The Tribe Party:

Hey Elves!~

I'm back from the tribe party and I'm exhausted!(Actually, to be entirely honest, I'm on the plane back to PDX)

To start this adventure: Me and my dad left our house at 4:20AM Thursday morning. After a .75 hour drive to PDX we were ready to roll onward into our adventure.  Though sometimes… trying to get out of bed at 3:50am is an an adventure ;)! Our  plane left for Denver around 6:30am so we weren’t in a rush or completely at ease. After going through security, which went well! Except--I tried to get through with a pocketknife in my backpack. Or as I told another elf, I assaulted a guard!;) The guy decided to make me learn my lesson, and he did.

I had no idea it was in the bottom of my backpack, not that that mattered :P...so he kept us for a little while and gave the entire pack a once over. Even the whole explosive bit on my backpack with the wiper and wand!  But really, he was a lot nicer than he could have been or had to have been, seriously..I learned my lesson. Never. Again.

After getting through security with that slight mishap, we were off to Denver :) It was a fine flight, quite a bit of turbulence once the Denver decent began--which I think is awesome! Turbulence is sooo ssswweeeetttt. We had to kill time at Denver,  all of the fifteen minutes till our next plane boarded  yes, boarded. So me and dad got to run to the gate!

LOL  

Well, we did run, but we only had to run about thirteen steps to the next boarding area :) Now this is the part where I give shameless props to my other family members, namely mom:  Mom called us and told us the plane was going to leave twenty minutes late...Which was great because we hadn't gotten breakfast yet and were in a bit o' a pickle as far as getting it. I can stuff an entire sausage biscuit in my mouth, but that is usually frowned upon in company. >_< Sure enough after asking the flight fellow, they were late! So we made a quick dash to the Golden Arches and then back into line!!

Now this second leg from Denver to Indianapolis Int' was about the same length of time as the previous flight, 2.5 hours.  But!!  on this leg of the flights, we got multiple servings of soda :D They kept coming by :))) Notice my enjoyment of the sodas? ;) It is really a great time killer, seeing how long it will take to drink, see how long until the ice starts to melt, and then how long until you crunch it all :D Great fun for the easily amused.

Well by the time we were off the( landed)plane and ready to roll it was almost 3pm :) Right about at this point I give my dad some of the props he seriously deserves; I can’t even come close to thanking him for taking me.  He was the one that said we should make do with all carryon luggage, which we did. Three bags between the two of us, one of which was the insanely heavy pack (INSANELY HEAVY. SHOULDER CRAMPING. BACKPACK CRAMMED. HEAVY.) Ok, it was approximately 30lbs, don't ask me what that is in kilos, I'm about dying here on this plane. Three time zones in one day :)

Oh yeah! Time zones! Dude, I almost forgot about those things ;) I need to manage my time better--heh, pun intended :P Anyway...So in Oregon, let's pretend for my sake it is...well right now in OR's PST time, it's 6:30. So if in Oregon it's 6:30 then in Indiana(Where we flew into and out of when leaving) it is 9:30, and in Illinois it is 8:30. So when we landed in Indiana then got the rental car, we had until 3:30 Indiana time(AKA EST) to return it on Sunday. But the problem is...since we stayed in IL, if we return it on IL time, we are an hour late. So to return the car we actually had to leave pretty darn close to 11:30 all said and done. Anyway...this time fiasco plays into something later ;) Take notes for maximum reading efficiency.

We drove straight from the Indy Airport to my hotel. We thought it was going to be OK, and cheap. It turned out to be cheap...but not Ok. Grease on the sheets and cigarette burns on the bed covers were kinda a turn off. When mom called and talked to us-basically me and dad got our rights read ;) And you know what? She was right!

But even before the call from mom, something made me and dad do a double take. It actually left me speechless--yes I know—peculiar aye? Well, online we were informed the hotel had a gym....so we looked for it. J But after failing to find it, we asked the guy at the desk.

His response? "Nope no gym, but you guys look pretty fit to me".

