Hamlette's Soliloquy

Dano and I are home from our big adventure. We spent the 7th through the 11th with Cowboy's parents, Banana, her Papoose, and Noumenon. Dano got to know his grandparents a little, and he and his cousin got along very nicely. He and I also went to visit ED and spent the night at her sweet little house. Man, do I miss living near her! We had so much fun going to a coffee shop, eating lunch at a drive-in, browsing her library, and watching a couple of movies. Good times.

On Wednesday, the 11th, DKoren picked us up in a rental car, and we drove off to our friend DocB's home for this year's Combat! fanfic Recon, dubbed Reconlan for reasons you will soon learn. We drove about 3 hours that night before stopping.

On Thursday, we drove about seven hours, arriving at DocB's around 4:30pm. The only squaddie to arrive before us was BQ, who had helped DocB decorate the front hall with USO banners and WWII posters. They also lined DocB's driveway with tiny USO flags so we'd have an easier time figuring out which house was hers. Other squaddies arrived throughout the afternoon and evening, including one all the way from Australia! We watched a C! ep in the evening, and when I sacked out at 12:45, the partying was still going strong.

On Friday, the rest of the squaddies arrived, including the Canada contingent. We spent most of the day just hanging out and watching a post-C! Vic Morrow movie called Target Harry that was surprisingly good. Dano adjusted to his new surroundings and started getting to know his new friends.

On Saturday morning, we cleaned up our HQ and got ready for our Guests of Honor, Conlan and Betty Carter. Yes, we got to meet the man who played Doc! He and his wife arrived around noon, and after spending an hour or so answering our myriad questions, he had lunch with us. Then he autographed our fanzines and anything else we proferred (such as my official Reconlan t-shirt, which was designed by Dimples)(yes, I was wearing it at the time). We kind of expected he would leave then, but he sat down in the living room again and visited with us until 6pm!!! He and his wife were both gracious and lovely, and I am honored to have met them both.

That evening, we played Combat! Trivial Pursuit and bid on all kinds of C! memorabilia Jen was auctioning off. I won a bunch of awesome photos, including one from my most favoritest ep ever, "Walking Wounded," and a spent shell casing from Franklin Canyon!

On Sunday, we watched a post-C! Rick Jason movie called Eagles Attack at Dawn (which took place entirely at night) and visited a militaria collectibles shop, where all I bought was a Bobbsey Twins book, go figure. We also went to Walmart and pooled our resources to buy gifts for some British troops that DocB befriended while in Iraq.

Quite a few squaddies headed out Sunday evening, but a few (including DKoren, Dano, and I) stuck around until Monday. Then we three drove to the airport and went our separate ways.

I think this was the best Recon yet! Atlanta was great, because I got to meet a lot of my fellow squaddies for the first time. LA was loads of fun, what with meeting Pierre Jalbert and tramping around Franklin canyon. But this one trumped them all, and not just because we spent six hours with Conlan Carter. For four days, I basically lived in a Combat! commune, surrounded by friends and having fun nearly every second of the day. It rocked! And we even managed not to trash DocB's house... much ;-)