Showers?

Our first meeting with the 15th Alabama was memorable just for that. We met one of them in Augusta, Maine and this kid rode with us while we followed his step-father. Dave looked back and asked, "So what do y'all do for showers?" To which the kid replied, "Showers?" I nearly ran off the road I was laughing so hard. He continued, "Well, if we're lucky we'll camp near a lake or a stream..." Dave looked at me and just said "Oh." If only we had known then what we know now.

Dave is not a New England person, he grew up swimming in the Gulf of Mexico or warmer waters, he's not used to the frigid Atlantic, I took him to Salisbury, MA last summer and he nearly collapsed of hypothermia (so he says). So him swimming in any body of water in New England is only going to be out of desperation or coercion, and let's just say, he's not that desperate for a shower.

So we met the group. We were not the only new ones, thankfully. There were two new recruits from the Farmington area. It was funny because the meeting was held at the Captain and President's house (Captain Mike Pratt & President Vicky Pratt, both elected positions) and apparently Dave had been communicating with the Captain who was not so good at communicating with his wife because she greeted us at the door and said "These are the people from the Massachusetts area?! I wish I would have known, I would have had better snacks!" all the while giving her husband a look of disapproval.

Well, after a mild, in company melodrama to which Dave, myself, Lyndsey and Alison were not privy to the specifics at the time, we got along quite famously. The rest of the meeting, after taking care of the political stuff, was spent trying to give the newcomers an idea of what happens at re-enactments. It was fun and they commented that it was probably one of the longest meetings they had had in a while. Dave and I ended up staying an extra hour or so after the meeting just to talk to Mike and Miss Vicky. It was great fun and we really liked them, and well, we're still with them.