Rocket Powered Boots: $49.95

Which way to the horse poop?

The weekend was spent with Caroline and family in lovely old Four Oaks. On Saturday we all headed out to Bentonville Battleground to see and enjoy the reenactment festivities. I tried doing an audio post from the batter but sadly, the signal in middle of nowhere, Johnston County isn't the strongest in North Carolina. My call was lost leaving me to talk to myself for 3 minutes with cannons blasting in the background.

So yeah, every five years a bunch of professional old nerds (and some young ones) gather at Bentonville, where my grandmother is from, to dress up and pretend to be some of the most miserable Americans in history. Despite my strong urge to dismiss the event as complete lameness, I even find myself suddenly drawn to this period in history. Envisioning myself in officer's garb I spent the day walking around wishing that I had a cool horse of my own.

We were quite stupid and didn't leave for the battlefield quickly enough to get good "seats." Of course no one was sitting. I could barely make out what was going on over the sea of hats in front of me. Poor Caroline had to be periodically hoisted up to see anything other than smoke.

Even in the face of this trouble I had a good time out there. Where else will you get to hear the infamous "rebel yell" as a group of CSA on horseback go thundering by with the stars and bars waving gloriously above them?
Now that I think of it...
-Wal*Mart in Smithfield
-Anywhere in Benson
-South Johnston High School Parking Lot
-Any street within a block of my house

Obviously it still has ripples today.

So that isn't quite as uncommon as some of us might hope, but at Bentonville at least it was done by guys that really looked like the real thing and wanted to show a true appreciation for the historical value of that tragic battle. Never ever discount one of these events as nerdy or not worth your time. It's a unique experience and I recommend it to anyone even remotely fascinated with history.

I'll have pictures (I took three rolls) sometime this week. You won't want to miss them, trust me.

The old dynamite in the nostril ploy! Gets 'em every time!!!