:| I was...shocked. Hah! Laughing with dad later, I told him that if I needed positive self affirmation I'd have gone to a self help class, not a hotel :P Anyway...long story short, we checked out and got our money back, so here we are 2000+ miles from home and literally homeless. HOW AWESOME !!

Well, dad's wisdom prevailed now, I said we should sleep in the car so I could tell the elves I did it! Sadly :( we didn’t. But--God's hand was in the entire weekend and what we did, it's amazing to think back and track it. So, when we didn't have a hotel to hang at after our seriously long day no matter what time zones you use ;); we ate dinner at Culvers, a cool little suped up burger joint :)

We also stopped at Borders in Champaign….I was hoping the authors had come in to see it and set up! No dice, but that turned out OK anywho, I got to tree some E-readers. After some calls, Mom made us reservations at the Drury Hotel--right after I made a joke to dad about the name.(Irony)

So we got the Drury! It was awesome! We were dog-tired and it was perfect a great place to crash. Anyway...we hung out and I texted with SilverAngel as he was stopped for the night on the states border from whence he came O_O And I thought I saw Whisper's family when we got there! I was like, Woh! I wonder...but it wasn't them L

The next morning at breakfast me and dad got some laundry done then headed down stairs to eat. It was rough living for us ;) Especially since I got to eat right next to/sit and talk with after I was done-WTB and CH. THEY STAYED AT MY HOTEL!!!! So me and dad got to talk to them about real life and the Christian walk. It was awesome, those guys have amazing hearts. Needless to say it was a GREAT way to start off the day :D I have pictures of them that. Hehe

Finishing breakfast and a few chorish things me and dad headed to Chanute Air Museum.  Finding it is a chore, and since I'm spoiled with Evergreen Aviation and Space,  it wasn't as cool as perhaps it might have been. However, just like the first hotel we left, it was in God's hands for us to be there. We waited at one of the planes for a little while and talked to an older gentlemen working there. While I was doing that, a man from a local paper  walked up and asked if he could interview me :)

I said-no-

JUST KIDDING! Of course I said yes :P So I got to tell him about two very important things in my life, Evergreen, reading, and of course, WTB and CH. Yup, I told him all about the authors the signing, and Evergreen's awesome education department. Even got to fit in a little bit about my favorite docent. That was pretty neat :)

After that, while at the Air museum I scheduled with Silver to meet me and dad at 12:15 at Culvers(food pattern?). Anyway, Culvers is about 60 feet from my hotel by my reckoning, not too shabby placement :D After said call, we left Chanute and headed to our hotel :) We killed just a little time by trying to navigate our way out of the Air Museum complex ;) Mayquest in IL is not a fail..it's just not good. So it of course, added to the adventures of driving!! We made it to the hotel though..and through my hotel winder' I saw Silver standing upside Culvers waving at the hotel while we were on the phone. That was really cool. I ran over there with dad, being careful not to get run over by a car. (That would have been either horrible or impeccable timing depending on perspective) So we ate lunch with his awesome mom and brother! Kudos to Mrs.”Silver” For putting up with a short teen at the table and making him feel welcome. (Though someday I hope to be the tall one.)

Then myself, Silver and ShadowCross hoofed it to Borders. It was only about 1Pm at this point, but shucks, we were impatient! Can you fault us?  It was quite the experience going with "The PathFinder" and the "Tree Limbo-er"  on said walk. I prefer to refer to myself as the "Cross walk pushing genius" but that might be open for debate.

We made it to Borders in not too long time and stalked the door watching the clerks and people walking in alike...Waiting--always waiting-- Waiting for a chance to strik--ER! I mean, waiting for the ELVES :D And who got there first!? Anduril!

Silver spotted him first and jumped up, so of course then ShadowCross and I did too :P Can't be left in the dust by "The Path Finder". It was great to finally meet Anduril, quite a nice guy, and seriously friendly :D Yes, if only he lived closer...And as we should have expected from a girl GA was late, though how the siblings got there at a different time with one car still has me confused.. :P Even if late=early technically.

