was this one of Isabel & Javier,
on Thanksgiving evening, during their visit to Atlanta.

Aaron, Annette (from the Thuringen area of Germany) and I,
on the Silver Comet Trail, later in the day of the Turkey Roll.

(Photo by Tom S.) Elizabeth D and Lisa M warming up
at the Freight Room, in downtown Decatur, a little before
10:30 AM, which is where and when the Turkey Roll
officially began.

(Photo by Tom S.) And they’re off! Brenda C and Michele R
leading Jethro J and a flock of others on Claredon Ave. from
S. Avondale Rd to N. Clarendon Ave., in Avondale Estates - -
migrating to Stone Mountain, via a bunch of other roads.

(Photo by Tom S.) At the Continental Park Café.
Most were able to take a seat inside as they
waited for the great food and hot drinks.
((lower left, clockwise: Jody R, Mark D, Mark R,
Brenda C, ??? (please help w/ name), Scott J,
Jenny R (behind Scott), Carl C (looking back),
Bruce B, Paul H (with peace sign), Mims R (mostly
hidden), Jim M, Jethro J, Debbie Y (in white and
hidden), Jay M, Greg T. Not seen to the right
are Grace & Dan S))

At the Continental Park Café
(clockwise: Mims R, Jenny R, Michele R, Bruce B,
Jethro J, Caroline B, Miguel P, Jim M.)

Typical of a peaceful time.
(Deb Y and Grace & Dan S)

River T and father, Greg.

(Photo by Tom S.) Lisa M trying to ordering lunch:
"…but I'd like the pie heated and I don't want the ice cream
on top, I want it on the side, and I'd like strawberry instead
of vanilla if you have it, if not then no ice cream just whipped
cream but only if it's real; if it's out of the can then nothing.”

And Carl C wondering why he got up so early to migrate so far.

A few of us thought it would be nice to grab a four-top outside.
We had it all - good view, good food, great company - but a
little cold! (clockwise: Bruce Z, Cindy S, Paul K, Deb C)

(Photo by Tom S.) Carl C & Sweet Paula BP.

On the balcony
(clockwise: Jerry B, Rickson C, Carl C, Paula BP)

Paula BP

Tom S hides easily behind Elizabeth D’s
huge 100’s. (Elizabeth had taken liberty
to utilize Tom’s legs to rest her own.)

Paul K and Deb C check-out of the
Continental Park Café. There were so
many of APRR there that our tummies
had no more rooms available.

Skater Gossip outside the Continental Park Café,
in the quaint, downtown Stone Mountain
(Mark D, Mark R, and Bruce B)

Outside the Continental Park Café
Jody R, Grace & Dan S - Cindy S, Deb C, and Paul K.

(Photo by Tom S.) Burning off the calories from lunch
along E. Ponce De Leon Ave, on the way back to the
Freight Room in Decatur. (Mark R in front, Jerry B,
Bruce B, and Brenda C leading the others)

(Photo by Tom S.) Lisa M taking a break as we waited
for the train to pass.