Posted by Rich/Mohican Press on April 23, 2000 at 07:28:18:
Hey! That was a lot of fun seeing so many of you last night! Great time!!! What? You weren't there?? Sorry you missed it! You see, Caitlin & Jeff sent us this excellent video tape of last year's Gathering. Elaine & I watched it yesterday, and what a trip! Much fun! It truly is a shame for the rest of us that these two won't be able to make it this year. Caitlin has been with us both times previously, and her then newbie husband, Jeff, fit right in last year ... like he'd been hanging around the Board for years. His commentary on the video had us laughing out loud several times. Thank you, Caitlin & Jeff!
THE GATHERING: Two months, exactly, from today! Yes, two months from today we'll be exploring Linville Gorge! Alot going on with the Gathering this week, so let me fill you all in now. First, and most importantly, the 2000 Great Mohican Gathering Commemmorative T-Shirt is ready to go! Take a peek on the Gathering Page & get your order in ASAP! As promised, I used some of my "free" time this week scouting out part of the itinerary. Took my 3 oldest (5, 7, 9) girls on their FIRST journey to Table Rock Mountain. They absolutely LOVED it. We had gone to the NC State Zoo the day before. To my shock, they enjoyed their day at Linville Gorge even more!! LOTM fanatics in the making? We had lunch at Louise's Restaurant (back of the menu above ... for Jo!) and made our reservations there for breakfast & lunch on the 23rd. When I told our waitress, who remembered us from years past, that we'd number at or near 70 this year, she replied, "Hmmm, a good day to call in sick, maybe?" Only kidding, of course! We're all set there ... Then, Friday it was off to Biltmore to meet with the Special Projects Coordinator. We drove around to the sites and discussed the plans for our morning there. Sounds, and of course, LOOKS, good! There will be props to see, and a possible visit from locations director, Michael Bigham. They're working on that! Good thing I went, too. I hadn't been there in years, since working on the booklet, and they've changed things around a bit. It used to be you purchased your tickets, went up to the Gate House to present them, and then entered. Now, you just drive on through. They have a new Reception & Ticket Center a little ways in, where we will meet on Saturday morning. It's just in front of the knoll that was the scene of The Burial Ground. Kind of throws my directions, off just a tad, so it sure is a good time to release a "Companion Guide"!!
THE COMPANION GUIDE: Made much progress on that little project this week. You can see a little promotional blurb, as well as the proposed opening to the book, at: http://www.mohicanpress.com/mo06031.html
I hope that you all find it informative & entertaining when it does come out. We've got what we think are some good ideas for it. Thank you for the contributions, guys. Most appreciated! Still not too late, by any means, to send something along! I'm going to share one with you now. It will be in the book. Those of you who've been here a while, will probably know who sent it. I gotta tell you, reading it was VERY moving to me!
"Let me get this straight� you want me to explain what this site and all the Mohicanlanders mean to me. In words. I don't know if a relationship like this can be explained in mere words.
I came upon this site about three years ago as a long-time lover of the movie (all right, fanatic fan of the movie). I found all the information I could ever want on the movie itself, the area where it was filmed, the process of filming it, the script, the cast, the crew. I discovered the message board. I'd never posted on one before and I lurked a long time before posting. When I finally showed myself, I was welcomed into a group of intelligent, interesting, informative, imaginative, wacky, insane individuals. Without ever having met, this group could play off one another in a most delightful and entertaining way. How could anyone explain the insanity that broke loose in December of 1997? The posts from those few days should definitely be included in your book with a short explanation of GGGGs, SYMTs and what caused the war to break out. My whole family sat in front of the computer laughing until the tears ran down our cheeks, and we had to order in more Depends.
Then Eric Hurley suggested we get together the following summer. Somehow the idea snowballed, and before we knew it we had a Gathering planned. Even though I was new to the board, you planned it so I would be able to come. Wow! I sure appreciated that! OOOOH- but a scary thought! I was actually going to travel to North Carolina to meet, in the flesh, all these different people from all over the world. What if they weren't just insane, but were really INSANE? Well, I was driving my own car. If they were too bad, I'd just bail out and go home. One of the ones I was most worried about meeting was you, Rich. The mental picture was a short, stocky Italian fellow with a sharp tongue, a relatively short fuse, and a man who absolutely could not let an argument lie still. Hmmm. Not exactly the kind of fellow I thought I would pick for a friend.
After driving seven hours or so down from Can-tuck-ee, I was so glad to see Eric Hurley in his red uniform standing at the entrance to Chimney Rock Park, I could have kissed him. However, Sharon was with him, so I simply got directions to the bunkhouse. Several others had arrived before me, and we tentatively introduced ourselves. Hey, these were pretty cool people, and with a common love of LOTM, we were soon chatting away like old friends. Putting faces with the names that we knew so well from the board was great entertainment. We got some big laughs out of that.