So we killed more time inside, waiting for more elves,  but eventually I decided it was tooooooo boring after awhile  and waiting outside would be lots nicer. No sooner had I stepped outside then I spotted Miss Arrow coming in. Another elf comes! It was really great to meet her as well. Then we sat down and gabbed some chairs whilest waiting for more folks.

Eventually the authors showed up :) And so I helped set up chairs with a couple of other guys, it was pretty humorous, doing something so normal at such a non-normal event. It was really cool when they walked in though, CH had his blade and scabbard under his arm.

*Ahem*. Oh, this is for Whisper, "Looks about furtively in seat rows glaring at any who would attempt to read unfinished post" I just did the asterisk with my hands, albeit lowly :P

So...we got the show on the road and live stream started going!  Leighton and Ness made it!! Woh, Leighton walked right up to where I was sitting and shook my hand. Extra bonus points for that guy. Did you know he is a Blender Best, Bagpipes Blower, and Nice guy extraordinaire rolled into one? That guy has an extrordinairy amount of talents.:| He's an elf you all need to meet, amazing that one. Let’s see..who else did I see?

JACOB PARKER! The soon to be world famous author! Woohhoo. OH oh OHOHOH! And courtesy of an extremely generous Miss Arrow, I now own a copy of the famed KMS. I am so excited to read it. Jacob even signed the copy again, this time personalizing it. KMS is the number one book I want to read at this point, even though I have quite a few brand new uns’.

Ness was very nice, and she plays a mean violin! Not to say the violin itself is mean, or that she is mean, quite the contraire, but that the playing is mea----Oh, Never mind. Oh, and their older sister! Now there is a girl with an AMAZING VOICE. And great skill with the Irish penny Whistle. It was amazing. How to do that with my voice I don't know, but it was awesome. No wonder they perform as a group!!

Then as I was sitting in my seat waiting for the event to happen, Silver leans over and goes, Whisper is here!!

 (Me)Where??

(Him)Behind you, back there!!

(me) Oh that's helpful...

Heh, anyway, later, after the official party was done and it was the signing time. I had the pleasure of meeting the entire "Whisper" family. Amazing folks, only caution, don't play them in “Spoons”, or "I doubt it".  The Golux is brutal at "I doubt it", I got pasted. >_<  Never again will I be convinced to play a game I don’t know with such experts :P

And they are all good at spoons !! x_x  On the bright side, I didn’t get thrashed all the time. I also got to meet the soon to be famed Sting. :D Now there is another great guy :) He really needs to come out to the West coast. I mean…if he can do chores with the skills he has for playing Ninja, then I’m sure we can work something out ;) And last but of course not least was Hark. Now here was the surprise, Hark has almost as many freckles as I have! It was a close win ;) At least I got one win right? Hark is a great elf, and even chose the right answer in the StoryTeller conversation in the face of confused people K But….once again, beware card games. >_<

That's most folks, but not everyone I was blessed to meet. Christian Miles! Woohoo! Didn’t get to talk to him much, But! I got his autograph :D Check ebay in a few years for the signature when he’s rich/and or famous. :) Or for him perhaps the big screen and Jill Williamson's trailer ...

  Let's see..OH. :D I got to meet the Underground Elf Evergreena! I was waffling on asking if she was online..but I was helped out by a friend *whew* and so I had the pleasure of a brief meeting and signature. Regret? Didn't introduce myself WAY earlier :(

The live stream was fun...Until someone on my end introduced me as Goldarrow. <_< *cough* Anduril..*cough* This is just not nice. >_< >_< Thankfully… retribution was made XD Ninja style.

After the party and signing/talk time with the authors, I recovered enough vigor to be nailed in the cranium by Leighton with a "boffer"(Strange Missouri spelling I know)sword. It was a BLAST! Even with the sword’s end being a  lead weight :P So of course, Counter attack! Leighton is deadly with one of those things. But I like to think I won. At least a mental victory! :P I also went against several other folks,

Oh, oh, player highlight moment: Cison went round after round with Goldarrow with those swords.. It wasn't pretty, but the guy has guts. Maybe a few bruises as well ;) Definitely earned my respect.

