Welcome to The Clinic.
Quick story about it’s humble beginnings…
On July 30, 1969, while Neil Armstrong uttered those infamous words, “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” a small town doctor had his sites set on his own personal galactic vision. In the middle of on open pasture, Dr. A. Evan Boddy placed what the locals came to refer to as “The Jupiter Two”; a flying saucer shaped hospital.
Dr Boddy was recruited in the summer of 1962 to serve as the lone physician for the then rural area of Woodstock, Georgia. As his practice grew and he experienced his patient’s needs, he realized that the travel time to the nearest hospital often presented a problem. Most households were lucky if they had a car, and rural roads made traveling long distances difficult and time consuming. More than a simple sense of civic duty, he felt a deep compassion for the residents of his community.
After visiting a World’s fair, Dr. Boddy devised a solution. He purchased the mobile MASH unit that was on display and name it Cherokee Atomedic Hospital.
It was made from the silver aluminum, the type that most travel trailers were fashioned from ,and the combat portability allowed it to be set up easily. It housed 13 pie shaped rooms with a corridor circling the outside edge. Each room was just large enough for a small bed and someone to stand beside the patient. At the head of each bed was a tiny door allowing the it to be pulled into a center treatment area. The center area also housed the nursing station, kitchen and a surgical suite.
Time passed and as the needs of the community grew, he enlarged the hospital to 22 beds. Dr, Boddy also built an outpatient clinic and a nursing home on the property, becoming the largest employer for Woodstock citizens.
But by 1994 improved roads made the larger hospitals in neighboring towns readily accessible, and the city voted to demolish the old hospital in favor of a new City Hall.
The hospital may no longer sit in a open cow pasture, metallic body gleaming like an invading alien craft, but the memory of what one caring physician accomplished for his community will shine throughout time for the people of Woodstock.
Another fun story – When 5 year old Cricket was a wee lad, he was viciously attacked by a big wheel wielding bully named Mikey Picklesimer. This brutal act resulted in 5 year old Cricket paying a visit to The Clinic for stitches and a dose of sheer panic by this futuristic looking bastion of needles and scalpels. Thankfully, 42? year old Cricket doesn’t seem impacted at all…haha…apparently he has channelled his fear and anxiety through procreation.
On with the show…
Warmup
YHC awoke at approximately 3:45a to pee and then followed the wise words of his hero TB12: “Let’s GOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!” So go he went. Why did I just switch over to the third person? Anyhoo, his lovely M in all her glory mustered up the strength to give a very raspy “good luck” and that was that.
The shovel flag was packed, the weather looked perfect, and I saddled up the ole wagon and headed west.
At approximately 4:58, I was on scene. The air was crisp, and the dew was…dewy? dewey? Whatever, the grass was wet. The boys started pouring in. Cars, trucks, bikes, and foot. 5/12/18/26/33/41/47! Yikes, my brain was about to melt out of my ears. Think, Harrington, THINK!!! What you have planned is not going to work with this crowd. I’m not freaking out – YOU’RE FREAKING OUT!!! Plus my allergies were acting up…or someone was cutting an onion.
After a lot, and I mean a LOT of nervous chit chat, the clock struck 5:30a and The Clinic was officially launched. The 12th AO in Cherokee County in 18 months. Sad Clown Town no more!
Before I forget – special thanks to EVERYONE who helped make this day totally Mossome (look it up). Homeboy for the constant support (seriously!), The boys who helped with the two recon missions, the local yokels who will be regulars and got me wicked fired up for this location even thought it’s not my ‘hood, Babyface, our fearless leader, the Barn Boys for the Friday morning prayers, Hooch for the awesome photography, everyone who retweeted my promo tweets, Spandex for showing me how to get the logo crowdsourced (after awesome inspiration from Turner and Thrasher), Titlemax for winning the recruiting game, Smurfette and Drumstick for being a close second with the EH’ing, the PAX from The Rubicon, The Wreck, and all Cherokee AO’s, and everyone who sent me an encouraging (read: ripped me to shreds…in a good way, ya know) text leading up to the launch. Why am I crying again?!?!
Enough with the bleeding heart stuff (that’s The Paragon influence lol) let’s talk about what actually happened…if anyone hasn’t already blacked out from boredom…
Warmup:
We set off for a short mosey around this incredible amphitheater. Circled up for disclaimer and warmup and then it was time to play.
Thingy:
Grab a partner and head up to the terraced landings for some BROFROGS and RACCOON MOUNTAIN. Might as well start off with the weird stuff, eh? Do this a couple of times just for fun.
Mosey SAFELY and QUIETLY across the street and though the fancy schmancy new townhomes where Lawdog was again right in my ear yapping to get me off my game. This is his gift: Annoyance.
Rally up the hill, around the corner and rendezvous at the train tracks for a completely audibled BUS LANES and PLANK BY ME on the tracks. Split with your partner with one group doing 10/10 BBS & LBC’s while the others enjoyed some greasy hands and MERKIN PLANK LEAP FROGS. Switch when done and get a dose of each. Garfield full sweat at this point. Meow!
Mosey like we’re in a 5k, SAFELY across the street and into monument park for some 11’s of DIPS & BOX JUMPS. Phew, there were enough benches to go around.
Mosey back down to the field for some The Mole led flutter kicks while we wait on the six (special thanks to Hombre, Bear, Homeboy and HasBRO lol, for hanging back with the 6.
Mosey up onto the stage for some totally confusing RACES against your partner’s team. Not exactly well explained or executed. My bad, but at least we got to enjoy the sumptuous smells of the freshly emptied dumpsters. That was special.
Wrap things up with some MARY where we did a bunch of other stuff. Finish on time. Hallelujah!
Name-0-rama was totally on point. 12 FNG’s and the creative juices were in overdrive. Lines were being crossed, and the cooler talk throughout the day was an equal mix of remorse and defiance – mostly for Wife Beater…aka Beater…aka TBD. Please come back. That was Bear’s fault 😉
COT:
F3MTB starting this Saturday, Prayers for The Mole’s M’s friend and father of 6 who tragically died in a vehicle accident, prayers for this group, for the City of Woodstock and for our amazing group of men. We are doing this not for ourselves, rather for our family, for our children, for our community. Love you bros!!! Amen.
Manning out Zzzz…