Wow, where to begin... First off, had a great 3-day hike Mon-Wed out on the AT with Rockdawg. He thought he was slowing me down, but he doesn't realize that it was a perfect pace for my poor knees! We had beautiful clear weather for the hike, which presented us with great views from the numerous balds and viewpoints such as roan high bluff.

We got to Grayson on Thursday and we were greeted by nice clear weather and nice folks. Hickery was kind enough to bring the "son of blue" tarp which was rigged up just in time. A slightly smaller tarp was later added to provide lots of coverage near the fire. Big thanks to everyone who helped put up and maintain the tarps, especially hickery, homerun, rockdawg, and slowhike. You're all total pro's.

My wife lovedr and our good hammocking friend NickR arrived on Friday afternoon in the fog and rain. The silver lining of the rain was a chance to stress-test rain gear & seam-sealing of tarps in a car-camping environment.

It was great seeing returning faces and meeting new friends - especially meeting some fellow gram-weanies hipbone and mtngoat and sewing folks like 2Q & ZQ! There was great talk under the tarp and around the fire the whole weekend.

The grayson festival was wet, but Sheltowee hammocks and WV still braved the elements to put on our public face and show some folks hammocks. Very much respect to you both!

We had MANY generous donations to the raffle on Saturday. Forgive me for forgetting some of the people and vendors who donated but here are a few off the top of my head. I hope LDCakes might be able to post a complete list. Big thank you to Sheltowee hammock, Warbonnet, Tato Gear, 2QZQ, Tacoma (who gave a gift cert to 2QZQ), and many more members who donated items. It was a big success to cover a new tarp, firewood, and make a donation to a very good cause. I also learned never to trade tickets with Hickery

Breakfast and Dinner on Sat were absolute feasts! Again I apologize as I'm sure I'm forgetting some folks. Tacoma made way too much delicious BBQ, along with 3 homemade sauces! Homerun made his famous beans with help from Grayjay, they also cooked breakfast. Thelovedr and I contributed mashed potatoes and foil-wrapped apple tortillas. LDCakes was busy with dutch ovens with cobbler and mac & cheese. Rockdawg was cooking all day with thick cut bacon, monkey bread, and brought birthday treats for several special birthday guests! Hickery provided schrimp cocktail as a great appetizer during the raffle. Gunnar and others provided a lot of the beverages and plenty of under-tarp water storage.

I could go on and on about everyone's generosity, but I'll stop. It was just a great weekend full of good company, great food, and mother nature. I hope to see some of you folks at grayson in winter and next fall.