Soon after the sword fighting we left for dinner...at...Culvers(This is when the pattern starts taking away the appetite, literally) And.....it was very special. Getting to eat with some of the other elves--awesome.

Especially when Silver wrote PIE on my chicken strip :O   Now normally I would object, especially since he used my pen, but how could I? I autographed his left arm in sharpie earlier :P And both of his brother’s arms. You rock Shadow!

Sadly, there was a clear case of gender bias, some misguided people made the case StoryTeller, the famed elf, had to be a girl because of the articulateness of speech and information security measures. Plus a host of other purely circumstantial flim-flam evidence. Of course, I couldn’t sit there and let my own gender get insulted in such a blatant fashion so I refuted said arguments and with Hark’s help, though we didn’t convince the enemy we stalled the conversation K

After dinner some of the dinner folks came back to my hotel: The "Whispers",  GA,  Anduril, SA and Shadow. This is when we ended up playing cards. Well..some of us did :P

Some *cough cough* other people were glued to their laptop monitors, not that I would name names though ;) . But, none the less it was the best possible way I could think to have spent the evening. I mean, hey! Someone has to lose and if that lot falls to me, I lose with the best of em'. After getting myself drubbed in cards several times someone graciously said we should play ninja. Now that's a game that is perfect for me! It requires activity and limited brain power needed ! So...we played ninja.

Oh...note on the card games, remember the girl's ridiculous comment on StoryTeller? This was payback time: Anduril owned the Slap Jack game we played...even if his card flipping technique is under review.. The obvious reason why he won?? He’s a guy, we win.

Ninja was a blast, can't say I get the chance to play with such awesome people very often. Or get my hands slapped until they ache!  After ninja the parents were going to show up, which they did, but mercifully Mr. Whisper talked to my dad for awhile so the group remained a group for a little while longer. I have to say at parting...it was immensely sad. I was surprised how sad it becameI've "known" these people 10 hours..how can I be sad? Regardless of the logic, reality hurts. :'(

So people started to trickle off, hands were shaken, and goodbyes made.

Well, Silver spent the night with me :) We  gamed till 1-20am or so until his laptop died, :P Bad power cord!! Then bed..but not much sleep. Too many things were packed in one day, I tried to fall asleep but laying in bed thinking sad thoughts is not a fun way to kill time. At all. Realizing you might not ever see these elves again. And even if you do, twon’t be the same.

Yes, sad thoughts were abundant last night. So...at 6am I was awake, thinking depressing thoughts.  But I knew it was ridiculous..losing sleep to sad thoughts? Or worse yet..just laying there without doing anything about it? PANSIENESS!!!!!!!!!

So I got up around 6:30am..then dad got up...at that point Silver did too. I said I was going down to the breakfast room in hopes of something happier going on, and lol, we all went down! :D Now of course just like Saturday morning, I had two sausages on a toasted bagel + ketchup :) An excellent meal! Well we finished about 7am I guess. And one of us, I don’t remember  if it was me or Silver, says “ we should go say bye to the others.”  Regardless if they aren't in the hotel :P So, of course, why not!?

We told dad we'd be back in a little while and armed with only a cell, and a pen we set off ;) Thing is..we didn't know when anyone was leaving, so we ran most of the way to the first hotel where GA's folks and Anduril were. They weren't eating yet or so we hoped was the case they weren’t in the dinning room....But while looking for their car we found a room key and their car! First we returned the key and whilest doing so we were able to ask at the desk  where the other hotel we searched for was :D The lady was most helpful!!  We used a business card I had plus my Navy pen to write a really short note to them and put it on their car. Then...POOF off to the hunt! So armed with more directions we set off...pen in hand. This time however, we didn't run. The stomachs protested to wolfing food then running, go figure?

