herveus

We went out to Baron Wars this past weekend.

bronx_baroness showed up, and I also got acquainted with Raven, formerly Mr. Black Diamond, who was there selling his wares.

The weather forecasts were daunting, but we mostly blew them off. Clearly, a number of merchants were wusses.

The drive was longer than normal because we picked up Ursula on the way. We shoehorned a considerable pile of her wares in the van. Thankfully, the grounds were not so soggy as to prevent us from driving in to the merchant area -- that has been a problem at times as the fine Ohio top soil turns into a trap waiting for someone to drive in and sink to the axles.

The skies were mostly gray mostly all day, but the weather held off most of the day, and there was decent traffic through the market. Amazingly, I never went inside the fort this time...

We tried a different setup where we curtained off a very small corner of the tent for our bed which gave Ursula a good corner to set up in. We'll try that again I think. I had just enough room to set up a small table for the kitchen, and I sat on the bed to cook.

Saturday evening, we started tearing down the shop. We got far enough that it was worth while to try to fetch the van and start the loading. That was exciting. I hit a spot where one wheel decided to start spinning. My right arm got a workout as I slowly rocked the van through the nasty spot without getting mired and without throwing mud too much, but I did leave a twenty foot long double-stripe.

Loading out Sunday morning went smoothly. Driving out was a bit more interesting. The paved path that leads into the fort is probably about six or seven feet wide. They try to control traffic because it has to run one-way at a time. Of course, I was jumping out in the middle, and, of course, I faced opposing traffic.

Can you say "keep the speed up while I drive on to the grass across the muddy ruts"? Yep. It worked. Yank the loaded van across the icky parts onto clear grass while the oncoming traffic passes and then firmly cross back onto the pavement. Whee!

Of course, all that rain meant we hauled wet canvas and wet rugs home. I'm hoping that the chilluns have gotten the tent up in the back yard; they have the rugs draped on the deck. I'm hoping that the rain holds off enough.

The drive home was properly boring and suitably uneventful. More "Yay!"

Business was a bit soft, but it did pass the "It sucked" line, which means it covered costs plus something, and if we consider how much Ursula did (making her very happy), it was decent.