Sunday, April 13, 2008

Well, I was Born in a Small Town, and I Live in a Small Town....

It was a rather pleasant weekend. Saturday I went to a small event in support of my shipmates in the 5th NC. Johnny the Elder (John LaRosa) was there with me and did most of the heavy lifting since I am STILL pretty well stove up with my knee.

The event was held in Halifax NC, a small town in the back water of the eastern part of NC. The reason for the event was the anniversary of the Halifax resolves April 12th 1776 as well as the opening of a new exhibit at the state historic site there.

I like small events as well as small towns. This fit the bill to a "T" Normally I like to get to event locations the night before so as not to run around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to set up before the public arrives. But since the knee injury, that has sorta fell by the wayside. I left the house around 7 or so. The weather was overcast but comfortable and I enjoyed the 2 hour drive down. There was very little traffic that time of day and it gave me the chance to check out the pretty country. Halifax sorta reminds me of what you would think Mayberry would look like. I knew that it was a good sign when in front of almost every other store on the street leading to the site the local churches were having bake sales. I was tempted to stop at each and every one. Some of the tastiest things in the world are made by the little old ladies at bake sales. I got to the site and found John the Elder waiting patiently for me. We got set up and started talking.

When you deal with the public, you never know what kind of people you are going to run into. I can honestly say that the largest majority of the people that stopped by our tent were interested in the site and it's history. It was if they had a pride in "their" historic site and not trying to get the kids a history education in 15 mins. or less. There were some of those folks, but they were in the minority. John and I both talked quite a bit and had a great time since there were a lot of good questions from visitors which challenged us quite a bit. To be honest I didn't expect that, in that area.

Another good thing was that we got to shoot the breeze with Andrew, Chris, Mo and the guys. Each time I get together with that bunch, the better I like them. They put up with my craziness and seem to figure I am relatively harmless. Chris said he couldn't wait until he had me in a "flat hat" (civil war sailor's hat) just to see what I would do to that time period. Slowly but surely, I am gathering the kit, so it shouldn't be too long before he gets his wish.

On the way back home I came to the conclusion that I need to find a 12 point program for gun buying. You know the type of group where I stand up in front of a crowd and say, "Hello, my name is Mike and I am a gun buyer" and the crowd responds "Hello Mike".

I went down with the intention of selling a couple of firearms, and came back home with two different ones. I am now the proud owner of a repop '61 Springfield, another colt's revolver and a silver mounted small sword. Gun rich and cash poor. GRIN

3 comments:

Andrew Duppstadt said...

Yeah, you came home with new toys, but you traded other toys for them so its a wash, right? You didn't make any money, but you didn't spend any either. I'd have loved to buy the Charleville from you, but the funds, they are not available right now. It was good seeing you and I hope to see you at Beaufort on May 3.

Andrew

Michael W. said...

Hi Andrew,

Yeah, I guess it was. But as my good wife noted, "you can only shoot one gun at a time, why do you need more than one"?

Don't worry, I will be at Beaufort with bells on. I am trying to get some of the Dragon crew to come down also.

Hope you dad gets out of the hospital soon!

Mike

Chris Grimes said...

Bwahahahahahahahaha! The day is getting closer that you will be coming over to the dark side. The lure is too great...the siren's song too perfect. Think of the havok you can wreck. All this because a rather prosperous siren sings his rather melodious song. Bwahahahahahaha! (Actually, I can't believe you are not laughing your rear-end off as my Pillsbury Doughboy self does not invoke pleasant images...LOL)