Saturday morning we met at the pavillion. Rich, I must say I was totally unprepared for the way-cool pony-tailed dude. Meeting and getting to know you and Elaine was one of the highlights of my weekend. You are great people. The glue that holds us all together. The surrogate parents of the site. What can I say? The weekend was a huge success, way beyond my wildest dreams. We could act like silly teenagers, climb all over Chimney Rock Park and Table Rock, drive who knows how far on those little windy NC roads to a theater where we saw the film backwards, ate great meals, and talked and talked and talked�
A little more sleep would have been helpful. I don't think I've functioned on so little sleep since I was a teenager, but no one wanted to waste a minute of the time we had together. Carol and Ilse. Roz. Eric and Sharon. Susan Houck. Jo and her Sisters, Marcia. What great memories!
I just went back and looked at what I posted after I got home:
'... What a treat to be able to put faces with the posts now. Rich, I can't believe you told Elaine she had to behave herself at the gathering ... especially when it became obvious none of the rest of us were! Shame on you!! Isn't it amazing to think that 38 (or thereabouts) of us could get together and get along so well, even though none of us had ever met before (excluding Jo and her sisters). Not a nut case in the bunch (at least not out of the norm for the group). Rich, Elaine, Marcia, Myrrh, Eric, Susan all did a wonderful job in putting the weekend together for us. Thank you so much. It was one of the coolest experiences I've ever had. For those of you who missed this year's celebration, start saving money and making your plans now. It was well worth any trouble any of us took to make it there ...'
So, now I'm back on the board. I missed the Gathering last year and I'll miss it again this year. Maybe next year. We are like family. We get along with some better than others. Sometimes fights break out. We get mad at each other. But someone from the outside comes in and attacks, and we jump together to defend the one attacked.
Rich and Elaine, you are amazing people. Parenting, whether it be a family or an internet community, isn't easy. In both cases, you have done an exemplary job. Without you, none of us would be here, and we'd all be the poorer for missing it.
Love to you both,"
Whew! THANK YOU!
E-MAIL OF THE WEEK: Luckily, there really was NO E-Mail of the week this week. Best I could do is this one, from a co-worker & friend, who had asked me to send her the URL for Elaine & Vita's Rose Publishing Site. Of course, I couldn't resist the temptation to include a couple more! :) Her response may trigger some memories of similar reactions you may have had when you attempt to lure non-believers into the world of "The Last of the Mohicans" ...
"> On The Trail ... http://www.mohicanpress.com/
>
> Against All Odds ... http://www.mohicanpress.com/battles/index.html
>
> Rose International Publishing ...
http://www.ladyroseunicornpublishing.com/
>
> Happy?
> R
As a matter of fact NO!
I asked about Elaine's website and not that mohican crap - AGAIN
I'm really not interested in Little Big Horn either ! So there! All i
hear is mohican , mohican , mohican give it a rest already!!
Oh by the way hope you're enjoying your vacation!
tj"
And so it goes ...
NEW ON THE SITE: In addition to what I've mentioned above, lots of new items on The Gathering Page & the Companion Guide "preview", we've been busily combing through the entire site, fine tuning a bit. We changed web site programs not too long ago and that takes some getting used to & enables us to do things we couldn't easily do previously. So, if you browse the Site, you'll find many small additions, corrections, and photos scattered about. Plus, we added three pages of screen captures ... divided into 3 sections: The Locations, The Cast, & The Scenes. Use the Musings (they're listed under Photo Galleries) or Home Links, on top of the Board, to access these images.
ERIC SCHWEIG: Much of our E-mail this week has had to do with Eric Schweig. We put up a statement this morning, located where the old Eric Schweig: Actor & Artisan pages were ... http://www.mohicanpress.com/mo05000.html
That's all we have to say on the subject for the time being. Needless to say, we agonized over this decision for a long time ... a year to be exact ... It feels like a great burden has been lifted from our shoulders! I feel fresh and enthusiastic again!
ODDS & ENDS: The REST of my "free" time was spent making my contribution to Ariel's Cabin ... a two CD set, playable on your PC, of videos related to this Web Site ... a television promo, locations, Gathering, music, etc. Ran off 10 copies to donate. Those of you who have purchased tickets for the special Wampum Raffle, we've finally been able to sit down & get your stubs ready to go out in the morning's mail. Sorry for the delay on that. We're just sending them out as a formality. You won't need them to win. We've got the other half (the drawing half) and records of all who have entered. Jo (MIA in Detroit visiting the past 2 weeks) & Sarah Z. are nearing completion of the lay-out for the Program Guide. John Evans is bringing his props again for display & discussion at CRP (We immensely enjoyed listening to him again on the video tape!) ... I'll leave it to Marcia to report on the rest ... I'm ready now, so let's get on with it! The weather's been BEAUTIFUL!
Have a Blessed Easter Sunday all!
PS - What about that Mystery Lady?