The Month in Review

Has it been a long time since my last post? Longer than I realized, but not without good reason. I have been living out of vehicles for most of the month, having been on the road quite a bit. It started with an Easter weekend trip to Pennsylvania to visit my grandparents and other family members. As usual, I played chauffeur for my mother. This isn't all bad because since I am driving I try to control the music being played in the car. I do try to keep her likes and dislikes in mind, but I also just have to have the occasional hit of something that's not necessarily up her alley. On the way back I was able to take a long side trip and see the new Museum of the Confederacy facility at Appomattox. Though the place is small, I found the exhibits to be very well done. Yeah, the artifact selection is really heavy on officers' coats, swords, and flags, but otherwise the exhibits are very well balanced and academically sound. I was a bit disappointed in the size and selection of items in the gift shop, but they don't have a lot of space to work with. I also took time this month to drive down to Charleston, SC and visit my old buddy Charlie. It had been a long time since I'd been down to Chucktown and aside from wanting to hang out with Charlie, Drive By Truckers were slated to play the Music Farm that Saturday night. So, off I went to get in some fishing and indoctrinate my friend in the ways of the DBT. I have to admit that the DBT show in Charleston may very well be the best concert I've ever attended. They just absolutely rocked and left it all on the stage that night. It was great. Too bad our fishing the next day wasn't as good. Neither of us caught a thing, but Charlie's cousin had a great day, landing three keeper size flounder. I guess he just had the magic touch that day. Aside from the concert, fishing, cigars, and good food it was just nice to hang out with an old friend for awhile.

Upon leaving Charleston, I headed straight for Brunswick Town-Fort Anderson State Historic Site to help out with the first two days of their Civil War Heritage Days program. I performed musket demonstrations for over 600 8th grade students over that two day period. Good thing I had a relaxing weekend prior to taking that on! The two days after that found me at Fort Macon State Park making preparations for the 150th anniversary reenactment of the Siege and Battle of Fort Macon. Last Friday I was back in Wilmington for Round Two of Drive By Truckers. The first time I saw the band live was last April at Greenfield Lake Amphitheater and here I was back again, this time with my friends Ryan and Kristen Anderson. Ryan can be blamed for getting me hooked on DBT, much like I tried to do with Charlie (and many of my other friends). The Wilmington show was really good, but not up to the standard they had set in my mind just six days earlier in Charleston. Nevertheless, it was really great to see Ryan and Kristen, whom I had not seen in quite awhile.

After rocking out for another night it was back to Fort Macon for the reenactment. I served as artillery coordinator/battery commander for the event and the guys in my unit manned one of the guns. It was the most fun I've had in 14 years of shooting artillery, made even more special by the fact that I was sharing the experience with lots of close and dear friends. I don't imagine I'll ever get to do anything quite as cool as what we did at Fort Macon.

But wait! There's more! The month isn't over yet and this weekend I'm heading up to Plymouth, NC for the annual reenactment there. Its the only event that we do every year where we get to work on a boat, so its always a treat for us. Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed my quick synopsis of the month that was April 2012. I've tried to illustrate the awesomeness through photos. Next month looks like it could be more of the same.