melaniesuzanne | Pennic 40 Land Grab

There was a lot of slowness this past weekend. Our trip up to Coopers Lake on Saturday felt very, very slow. We made lots of stops and got to the battlefield around 3pm. We wound up parked next to Sir Aelfred and Duchess Simone and got to visit with them for a few minutes until their line was cleared for going through Troll. We finally had our turn to check in shortly after 4pm. Not our shortest wait, but not our longest wait either.

I have no idea how long it took us to get the pavilion up... maybe an hour? The air temperature was in the mid-80s and there was a gorgeous breeze, but the sun was pretty merciless and we took several breaks. Our pavilion is on the Brewers Road side of the block (E05) this year. I'd gotten used to being on the Chandlers Road side with

stitchwhich as my backyard neighbor. Ah well. She's not in the back corner of her encampment this year anyway. Our tent site is fairly flat although there is a slight dip toward the back left corner and I need to bring some thicker shims back on Wednesday to go under one of the bed legs.

It took us so long to set up that we didn't get a chance to wander and visit with friends in other camps before dinner. And we were so exhausted that we went straight to bed after we got back from dinner. Despite my exhaustion, it took for-freaking-ever to fall asleep. I did get a couple good hours of heavy sleep before bouncing fully awake at 7am. I wandered about looking for Hubbyfink -- who was moving/breaking down pallets for Troll -- and spent the next hour futzing in the tent. When he came back to camp, we grabbed Simone and ate a leisurely breakfast at Beast & Boar where we passed

dona_violante and

herveus. I even saw

make_your_move dash past, but I was too far away to holler "hello".

After more time futzing with the tent and wind lines, it was time to head over to the storage unit and retrieve to communal camp gear such as the dining tent, shade fly, camp kitchen, and stuff. Alesia's nephews are our minions this year and they made loading (and unloading) the truck speedy. It didn't hurt that the truck driver was a strong, young man who was willing to assist as well. Fastest load-in evar. The dining tent, shade fly, and kitchen tent all went up super fast. I guess we had the right number of people and the right number of people who have been putting up these tents long enough that we all know what needs to be done. We Land Grabbers (8 of us) were able to wave goodbye to the Two-Weekers (four of them) around 2pm and hit the road where we immediately hit the lane closure and subsequent traffic back-up on I-79 S.

After sitting in that for 20 or so minutes, we snagged fuel for the truck and for ourselves in Cranberry and continued homeward. Hubbyfink let me take over the driving at Somerset (love those windmills!) and I stayed in the fast lane until hitting another traffic slowdown at the Breezewood toll plaza. OMG, it took FOREVER to get through there. And then, just a few miles from leaving PA, P-DOT gave us one last finger as I-70 E was down to one lane for no apparent reason. We should have gotten home before 7; instead, we got home around 8:30. Ugh.

The cats were delighted to see and smell us. We were delighted to take a shower and get two days worth of funk off. Hubbyfink was delighted to fall right to sleep and I was delighted to watch "True Blood" before hitting the hay, myself. Tonight and tomorrow will be pretty hectic as I scramble to pack everything I'll need for the next week and a half before heading back to Coopers Lake on Wednesday. I'd say that I'm soaking up as much AC as I possibly can, but I'm currently huddled over my space heater, soooo...