Tale of the Trail – CH3 #1693

The Tale of the Trail
The Chicago Hash 14 Nov. 2010 by Horn-E

We had 10K Tika Ho and Genesis as our hares out of Ravenswood Pub and damn if the trail didn’t look a lot like Lifa’s trail at TH3 from the previous week. We had 14 hounds on this trail as the pack took off to the south for a quick loop through the alley and then to the north. Trail wound through a few streets until we got caught on a Check that seemed to take a while to find. Trail was finally found to the north and east and Lifa led Horn-E and a few hashers through an alley and after the leaders. We went east to Clark and then north. Here is where Horn-E almost lost it all. Some hashers had crossed Clark and he followed and they headed north. Trouble is, the trail didn’t. Just before Ashland and Clark met, trail headed west and south on Ashland. Horn-E looked west and saw no one. He looked south and apparently just missed seeing hashers looping around and across Clark. So he followed and soon found himself out of sight of the pack. Read that DFL. He ran on and on and thanks to some Splits and Checks being marked, he finally saw the pack at Ridge and near Hollywood at a Check. The back of the pack was just crossing Ridge and he got caught by traffic. But a Split and Horn-E was soon right behind the pack. Our next Check was at Ridge/Broadway,Bryn Mawr. Hashers were already standing around. He crossed Bryn Mawr and headed east just as Lifa appeared at an alley and blew his whistle. Blowing his horn, Horn-E was in hot pursuit. From DFL to running second in a few blocks. The beauty of hashing. About two blocks later was a Split. Lifa had gone south so Horn-E went west and was soon on and he blew his horn for those at the Check, Just John and Just Mary. And so it was as Horn-E kept finding Splits and guessing right and they stayed right behind him. We finally headed back to Clark, south and then across Ashland and more winding through streets. Over a mile in the lead when Horn-E finally missed a turn into an alley. Just Mary spotted it and took the lead with Just John down an alley and Horn-E right behind. Now it was their turn to miss a mark, a Split. At the next street we realized we weren’t On. Lifa was now gaining on us and Horn-E yelled for him to look for a mark. He spotted a Split at an alley and because we weren’t On, he had to be. We then followed Lifa for a few blocks until he went into an underpass under the Metra tracks. Now, just 10 days ago, Lifa hared here and had a Beer Stop right over this underpass in a parking lot. Here is where he went wrong. The lead hound should never assume where the trail will go. Here is where the hares can really screw the pack. He found marks, but we weren’t sure what he found. We went north a bit when Lifa started to second guess his shortcut. As we stood around, Just Mary was sent a block north to look for marks. Meanwhile the rest of the pack started to arrive and they were heading straight out of the tunnel and on to the correct trail. So, Lifa, Just John and Horn-E followed. Meanwhile, Just Mary returned and found a Split. She followed it and was soon leading and heading north to a loop around a building and to a back entrance along some tracks and the beer stop where the hares and Goldilocks were waiting with beer. Back on true trail we came to a Check. Lifa went back towards where we already were. Horn-E went north and actually found true trail that led to the parking lot again and eventually back to where Just Mary already went. Lifa was soon behind him and we led some hashers on to the beer stop.
After the beer stop we found free bar food available and all was good. Beer was flowing. But we were soon dragged outside in the cold for a circle so we wouldn’t bother all of the bar patrons. Some hashers left but we had a short circle and some fun. Then we came back in and got into the beer that was still flowing thanks to the short circle. After a bit we were asked to take part in rock paper scissors. Corn Star won and got a big jug of cheese balls. Just Mary took second and got $25 bar cash. Horn-E took third and won a bottle of hooch. Others on trail included Its Too Soft, Bloody thighs, Hoosier Daddy, Beer Stop Valdez, Mudsucker, Stab ’em & Slab ’em, The KGB, Mount Schwiiinga and Chicken Stiffer.
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On On
Horn-E