Observations on 2024-Aug-2..11 "2016-site" Gathering

I have Multiple Sclerosis, among other health problems. I use a four wheeled walker to walk on flat sidewalks, but it doesn't work in tall grass and weeds. The plan was to camp right next to the car.

Friday afternoon, as we drove up VT-7, there was a downpour that made it difficult to see through the windshield and slowed traffic. Setting up a tent would be absurd.

The rain stopped and we turned right in Danby and onto FS-10. We had directions that said go 6.5 miles; we zeroed the odometer. We expected to see a schoolbus, but around 6.5 we saw a few pickup trucks and some people we did not know. We went on for a while; found nothing and returned to mile 6.5.

This is it. There is no place to put up a tent within sight of the car. We were told by someone of a Handy Camp just a short way up the trail. We decided to do it. She grabbed the tent and went up. I took a folding walker and two short walking sticks.

When I got to the place where the muddy, rocky, uphill trail entered a wide flat meadow, the tent was already set up. She went between camp and car, bringing supplies. I tied knots. We were alone in the meadow.

We had a tent, a shit bucket with a toilet seat and some tarp wrapped around and over nearby trees for (minimal) privacy and rain protection, and a little A-frame tarp with chairs underneath and our flag on top.

It rained every day and every night, but there were also long periods of sunshine and a starry night sky. Other tents showed up in the meadow. Sometimes we read under the A-tarp, sometimes we put our chairs in the open near the tent, sometimes we sat in a small circle with people from the neighborhood tents.

I think I heard some bad things said about the schoolbus driver, who was not there. He showed up with news

• his property in north Vermont is flooded and the schoolbus can not be driven out.
• the top of a tree has fallen across FS-10 and hung up on the trees on the other side in such a way that no tall truck or bus can be driven in.
  (We saw that tree on the way in, it was scary, but high, and we drove right under it.)
• kitchen equipment was with M&J who were bringing it in a pickup truck.

M&J were given custody of the kitchen by consensus of Texas Gap 2023 council . They took that almost too seriously. M&J were there with their four year old daughter, who was not happy that there were no other people her age there. M. had torn his ACL and had one whole leg covered by a hard orthopedic cast and was walking with two under-arm crutches. Nevertheless, he went up the trail on the far side of Handy Camp meadow. I did not even try to go that far.

I did not go there this time, but was told that the trail went up to the site of NERF kitchen during the 2016 national gathering. There is a small stream up there, and that is where the main circle and kitchen were at this gathering.

I think I talked at least once to all five of the people who were at the Breadloaf council that called for this gathering. It's difficult to understand how that few people can cause such a crowd in the woods.

Quite a few younger people I did not know passed through carrying large objects. I overheard two or three different people asking someone whether they were going to Maine-bow. I had never heard of that. Clearly there was communication and consensus happening that had nothing to do with the nerflings.org mailing list or five people at Breadloaf.

After a few days somebody dug a small fire pit in the middle of the meadow and put on a medium sized grate. They grilled hot dogs, kielbasa, and sausages. For about five reasons, we did not eat any of that, but stayed with our own bread and cheese.

Once again we brought in a drum, but found no drum circle.

Tuesday morning everything was wet, but it was not raining. We packed everything back into the car and left, leaving nothing behind. On the way home we refined the directions >here<. When we got home we dumped the shit bucket into a flush toilet.

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