During ID4 Con (see below), I met Dave Fisher, who runs a game store in Martinsburg, WV called Your Hobby Place. He invited me to a BBQ that his store and several others were hosting on May 16th and, well, BBQ, who can resist? So, I went.
Turned out to be quite the todo:
with the Vietnam Veterans Motorcycle Club, the West Virginia Citizen’s Defense League, and the Blue Ridge Rocketeers, among others, in attendance.
Heck, if I had known it was a 2nd-Amendment-and-firepower kind of day, I’da brought my .45. Or my .357. Or my .44. Something.
This was my setup:
in front of Dave’s store:
right next to the truck park:
There was even a band:
Quasi-Flannel, and they were purty good. Hire them for your next bar mitzvah.
It was hot, damn hot, fortunately relieved by an excellent breeze and, later, by a series of insane thunderstorms (avoided by the skin of respective teeths). Casting a glance to my right, I noted an impeccably dressed young man decked out in suit and tie, and broiling to death in the full sun so I sez, “Hark, young stranger, perforce to move your table right up against mine and sell your wares in relative comfort.” ‘Cause I’m just that kind of guy.
That’s how I met Victor Nieves, shown here getting a proper man hug:
By this time, he had come to his senses and shed coat and tie. He is the author of this book:
Epitaph: Reveille. Military scifi. Get it.
Brave guy, too. Not only did he show up to a MC Club and Gun rally in a suit and tie, but hurled after this dog:
when it broke free and plunged into some nearby woods. He rescued the dog from an anaconda or an a alligator or something. Story’s a little muddled.
For some reason, our cozy little shelter became quite the popular hangout, even Swamp Rat, the President of the local VVMC chapter coming by to sit for a spell:
I got to meet a lot of cool people, including a recent grad of the Naval Academy (hi Zach!) and a recent USMC member (which is silly because once a Marine, always a Marine,) a couple of members of Stribling’s Battery who knew people I knew, and a couple of drunks. I sold a lot of books, got a pork BBQ sandwich out of the deal, and this game:
Yeah, I’m a geek.