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Mar. 22nd, 2010 09:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stormdogI don't have pictures from this weekend handy I'm afraid; they're on my computer at home. I do have a bunch of them though.
On Friday, as I noted previously, my brother![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
akreaveter and I made camp outside the Kenosha Topper's. It was a lovely Spring afternoon with temperatures in the 60s. There was a hacky-sack circle and a game of catch was happening through the middle of the parking lot. Ak and I arrived with just some books and a green plastic lawn chair. I wasn't sure if a tent would be required, but if it was, my parents, farm_cat and barton_fender, could bring it by later. I was concentrating on making sure we got there as early as possible to secure a place in line.
As time passed and we came up on six and seven o' clock, the weather had taken a turn toward chilly and windy. Mom and Dad kindly brought their tent, along with some blankets and closed cell foam sleeping pads (I remember those from going backpacking with my mom years ago!). We pitched the tent in our space in line, around behind the Topper's building, and just behind a large tent full of people who were clearly enjoying the benefits of better living through chemistry. (Not to mention technology; somehow that had a power source and a space heater, which I would come to be envious of.)
I walked to the Aldi across the parking lot for provisions, which we settled into the tent. I hung around outside and took pictures of the proceedings until it got too dark for handheld shots. Tim and I then retired to the tent to watch Youtube videos on my phone and listen to music on his laptop. Which was shortly drowned out by very loud, and very very bad, karaoke. If you've ever seen Down Periscope, I'll describe it for you as very similar to the sound produced when the submarine crew surfaced, rigged up fake running lights, and all pretended to be a fishing boat by drunkenly singing Louie Louie. Except that, in this case, the drunkenness was not being faked. It was quite a party!
That is, until the police showed up and arrested a few people. Tim and I were ensconced in the tent for the night by that point, but we heard a sudden cessation of the music and yelling, followed by someone from the tent ahead of us "Dude, are the police here?" There were flashing lights too, but I didn't know if that was a police car or the lights from the DJ rig that had been set up next to the building. The next morning, someone showed us a video he took on his phone of the event. The police were surrounding a car with guns drawn. It looked fairly serious. I was also told that one of the people who got arrested walked all the way back from the station to get to his car and was then arrested again. That kind of sucks.
I slept pretty fitfully; it was cold and loud (the party started again, albeit slightly subdued, after that) and I kept putting pressure on my sore wrist. In fact, though it didn't really start hurting until the next morning, my wrist has been painfully aching up through last night when I put my brace on to sleep. That seems to have helped. It seemed to be raining outside and I was a little worried that water would sheet along the blacktop our tent was on and soak us.
As it turned out, it wasn't rain but snow. I woke up around six in the morning and pushed open the tent fly. To my surprise, snow fell off the front of the tent in a sheet, and I looked out to see the other tents and the cars in the parking lot covered in it. I've never been in a tent in the snow, and it's an experience I like having had. If I'd known the weather would be what it was, I can't say for sure I would have been out there. But in the end, I'm glad I was.
As Ak and I transitioned to being up and around, we started moving all the stuff in the tent back to my car. The car was covered in about four inches of snow and the trunk wouldn't open, so I just stuffed it all in the seats, figuring I'd manage it after we got our pizza. As we were finishing that, the Topper's staff asked us to all strike our tents and make a real line, so we did so.
By then it was about eight in the morning. We stood in a halfway organized line for about two hours as snow fell on us. I used my umbrella to try to guard my camera as I took more pictures. I definitely need to get a weatherproofing kit for it soon if I'm going to keep abusing it like I do. King Topper made an appearance, as did some radio hosts from 95 WIIL rock who talked to a couple of the waiting customers-to-be and took some pictures.
Finally, about five minuts to ten, the same guy from Topper's made his way along the line handing out certificates with our customer numbers. Ak was number 35 and I was number 36. Or maybe the other way around; I forget. Anyway, I tried to keep both my certificate and camera from getting all wet as we waited for the doors to open, and then for the line to finally progress to where we could both get inside the building. Then, at last, we placed our orders, picked up our food and coupon books, rearranged stuff in the car, and drove to my parents' house to share our pizza.
In all, the two of us spent eighteen and a half hours in line. It was a lot of fun, and a hell of a great life experience. I loved it!
