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Pirates of Paynetown 2010 - Bloomington, IN
(Photo: Mission)
Introduction: The Journal of what transpired when the pirate surgeon Mission of
the Mercury pirate ship (which is once again missing in the
narrative other than in this introduction) who journeyed to the distant
reaches of Indiana to participate in the Pirates of Paynetown
at Paynetown State Recreation Area on Monroe Lake
in Bloomington. A harrowing account of what happened during this
three-day excursion wherein he encountered the fierce River Pirates,
various people from the Frontier
Folk Forum, several boats (who were not, in and of themselves, very
scary when he thinks about it), sundry animals and, most disturbingly,
small children. He shudders just recalling that last.
Prologue - An almost entirely irrelevant aside about the website, car museums and zippiness; Of the ride to the park and what happened during that; Why you need to turn left once you get into the park.
Left: Your author with his most potent weapons - the pen and pad.
(Photo:I don't recall, officer.)
If this isn't familiar, you're too young to
read the Surgeon's Journals. (You must be...)
Before I begin, I would like to note that I asked for suggestions on how
I could improve these Journals - to make them more snappy and zippy - like
FHM Magazine.
I was told to include pictures of impossibly proportioned women in lingerie.
("Lingerie...remember lingerie?") That would cost money, so it was
out. Then I was told not to include bizarre pop
references, pop quotes and pop photos as they confused people. Since I never do
that, I just ignored that suggestion. Next I was
told not to write detailed explanations of the stuff that happened
during my trip to the event. Specifically things like stopping off at
some
damned fool car museum. This idea made perfect and lucid sense, so I ignored
it. Last, Michael Bagley suggested putting the page navigation hotlinks at the
top as well as the bottom of the page. Since that was actually pretty easy it
was the suggestion for improvement that I seized upon. So I hope your New and
Improved! Surgeon's Journal experience is as zippy and snappy as FHM. If you have
other suggestions for how I can improve these Journal's zippiness and
snappiness, I encourage you to send them to me so that I can give them the
same sort of care and attention that I gave to all the other suggestions.
Having enjoyed my experience at the Pirates of Paynetown event last year, I decided to go ahead and do it again. Being a five-hour drive, I further decided that it made the most sense to take Friday off work so that I could have breakfast at Panera. Oh, and it allowed me to get to the park at a reasonable hour. Since last year had proven to be a good event for trotting out my medical gear, I packed it up and over-engineered the box so that if it rained on the way down, all my raw steel instruments would be safe (below left). In a way, this is silly because rusty medical instruments would seem really funny to me, but there you are. (And you may as well stay there as far as I'm concerned.) I also swiped a GPS with the idea that it would save me the trouble of printing out a map (below right.) Of course, upon reflection, it occurred to me that GPS units were not always reliable so I printed out a map anyhow (also below right - under the GPS.) However, for the most part, I have nothing but good things to say about the GPS, except for the fact that it got me involved in an hour-long traffic jam on the way back by changing the route on me. This ticked me off because I had seen a hand-painted billboard sign on the original route that read "Fork More Pork" - followed by something I couldn't read quickly enough. I really wanted to photograph that for you dear readers, but I had to go and enjoy an hour-long traffic jam instead. So...sorry about that. Blame the GPS if you like.
(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Mission)
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When I hit Highway 37 ("Next stop: Bloomington.") I happened to get behind a white truck with a bumper sticker that read something like, "Got rum?" Could this be coincidence? Surely not! So I pulled up alongside this white truck and...wasn't sure. Maybe it was Jay, who had suddenly appeared in some photos at the last 2010 May Santa Maria Event as well as being featured in a truly moving sequence of photos at the Put-in-Bay 2010 event. Then again, maybe it wasn't. He wasn't wearing his hat, so I wasn't sure. It does make for a perfectly irrelevant story at the beginning of this Journal. (As it happens it was Jay. He thought he recognized me when I pulled up alongside, but he was not sure because I didn't have my Patrick Hand Original hat on. Pirate re-enacting...it's all about the hats.) The rest of the trip on Highway 37 was even more boring than that last bit, so we'll skip right ahead to the park, because I want an excuse to show you a picture of the Fishin Shedd and Marathon Store, home of the parents of the 1993 Indiana Wurld Champeen Spellin Bea Winnar. This photo actually has a purpose other than that last lame comment - you turn (right) in the driveway just across from the Fishin Shedd to get into the park. See, this Journal serves as a public service for you if you want to go to Paynetown next year.
(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Mission)
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One last stupid road story and I promise that we'll actually get to the event. Like most parks, the Paynetown State Recreation Area on Monroe Lake has multiple roadways and, if you're not paying attention, you can wander off on the wrong one. Obviously I did or you'd be reading about my arrival in camp here instead of this. I took the route to the boat launch. While this doesn't sound all that interesting, I just thought the signs were sort of humorous, so I am wasting space by posting them here for your edification. I figure it originally said, "Boat launch ahead 300-700 Feet," but this confused the 1993 Indiana Wurld Champeen Spellin Bea Winnar causing them to drove their car into the water one too many times. So they must have decided to make it more clearerer.
(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Mission)
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