EDDIE AND JIMʼS IRON-MAN-DAVE ADVENTURE

Cape May, NJ: For this first Thursday in August, the ʻBreakfast with Daveʼ moveable morning feast and traveling soiree visited Uncle Billʼs Pancake House on Beach Drive in Cape May for the first time. In attendance on this overcast and drizzly Thursday morning were Eddie Jurewicz and Jim Colubiale because everyone else probably realized what a zoo Cape May would be with the United States Lifeguard Associationʼs National Championships in town for four days and made the prudent, but unhealthy decision to skip breakfast this week.

Uncle Billʼs menu is very similar to the other Uncle Bill franchises in North Cape May, Wildwood, Ocean City and Strathmere and features pancakes of nearly every kind. Although none of the Uncle Billʼs eateries offers a 2-2-2 special (i.e. 2 eggs, 2 pieces of meat, and 2 pancakes), someone could order the bacon and eggs with a short stack of pancakes and have basically the same thing without ordering everything a la carte. Our waitress also made sure that our coffee and tea cups were filled throughout the meal. Eddie quickly pointed out that the wrap around window design afforded nearly everyone in the main dinning area a view of the Atlantic Ocean just across Beach Drive. In fact, this particular Uncle Billʼs offers alfresco dinning as well, but the drizzle turned into a steady rain and drove Eddie and Jim indoors and into a comfy booth.

After the first round of coffee and tea were poured and their orders were taken off to the kitchen, Eddie and Jim decided to try and reconstruct the morning events that led them to this booth at Uncle Billʼs in Cape May. First of all, the choice of this particular Uncle Billʼs was precipitated by the fact that Dave spread the word that his National Championship Iron Man race would be on Thursday morning at around 8 AM. Since they would already be in town to see Dave compete, why not remain there for breakfast? So, Jim planned to pick Eddie up at 7:30 AM, drive into Cape May, park and then watch Dave until breakfast time when they would both meet the rest of the gang at Uncle Billʼs. However, once the duo reached Broadway and Beach Drive, they quickly realized that parking was going to be quite an adventure since over 1,000 lifeguards and their entourages were all making their way to Cape May Lifeguard Headquarters at Grant Street and the Beach for the beginning of the dayʼs events. Then, Jim realized that Uncle Billʼs had a parking lot for its customers, so he just slowly made his way along Beach Drive until he came to Uncle Billʼs and then parked in the lot, even though breakfast time was still over and hour away. Luckily, the parking lot attendant did not come on duty until 8, so they left the car and walked to Headquarters which was about two blocks or so south of the lot in a quest to see Dave do his Iron Man thing.

By the time their meals were served, they were reviewing their arrival at Headquarters. As they arrived at the cross walk near the Cape May Lifeguard Headquarters on Grant Street, they heard this car horn beep and looked up to see John Wilsey in his van holding up traffic so they could cross Beach Drive. He signaled that he would meet up with them in a few minutes. As they climbed the short steps up to promenade level, both entered into a carnival type universe created specially for Lifeguard Races, although Jim would admit the atmosphere was not unlike any one of the 18 marathons he had run. Along the promenade just south of HQ, tents were set up to purchase everything from a quick bite to eat to an official USLA tee-shirt. The first Cape May lifeguard they met was Rich, who still teaches at LCMR and was an assistant for Jim in Indoor Track. He really didnʼt appear all that phased by the circus unfolding around them. After Eddie and Jim had a chance to catch up with Rich, they asked the obvious question: “Have you seen David Smith?” Rich answered he has not seen him yet this morning. He asked why they were here, and so they told him the purpose of their quest: To see Dave compete in the Iron Man competition. Rich really couldnʼt tell us too much more because he had to hustle off to prepare for work. However, no sooner did Rich leave, but Bob, who was an unbelievable girls track coach in the 90ʼs at Bridgeton and a veteran Cape May Lifeguard, appears up on the porch fronting the promenade with a cup of McDonaldʼs coffee in his hand, and they asked Bob their Ahab question: “Have you seen David Smith?” Bob shouted back over the din of the activity bustling between them that he hasnʼt seen him yet, but he knows he is around headquarters somewhere. As far as Daveʼs Iron Man event was concerned, Bob thought that the only Iron Man event he was aware of this AM was for the Junior Guards, not Daveʼs age group.

