Miasmatic Review

Time to kill some Brits!

It’s officially here! The start of re-enacting season is upon us in the Contagion household. The last couple of days have been a whirlwind of making sure everything is pulled out of storage, inspected, and made ready for the opening weekend.

That is no small feat around here. If it was just me, I’d be able to pack everything I need in the CAB of my truck. When you throw in the family, it then takes my entire truck, the bed overflowing with equipment, and what’s left being packed into Ktreva’s van. It’s hard to tell from pictures, but we have a lot of gear. As the boys get older, we need even more. It also doesn’t help that Ktreva and me purchase more items that we find every year. It’s not because we need it, but because we want it.

To give you an example, this is our camp from two years ago this weekend (April 2004). It includes the smaller wedge tent behind our fly.

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This is our camp from the end of last season (October 2005), with out the wedge tent. (Boopie didn’t participate in this event so we didn’t bring his tent.)

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Over a year and a half our camp dressing and equipment grew by that much. Since the time of the second picture, we’ve purchased more items to make our camp look nicer. If you’ve ever thought of becoming a re-enactor, let me share some information with you. This is not a cheap hobby. That is why we build our camp gradually, we buy what we want when we find it, and we can afford it. The nice thing is since we are in our ninth season; we rarely are in need of anything anymore. We’re finally in the stages of buying the want items… like the still! Maybe some year Ktreva will break down and let me buy one of those $4,000.00 custom made flintlock rifles I’ve been drooling over for years. What? A guy can dream can’t he?!?!

This weekend we are doing the Gathering at Macktown in Rockton, Illinois. I’ve attended this event for the last 8 years. We didn’t attend this event for the first time until our second year of re-enacting, and it is one of my favorites. Unfortunately there is only one event left on my schedule from my first season, Trail of History. All of the other events we did either folded, we stopped portraying that period of history or are just too far to travel too.

As I stated earlier, this is my ninth season as a re-enactor. That means this is my last rookie season. After this year I’ll actually be considered by some of the long time re-enactors as, “Not a greenhorn”. Ie, “I was over at Seamus MacPhail’s camp checking out his still. He’s come a long way since that first year when he was making people drink his bottle of Jack Daniel’s. He’s definitely not a green horn. Some of my readers who have seen my camp, or known me as a re-enactor might laugh at this and think I’m joking. I’m really not; I was called a “tenderfoot” just six months ago by one of those grizzled re-enactors.

I’m tired from all the lifting, so I’m going to hit the sack. If any of you are in the Rockton, Illinois area and want to experience some history, head on out to the Gathering at Macktown. I think you would definitely have a good time.