A Madison gathering!

P'dog, I was told that Madison is almost entirely built on fill and not the nicest kind of fill either. The area was pretty marshy back in the day.

Bethie and Set, Have a great time! Drive safely.

Timber, great photos!

Piffka and margo, It's not to late to book those flights!

We took a ride up north about 50 miles or so. The colors are definitely better up there. I took some pics, but don't know how well I was able to capture the views. If they turn out I'll bring them along.

Color's lovely here.

Can I get everyone's contact info? First, a list of who I think will actually be there:

Swimpy (+ Mr.?)
ehBeth
Setanta
Timber (+ Mrs.?)
patiodog (+ -gal?)
Me (and E.G. and sozlet for a bit -- cameo appearances.)

Anyone I'm forgetting? Any last-minute additions? (Some excellent air fares out there, folks...)

I don't really need to know about the sig others, though that would be nice to know in a general way in terms of total number of people. ehBeth sent me her info (real name and itenerary -- when she'll be checking in, where, etc.) and would be good to have that for everyone. So if the rest of y'all could give me those specifics via PM or email, I'll gather it and then PM or email you back with everyone's info (including mine.)

Thanks!!

Had a question earlier for patiodog, and rather than typing it I thought, eh, I'll be seeing him in less than a week and can ask him in person. YAY! (OK, so I forgot what the question was, but I have a week to try to recall.)

Aw, just noticed that ehBeth's back to the deerhuahua... I suspect this means she will be wearing antlers when sozlet first espies her.

That will make finding her in the crowd much easier.

Indeed!

So people we gotta finalize things. Great Dane for sure? When? Swimpy says she'll arrive in Madison around 7 on Friday. How do we find each other? Her antleredness would certainly help, but I can make a lil sign, too. timber, you have an A2K hat, right?

A sign would be most straightforward, if a lil geeky.

Oh, I'll have the hat ... and be otherwise recognizeable as well. Don't wanna give the secret away .... hehehehehe .... but you'll see.

Have fun - the fares are NOT quite so excellent from this distance

Howdy, folks. I'll pm you stuff, soz. Not sure about the presence of the 'gal at this point. May be a game time decisions -- she's got her midterms the following week, and those professional school types don't get as many chances to impress as us kids do.

Definitely some more interesting color coming about right now, but it's not what it was when we drove up here to look at the foliage in '98. A great big red tree with dark fringes out on county road PB, but something tells me you all won't be going out that way...

Hey! I got a new credit card, that accrues lots of free air miles - and I am buying everything that I can with it (not stuff that I wouldn't buy normally, though!) hoping to get to one of these things one day!

I wanna seeeeeeeeee (and smell) you guys.






(kidding about the smell - though - all you dogs - we aren't s'posed to sniff your bottoms or anything, when we meet, are we?)

Oh, yeah, Great Dane sounds very good to me. Finally ran across it during an afternoon wander around the capital the other day. Nicely off of State Street, which I appreciate greatly. (Sorry, folks, who look on State Street fondly, but in many ways I consider it a little stretch of hell. First place I've ever lived where I've seen the headline "Police Prepare for Football Game." Great. Frat boys rioting. What a hoot. When the poor and downtrodden riot, I have a iny little bit of sympathy. But when entitled upper-middle class white boys who've never worked an hour in their life are rioting -- well, unleash the freakin' hounds, I says. But enough of that...) 8:00ish probably sounds good. We should at least give Swimp a little time to check in and get reoriented and whatnot, I think.

But I'm not one for logistics unless it involves, like, lots of wire and cable...

Thanks swimpy and patiodog for your info. I just need timber's, then I'll put it all together and send out to everyone.

Yer probably right about 8-ish. (So thoughtful.) I worry a bit about peak time at the Great Dane, tho. Also I'd need to leave by 10 at the latest, probably, for sozlet reasons. Maybe 7:30?

I'm starting to get WAY booked. Plan to visit with five old friends (in addition to the A2K gathering) in the time I'm there.

We plan to leave here around 2:00 PM on Friday. E.G. was turning blue and clutching his heart when I told him my plan to leave Thurs afternoon -- he has a TON to do this week. We briefly discussed sozlet and I going first, him joining us later, but his car (the one we got for $1) is acting weird.

So, we should be there 5-ish on Friday. Then will be leaving Sunday morning or afternoon, haven't decided. Depends on when some people are available. (All of this means I won't be very available beyond gathering itself and farmer's market the next a.m., btw.)

Terp is waiting to find out if she can have another job canceled... it ends at 6:30, but she would be tired. That's another reason I would prefer closer to 7 if possible -- she's a mom too and probably doesn't want to stay too late.

Swimpy, what's your take on when we should meet?

Another lurker here.

The time is not that critical for me. It sounds like we won't get seated until 8 anyway if we get there at 7.

OK, one of the people I've been trying to make plans with can't get together any time but Friday afternoon. Maybe I should plan on meeting him at the Great Dane, and placeholding? Let me know if that sounds like a good idea. We'd also need to know for sure when we'll all be gathering.

For example, I could hang out with him from 6:00 to 7:30 (I think he usually eats late), and like, bring a lot of coats and bags.

Oh, how'd I miss Swimpy. My post above kind of addresses that. Timber hasn't answered definitively yet (has he?) but it looks like most of the sig others won't be coming, 'cept E.G. popping in for a bit (and Setanta and ehBeth are each others' s.o.'s, of course, but...). So that would mean ehbethsetantatimberswimpymepatio a table for six people -- if my friend and I grab a big one and spread out the bags/ coats, that could work.

OK, a plan is brewing.

My friend and I are going to meet at the Great Dane at 6:00. We're each going to bring our families -- 3 each. So that means we can get a table for six (oooh, bad typo just then), and then he and his family can leave, and we'll hold down the fort. I think 7:30 would work best for that. (OK with you, Swimpy?) I'll nosh but won't have dinner, will wait for you guys.

ebeth phoned and asked me to relay this message : "arrived in greenbay, wisconsion on tuesday at 4 pm. ebeth, setanta, bailey and cleo doing well. hope to see the gang soon". hbg

That will work great for me, Soz. Are you sure you want to sit there that long?

Thanks for the update, hamburger. I hope they are having a good time.

Still dunno 'bout Mrs timber ... She may just stop in Madison for fuel and a snack Thursday and press on to Chicago ... Family B'day party and all. I fugure I can show up at the 'Dane anytime Friday ... the 6-to-7 window is fine. Anyhow, I'll be getting to the RedRoof late afternoon/early evening Thursday. Gettin' all excited now, fer sure.