There is a picture in existence of this event, I just cannot find it! I was working as a bartender at Some Place Else lounge, a funky place that featured 50 music. It was fairly large and employed a lot of really terrific people. We use to party together all the time. On weekends after work, we would head to the after hour joints that were BYOB. We had cook outs together, and once we even went to the local drag strip to watch Dudley compete on his motorcycle.
This one particular time, we all decided that on Sunday we would go to Kings Island, an amusement park north of Cincinnati. 12 of us got together, cars, a van, and Dudley on his motorcycle set off on a beautiful August day...probably August 3rd.
I was dating a guy named Donnie. That is if you call it actually dating. He worked the upstairs bar, and would come down and say, "You want to go to Circus tonight?" (the after hour place). So it was like that. He went on the Kings Island trip, We were together, at least we rode in my car up there.
This was one wild trip! The drive is approximately two hours from Lex. and upon entering the park we stampeded towards the first beer cart we saw, literally ran it down! That was how it was all day.
All the men, (there were four of them) with the exception of Al, were afraid to ride the Beast. At that time, the Beast was the fastest and highest wooden roller coaster in the United States.You would get in line and wait was an hour and then more. We all got in line and made our way to the entry shoot. Once we arrived, the guys backed out. Except Donnie. Us girls would not let him! So he was a sport about it, and got on. After the ride, Dudley and Fud (UK Football player) pushed their way up the exit ramp through all the people disembarking to congratulate us. What they ended up doing, was to carry Donnie down the ramp.He was white as a sheet, and a little green too. Added to that, he was so shook up he could not walk.
We all got our picture taken together (even those who did not ride). "I RODE THE BEAST," all twelve of us. A priceless picture with Donnie in the front roww, slumped over, eyes hollow and face still stark white.
When asked the question, "What is the most fun you ever had?" that day always springs into my mind.