Eventually, after hours, and hundreds of miles in the sweltering sun--Wait! I mean, a 10 or 15 minutes and a few LONG blocks, we were able to track down the last hotel. We of course went the car route again, this time first though.  Silver saved our bacon for writing material. I was out of cards I could get rid of, but,  he sacrificed a business card for a bowling alley for note material :)

 So the note is posted..again short and to the point.  So, then we decided to peek inside in  hopes of finding someone..and-this time- our search was rewarded! There was someone! Oh, and the right someone’s too there was the wrong someones at the other hotel ;) So we got to say goodbye to this nice family.  Seriously it makes one reconsider where they want to move with all these elves in Central and Eastern USA. Well, it was great to say goodbye to them all, but it was sad too, leaving a business card is much nicer in that respect. But waving goodbye was not something either one of us wanted to miss, and running around is an adventure.

So from there we skedaddled back to hotel number two and were once again rewarded...after quite a wait outside :P Thankfully Silver texted his mother and she said she should come down. Which allowed us to get  in out of THE FREEZING COLD WEATHER! Oh and into in a really nice plush chair inside :) This time too there was faces, yes and you know the drill, the right faces. Which doesn’t count the guy doing yoga at the pool, though he was really flexible.

So then we got to sit down for a few minutes and talk shop  with the Arrow family. It was a very nice time, though also sad. Seriously, I may have to consider carrying around more business cards to avoid these goodbyes in person.  Yes, then they had to go. So myself and Silver followed them to the car, it was a pleasure to meet them all, and not so pleasurable waving them away. But I hope they enjoyed church today!

After all this sadness,  the sadness meters were running pretty high. Me and Silver went back to my hotel and got packed up and ready to go. Eventually Silver and his family had to leave. But not before I was beaten in Star wars galactic Battle grounds :P I think I need to rethink my game winning plans when playing against elves. In my defense,  I don't EVER play with cheats, I have no practice at it. Silver on the other hand...So then I took my battle ardor and fury out on Shadow :P   

A 5 minute game :) Which wasn't really a fair competition, I was warmed up, he wasn’t, but I'm not complaining!!

Well, then they left, and...the area devoid of elves, was devoid of an extraordinary crew of people. I feel like I made many best friends, yet in a way lost them in the same 24 hours. I for one, shall not give up easily. Unfortunately, chatting and even video calling is not near the same joy inspiring fun that face to face with elves is. However I shall do my best to remain good friends with them all.

Dad and me left eventually as well.  It stinks not to be able to talk to the Elves. I want to move :((((((

Security at Indy went fine and since we had 2.5 hours to kill after turning in the car(which had the funny time zones play into us leaving earlier than we would have had the time zones been normal). Wall' after killing tons of time, we  then had a 45 minute flight to Chicago midway, and after killing an hour there I got into another plane. This plane. *looks around and wishes he was playing cards or ninja*

And two hours later here I am..still with approximately 2.5 hours of flight left. Some pretty good turbulence, along with a headache. I believe I am experiencing a relatively new phenomenon known to man, missing elves. The cure? That I'm working on...I'll let you know when I come up with one, if I don't miss my guess, I bet there's quite a few elves wishing the party continued.

Oh, and the talks with CH and WTB? Great stuff. I shared a bench with WTB at the airport! He waited one boarding place down from me at Indianapolis so as he said I could. So of course :P I joined him, and tried to pick his brain with this cool chance to do so. The skinny on X? Why Jett had to die? Narrative voice? Faulty internet? BWahahaha….Pictures, I have them all. It was a really special time.

Love you Wayne and Christopher, God bless and keep you.

Goodbye my fellow elves, I have but thirty minutes of battery left as I type this up in notepad. I'll post it after some serious spell checker when I get back. This has been the work of about..hm...well nigh on 45 minutes I believe. And..don’t tell me you won’t be at the next party, or-- Or--I'll smack you with my non-bald pate.

Love in Christ to all, Missing you all  

Millard

I'll have a picture post some time later :) Mom was nice enough to let me finish editing this morning before doing school. This truly was written on the plane and only minor things have been tweaked :D

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