That said, I think once may well be enough. I don't know that I ever really need to do it again. But I'm pretty happy to have had the experience.
On Friday, as I noted previously, my brother
akreaveter and I made camp outside the Kenosha Topper's. It was a lovely Spring afternoon with temperatures in the 60s. There was a hacky-sack circle and a game of catch was happening through the middle of the parking lot. Ak and I arrived with just some books and a green plastic lawn chair. I wasn't sure if a tent would be required, but if it was, my parents, farm_cat and barton_fender, could bring it by later. I was concentrating on making sure we got there as early as possible to secure a place in line.As time passed and we came up on six and seven o' clock, the weather had taken a turn toward chilly and windy. Mom and Dad kindly brought their tent, along with some blankets and closed cell foam sleeping pads (I remember those from going backpacking with my mom years ago!). We pitched the tent in our space in line, around behind the Topper's building, and just behind a large tent full of people who were clearly enjoying the benefits of better living through chemistry. (Not to mention technology; somehow that had a power source and a space heater, which I would come to be envious of.)
I walked to the Aldi across the parking lot for provisions, which we settled into the tent. I hung around outside and took pictures of the proceedings until it got too dark for handheld shots. Tim and I then retired to the tent to watch Youtube videos on my phone and listen to music on his laptop. Which was shortly drowned out by very loud, and very very bad, karaoke. If you've ever seen Down Periscope, I'll describe it for you as very similar to the sound produced when the submarine crew surfaced, rigged up fake running lights, and all pretended to be a fishing boat by drunkenly singing Louie Louie. Except that, in this case, the drunkenness was not being faked. It was quite a party!
That is, until the police showed up and arrested a few people. Tim and I were ensconced in the tent for the night by that point, but we heard a sudden cessation of the music and yelling, followed by someone from the tent ahead of us "Dude, are the police here?" There were flashing lights too, but I didn't know if that was a police car or the lights from the DJ rig that had been set up next to the building. The next morning, someone showed us a video he took on his phone of the event. The police were surrounding a car with guns drawn. It looked fairly serious. I was also told that one of the people who got arrested walked all the way back from the station to get to his car and was then arrested again. That kind of sucks.
I slept pretty fitfully; it was cold and loud (the party started again, albeit slightly subdued, after that) and I kept putting pressure on my sore wrist. In fact, though it didn't really start hurting until the next morning, my wrist has been painfully aching up through last night when I put my brace on to sleep. That seems to have helped. It seemed to be raining outside and I was a little worried that water would sheet along the blacktop our tent was on and soak us.
As it turned out, it wasn't rain but snow. I woke up around six in the morning and pushed open the tent fly. To my surprise, snow fell off the front of the tent in a sheet, and I looked out to see the other tents and the cars in the parking lot covered in it. I've never been in a tent in the snow, and it's an experience I like having had. If I'd known the weather would be what it was, I can't say for sure I would have been out there. But in the end, I'm glad I was.
As Ak and I transitioned to being up and around, we started moving all the stuff in the tent back to my car. The car was covered in about four inches of snow and the trunk wouldn't open, so I just stuffed it all in the seats, figuring I'd manage it after we got our pizza. As we were finishing that, the Topper's staff asked us to all strike our tents and make a real line, so we did so.
By then it was about eight in the morning. We stood in a halfway organized line for about two hours as snow fell on us. I used my umbrella to try to guard my camera as I took more pictures. I definitely need to get a weatherproofing kit for it soon if I'm going to keep abusing it like I do. King Topper made an appearance, as did some radio hosts from 95 WIIL rock who talked to a couple of the waiting customers-to-be and took some pictures.
Finally, about five minuts to ten, the same guy from Topper's made his way along the line handing out certificates with our customer numbers. Ak was number 35 and I was number 36. Or maybe the other way around; I forget. Anyway, I tried to keep both my certificate and camera from getting all wet as we waited for the doors to open, and then for the line to finally progress to where we could both get inside the building. Then, at last, we placed our orders, picked up our food and coupon books, rearranged stuff in the car, and drove to my parents' house to share our pizza.
In all, the two of us spent eighteen and a half hours in line. It was a lot of fun, and a hell of a great life experience. I loved it!
That said, I think once may well be enough. I don't know that I ever really need to do it again. But I'm pretty happy to have had the experience.
