Safe And Sound At Home Again, Let the Waters Roar, Jack....

I got back late last night from a two day trip to New Bern NC where I did 1812 sailor with my shipmates from the Carolina Living History Guild. This should be my last event for a bit, so I can focus on getting my knees squared away, repair and refit on my medical kit, and at least 100 other things that I have been putting off. I must admit I am looking forward to not being on the road so much, it does take it out of you and begins to be a job, not a pleasure. I will do a recap on the events I have been at in a bit, but first, here's today in history....

On this day in,

1881 The gun fight at the O.K. Corral took place. Final score Earps 3, McLaureys/Clantons 0

1967 John McCain was shot down on a bombing mission over North Vietnam leading to 5 1/2 years in a prison camp.

1978 The UN's World Health Organization declared the eradication of Smallpox worldwide. (The last naturally occurring case was in Somalia that year.)

O.K. then, to my events. I started out with a small French and Indian War event at Ft. Dobbs State historic site in Statesville NC. on October 4th and 5th. Ft. Dobbs is a very small site but one that has a great deal of potential. It is the only F&I site in North Carolina and I didn't mind supporting their effort. There is a great deal of talk about the state rebuilding the fort's buildings so this would be a big deal for the state and area. I spoke to a good number of people and had a pretty good time. The one thing I did discover is that sun block expires. I had no earthly idea that stuff like that went bad. Well, I discovered that it did after sitting out in the sun all weekend and having my nose almost fall off due to a nasty sunburn.

The following weekend, October 11th and 12th The Detached Hospital spent the weekend at Williamsburg taking part in the Prelude to Victory program. We did our normal show and every one seemed to have a good time.

The next event was the Battle of the Hook in Gloucester VA. Staged on the weekend of October 18th and 19th. This was a reenactment type event and had according to the event bean counters close to 1000 participants.

Then this past Friday and Saturday, I was in New Bern NC. This event was a bit out of the norm for me. It was more like community theater than historical interpretation. I portrayed a 1812 privateer in a skit for a Halloween ghost walk. I wouldn't normally do something like this, but it was in a good cause, since this program is the only fund raiser for the local historical society. Plus it was helping out my messmates in the Guild. After spending two days with Chris, Andrew, Ken and his lovely wife Pam, eating the great food Ken cooked for us, I promoted them all to my mess mates. You may have seen me referring to these folks as shipmates, well mess mates are even closer. As the old saying went,

A mess mate before a ship mate,
A ship mate before a stranger,
A stranger before a dog,
A dog before a soldier........

I am both very proud of and very pleased with all the folks that I associate with in living history. I don't think I could find a finer bunch of folks in all the world to hang around with and call my friends. I am already looking forward to the coming year and campaign season. But in the mean time, my focus is going to be fix me and all my stuff...........