[Ansteorra] Re: Ur 1st GW
Tessa Nieto
eleanor_cleavely at yahoo.com
Wed Dec 26 13:01:11 PST 2001
My dear lady Aurore,
Thank you so much for posting! I guess I'll just have
to deal with wet and mildew. :O) Your post really made
me excited and I am looking forward to war. Perhaps
when we get there, I'll look you up! :OD
Have a great day!
Eleanor
--- Aurore Gaudin <Aurore at hot.rr.com> wrote:
> This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
> --
> [ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
> Ok, ok, I'll tell. I was going to just tell Tessa,
> but I decide everyone should hear a first-timer's
> story. GW IX (year 2000) was my first. At the time
> I was living near Stargate, which was 4 hours closer
> than where I'm living now. At the time my S.O.
> didn't play in the SCA, so I had a friend come from
> Middleford and get me. We left Monday night about
> 9pm. Every major city we hit from my place to the
> GW, we would get slightly lost. One of the many
> firsts for me was to be crossing the Miss. River and
> being on the East side of the States. Got pictures
> of it at nighttime. Got four rolls of film from
> that event, need to get around to developing and
> posting it. Then the last bit of highway that had
> to be traveled we missed the exit for, so we had to
> go find that. We got to the gate about 2am and we
> were about the fifty-something car there. Everyone
> was getting out and finding out where everyone was
> from. The guys were telling their tall tales of
> battles and conquests, even had a few people
> singing. We had to stay quiet for the most part
> cause our lines was on the mundane side of the gate
> and we didn't want to disturb the neighbors. The
> sun came up before it was time to go in, so everyone
> watch it and the little pond beside the road had
> light fog. It was a beautiful morning. Then when
> time was to go in there was a mad dashing to cars.
> Everyone and everything was an organized madhouse.
> Hundreds trying to move into their week-long home.
> Lots of helpful people keeping the cattle of people
> going in the right direction. We found our plot of
> land on the edge of the site where they had just
> finished clearing trees to make more room for the
> growing War. Had to clean it up a bit before
> putting down tent. As I was setting up the kitchen
> area, I found I had made a grieve mistake, no
> cooking pot for our meals. Talk about not checking
> my list twice or even not making one for such a big
> trip. Luckily there was a town nearby and we got
> directions to go get supplies. Got the supplies at
> the local grocery store, and then brunch at the
> local Subway. We came back and our area was left
> alone and untouched. Finished unloading the dragon
> and then put it to it's stall over in the dragon lot
> (open field parking). Made note of where the
> nearest portopotty and water faucet were. We got
> into proper clothes and then went exploring. Found
> a few friends and made lots more that week. Spent
> that day bugged eyed and getting whiplash from
> looking at everything and everyone. That night the
> smells get even better with the camp cooking from
> everywhere. Not a time to go on a diet. In the
> quieter sections of the site, children were put to
> bed. In the noiser sections, the party was just
> getting to rolling. I never had an empty glass and
> the bottle of rum that I bought for the War was
> never opened that week. Was late that night when we
> went to bed. Been up 24 plus hours. Spent the next
> day exploring some more. That night, rains came
> early and I didn't feel up to cooking in the rain so
> we had dinner in the main hall. We sat out on the
> back porch with others talking and smoking. Went to
> bed late again and got up early in the morning. My
> friend had to get ready for the revine battle. It
> was fun getting to sit on the hillside and watch
> arrows fly though the air and hear the clashing of
> swords on shields. The camp followers that watch,
> got to particapate as some of the archers aimmed
> poorly and almost got us too. Don't remember which
> side won, just my friend was dragging himself up the
> hill and dieing at my feet. Letted him rest before
> hulling his gear back to camp. Should have had a
> wagon to cart it around. There was much drinking
> that night to wear off the pains of battle and to
> salute the dead and tell tall tales. Late night to
> bed and early to rise for the mass field battle that
> day. That one was just pure massacre. One of the
> young pole jocky got my friend good, camp docs said
> he was fine. Another night of drinking. See a
> pattern here? That night wasn't so much fun. My
> friend every 20 minutes when he rolled over was
> cussing painfully. So bright and early the next
> morning, I went down the road to find one of my
> Amazon matrons that I knew my friend greatly
> respected. You see my friend was going to do the
> fort battle that day and wasn't listening to me. I
> waited til she got up and explained what was going
> to happen this day if she didn't help me get my
> friend to stay out of the battle. She went with me
> and we woke him up. She looked at him and
> proclaimed that she catches him on the field in
> armor there was going to be hell (pardon) to pay
> that day. I was happy with that. So we watched
> that one. Later after he got home and saw the
> doctor, he had a couple of greenline breaks on his
> ribs. Another good hit and I would be spenting more
> time in Mississippi than I cared for. Another night
> of drinking, the greatest that week. And worst
> downpour on top of it. Sunday morning, we said to
> hell (pardon) with it, we uncermoniously throw
> everything wet in the car and trudge home with smell
> of starting mold and mildew. My poor landlady
> thought I was adding a new room to my apartment when
> I set up the tent to air out. Tons of laundry and
> dishes to do too. The only sad part of the whole
> War was when one of the night's they had to airlift
> a Society member out of the battlefield, only clear
> space to land. The site was eerily quiet that
> night. I would not trade anything for a dry week at
> War. A wet week was more alive with the spirit of
> history and friendship, and somethings that have no
> name to it. May everyone have Good Season's
> Tidings. Lift a drink to our old friends gone and
> to the new friends to come. Aurore
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Tessa Nieto
> To: Aurore Gaudin
> Sent: Tuesday, December 25, 2001 9:16 AM
> Subject: Re: Ur 1st GW
>
>
> Awww...why not? *L*
>
> I keep hearing stories of rain that never quits,
> terrible bathrooms, hair that mildews and your
> clothes
> and tent being underwater. Right now, I'm about
> 50/50
> whether to go or not. :O) I'm not big on wet.
>
> What was your first Gulf War like? What were some
> GOOD
> things that happened? What was the best and worst
> thing about Gulf War?
>
> Thanks and have a great Christmas!
> Eleanor
> --- Aurore Gaudin <Aurore at hot.rr.com> wrote:
> > Hi, I know you don't know me, but I got to
> > remembering about my first GW from a couple of
> years
> > ago. You'll love it. Don't want to spoil it
> much
> > more then that. Aurore
> >
>
>
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> bear, when we hope with our music to move the stars.
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