“You’re a brave hobbit, committing to staying a week among strangers,” he says.
“Well…they’re not really strangers. We’ve been posting to each other for three years or so.”
“Tell us all about it when you get back,” he asks. And since I sometimes have the memory of old Butterbur, I figured it would be best if I write it down. So here it is:
To be continued.....Entmoot 2004: there and back again, a hobbit’s tale
I left the apartment in a tizzy! I was getting all the cat stuff ready for the cat sitter: bowls, dry food, wet food, fill the waterer and get it going. Cat pan. I scooped the pans and took the “stuff” to the dumpster. Swept up the kicked-out litter and returned it to the pan. Aaack!! I need more kitty litter! So I load my packed-up suitcase, aerobed, and computer into the trunk and rush off to the grocery store (I was going there anyway to mail cookies to 2J and my sister). Now I have to return to drop off the litter and finally left the apartment at 10:20 am instead of at 10:00 like I planned.I did get everything packed. The aerobed plus a fitted sheet and blanket, a sweatshirt and some odds and ends (eyeglasses, CD’s, DVD’s, two disposable cameras) all fit in the duffle that came with the aerobed. Only problem was that it was so big I had to check it. Hope that duffle holds up. In the little suitcase were the usual…clothes, toiletries, my keyboard and my whistles. I carried the laptop, cables, reading material (the Jan. 2004 edition of “PC World” and “Chindi”, bye Jack McDevitt), and cell phone with me on the plane. Hope I’ll be able to tote all this stuff in Orlando….hope I don’t have to tote it far.
I was rushed because of the litter thing…or because I’m a bad procrastinator anyway…that all the cleaning I got to do was to take the trash out. I loaded the dirty breakfast dishes into the dishwasher. Hope the cat sitter doesn’t notice. One last irritation before leaving: I couldn’t book a flight from Kansas City to Raleigh for Jan. 24 because the site’s computers were messed up. I have to remember to do that.
The drive to Kansas City International was okay except where they had 435 closed down to one lane at one point for road construction…aren’t they ever going to finish? Noticed salt alongside the roads everywhere so I was used to seeing white on the ground. Around the Kansas/ Missouri line I noticed white in the fields. So it did snow last night. Speaking of snow, it’s snowing “back home” in North Carolina today. In Kansas City, it’s just cold.
Got to The Parking Spot around 11:05 which got me to the terminal around 11:20 or so. No problem checking in (hope that duffle holds) and I ended up in the “B” boarding group. I didn’t have to wait in line at the rest room and there wasn’t much of a line through security. So now I’m waiting at gate 27 for Southwest Flight 108…..why don’t they put clocks in airports? Oh yeah….I have a clock on the cell phone: it’s 11:40.
Looking around, there’s quite a few old folks in wheelchairs and out of wheelchairs and a bunch of kids. Great. I’m glad the little ones board before I do so I can avoid theme when I pick my seat. I’m the third person in the “B” line and I got a window seat next tot the wing on the right side. The flight isn’t full so there’s no one in the center seat. Yippee!! An older lady is sitting in the aisle seat. I just ordered my Bailey’s and coffee and now I’m waiting and riding…flying…… Heh. The last time I ordered “Bailey’s” the stewardess said, “we only have Irish Cream, will that do?” This time I ordered “Irish Cream” and the stewardess says “We only have Bailey’s, will that do?” Yeah, they’re both fine!
The flight got into Orlando about 15 minutes early. I had no problem finding SuziQ with her “Entmoot” sign. Saw the sign first and I did recognize her from the pictures. It seemed that everyone in the waiting area was holding up a sign so Suzi’s didn’t seem too strange or out of place. Anyway…next I recognized Rosie. With Suzi were her two kids and Rosie’s siblings were there so we all made it! Suzi went with me to get the luggage. Hope she didn’t think I was rude or anything ‘cause I was dividing my attention between her and watching for my stuff. Yay! The duffle bag held! I suppose I should have figured that I’d be doing more walking at MCO than at MCI…that dang bed was heavy! Sure am glad we have folks to help with those bags and all. We got the van stuffed with luggage – it all fit – and everyone inside! It was about an hour from Orlando to the Castle. Are we there yet? There were pawnshops and tattoo parlors along the way…Aaaargh!
We finally got to the Castle. Corin and Junior were the first to meet us. G’nad and mrsnad with thenewboy, theboy,and thegirl were there with Jen and trini. Ruthy and Wneighbor were out on another shopping run. So the meet, greet, and eat was on! Ksen and his wife with their two boys came (their daughter was at a sleep-over) and Sam and his wife showed up. Corin and g’nad had Irish Car Bombs, or rather, pseudo-Car Bombs. G’nad was a little bummed that there wasn’t a shot glass here to “do it right.” Rosie siblings, Junior, and Suzi’s kids were shooting pool. We set up the cake and a streamer dangling hearts, a couple of paper wedding bells, and a money tree for Hair and ecurbh’s first shower. They hung up a yellow banner with green lettering: “A Long-Expected Party Entmoot 2004 on it that Sam brought. Flat Frodo had a paper hat and was wearing Evenstar and had Nenya on the tip of Sting. SuziQ made homemade mints.
Waiting for the west coast contingent to arrive…lucky for me, some of the other Hobbit Hole Dwellers brought their HHD knives so I got to “snap, click” a few times. I seemed to be the only one with a Photon Light – the next best thing to the Phial of Galadriel. We watched that bad Hobbit cartoon (“Smash the dishes and crack the plates, that’s what Bilbo Baggins hates”) and the cartoon “Return of the King” (“Frodo of the Nine Fingers”…make it stop!)
Hair, ecurbh, and Ramius arrive and it’s meet and greet all over again! We had the cake and toasted Hair and ecurbh with Korbel champagne….more meet, eat, and greet. Rosie and her siblings started playing: mandolin, fiddle, and whistle. I played some but I get so nervous I can’t even breathe right. Rosie’s brother, the whistle player, likes my Shaw G and they liked “Blarney Pilgrim.” More eat and greet. Sam and his wife left for their hotel and the cartoon “Hobbit” was started over again. Bilbo had just rescued the dwarves from the Mirkwood elves when I went to bed around 2:00 am.