Eddie and Jim met up with John Wilsey who had finally parked his van. The first thing Eddie and Jim tell John is that they couldnʼt find Dave and are unsure whether he even competes today. So, John joins Eddie and Jim in their quest to find David Smith by walking down onto the sandy beach behind headquarters with Eddie wearing cowboy boots. A three or four block area of the beach transformed into a huge competitive staging area with tents set up for each of the major regions in the USLA, as well as medical tents and equipment check-in areas. A block or so north of HQ, a huge scaffold was erected to view and perhaps judge the races, while a monster PA system lined the entire beach blasting out race information and updates to the crowd. Eddie and Jim never seen anything like this and were very much impressed with the effort taken to accomplish such a set up. At one point, Jim thought that the announcer could have a little fun with the crowd and give a TV advertisement about tonightʼs Shark Week offerings, like “Tonight, Shark Week continues with a look at Great White attacks along the Jersey coast.” Then, the trio met Terry, a former LCMR student/athlete now a Lieutenant on the Cape May Beach Patrol, and asked him the question of the morning, “Have you seen David Smith?” Terry confirmed that Dave was here, but he had to go and get his boat which he mistakenly left at his beach stand off Decatur Street instead of returning it to HQ yesterday. They then asked if Dave was competing today, and Terry responded with the question, “Did Dave tell you he was competing today?” “Yes!”, the trio chorused back to him. Terry could only shake his head and added that the only Iron Man competition this morning was for the Junior Lifeguard age group and that Dave will not compete until sometime Saturday. Unless of course Dave is trying to pass himself off as a 15 year old! As if to confirm this information, the PA announcer gave a final call for the Junior Lifeguard Iron Man championship race. So, we watched the race from the beach, still waiting to find the elusive Dave.

As the empty plates were bused from the table and a post-breakfast cup of coffee and tea floated in their cups, Eddie and Jim arrived at the point in the retelling of the morningʼs events where Dave was finally sighted. As their attention shifted from the race in the water back to the beach, John spotted Dave, bare chested in the overcast conditions with his white hair blowing in the breeze, walking down the back ramp from headquarters. Before Eddie, Jim or John could mount any attack on Dave, he deflated the situation by explaining that he saw an Iron Man competition scheduled for today and thought it was his race, but today he discovered that he was in the ʻAmericanʻ Iron Man which doesnʼt run until Saturday. Overlooking this scene from headquarterʼs back porch rail was Buzzy, the Captain, who reminded Dave of his responsibility of listening for the announcement for an important meeting he had to attend later that morning. Jim defended Dave somewhat by telling the Captain that Dave can hear quite well, but he has a hard time remembering. And so, with Dave pulled back to duty, the trio decided to head back to Uncle Billʼs to meet the rest of the gang. However, John excused himself at that point because he had to go to work that morning as well. So, Eddie and Jim weaved their way back to Uncle Billʼs through the crowds in a steady drizzle.

By the time the check arrived, that drizzle had turned to rain. The cost for this weekʼs breakfast came to $15.00 for each of them which included a decent tip for their very attentive waitress who managed to keep their coffee and tea cups filled despite the craziness of the morning rush.

But before they could leave, Eddie wanted to show Jim the “Wall of Spatulas” over by the entrance. Here, autographed spatulas hang highlighting some of the more important visitors to the establishment, like Tina Fey and Tug McGraw to name a few. And so, Eddie and Jim survived yet another ʻBreakfast with Daveʻ together and live on to tell the tale of Iron Man Dave.

Breakfast With Dave

Uncle Bill’s Pancake House