That's right. All the Heavens let loose and fell as Rain upon the lands. The first weekend of the faire went well, considering it flooded and they called in local fire and rescue teams to evacuate the site!
The flood looked innocent enough at the beginning.....
Then the roads got washed out! Yes, our cars were all on the other side of the "New River"
Now that I think about it, it wasn't too surprising. Wentzville, Missouri is not too far from the Mississippi. But apparently, the flooding was at it's worst this year.
Mab was in the company of Paolo Garbanzo, who lives in San Fransisco, and an artist named Madcat, who lives in Chicago. It was 5 hours to the closest home.
Mab just finished securing her tent, when a large man came into our camp. "You ~have~ to leave" he said, in a loud and threatening voice. Mab just stammered excuses about having no where to go, but I could hear the nervousness in the large man's voice. He went on to tell us that more rain was on the way, and that we should grab whatever we could. Mab, who I had often thought less intelligent of the species, grabed her bag of dirty laundry and a backback of her toiletries, and her last 3 beers. The large man then escorted Mab and myself twords the evacuation point where she met up with Paolo and Madcat standing in a long line to leave the site. Sheesh, all that rushing to stand in line....
Paolo had a backpack and a bag tucked under his arm. And his Doc Martains were tied together and flung over his shoulder. We all know how important dry boots are.......Madcat had his bag, and a old style doctor's bag with his painting supplies. he also had a largish rubbermaid bin w/ some of his paintings in it. He was reluctant to leave valuable artwork where it would likely get damaged.
The line was long...it was rainy.....we were board. Wait! Didn't Mab grab some beers?
~*Text edited in the interest of keeping the story from getting out of hand*~ Not long after they kicked us out of the tavern, the line was mostly gone. The next step was to cross the river.By the time we got to the river/road/quasi-bridge, the water had receeded to just below Mab's knee. They strapped a huge life-vest on Mab, and checked to make sure I was secure in Mab's backpack. They decided that since I was actually made of wood I didn't need a life vest of my own...I almost made a big fuss about Equel Rights for Monkys!, but in the interest of getting across the river faster, shut the heck up. Mab crossed w/ no incident.
Then it was Paolo's turn. They tell him he has too much stuff. ??!!? He is frustrated and flings his Doc Martins like a bolero off to the side. The let him cross.
Madcat's turn. Paolo, Mab and I are on the other side of the river watching in stunned amazement. They won't let Madcat cross with his big rubermaid tupperware! He insists that he has to take it with him, it contains valuable artwork, etc etc. Finally, after much arguing, they let him cross w/ the bin. When he gets to the other side he relays what they were arguing about. The resuce boys we telling him he needed 2 hands on the rope, and if he didn't have 2 hands on the rope, he could fall. Madcat had convinced the rescue boys "If I'm about to fall, I promise, I will drop the bin. NOW can I cross?"
With the 4 of us across, and it the mud pit called the parking lot, we decided to go to Chicago, Madcat's home. Heck, it's only 5 hours away! We help a few lesser cars get out of the mud, pile into Paolo's massive truck, with Monkey, Rubermaid bin, Mab's dirty laundry, and no Doc Martins, and head on up to....
Photos courtsey of At The Faire.com, my cardboard camera didn't do so well in the rain. Chicago!
for more photos of the Greater St. Louis Ren Faire, please go Here!
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