Felberpalooza: Day 1

I left Nanticoke much later than I meant to (around 10:40 Saturday morning, after setting up flood contingencies and stopping at the bakery and the bank) and drove for more than 150 miles (of a total of over 210 miles) crossways through Ernesto to get to Grouseland. My trip took nearly an hour longer than expected, and I arrived at Grouseland to see...a single car. The festivities had been relocated to a nearby (relatively speaking) hall, and Murray's lovely wife (forgive me, I am terrible with names, and my computer is terrible with looking up names while I am composing a blog entry) led me there personally. We pulled up to the hall, and I stepped into another world...
There he was: Adam Felber, whom we had come so far to meet and who had travelled so far to meet us, seated at a bar surrounded by what I knew must be Felbernauts. (Above, the Felbernauts attend to the words of their charismatic leader: Adam, Cooper, Ann, Dee, Murray, and Al. Not shown: yr. hmbl. blogger/photographer, and George, George's Sister, and George's Sister's Husband, all of whom showed up later.)
Felbernauts believe in the importance of good nutrition and healthy eating. Note the bottled water.
Adam tempts fate and risks losing face (literally) by keeping George's Sister's Dog Cody's rawhide stick away from him.
The guest of honor, satirist / writer / radio personality / blogger Adam Felber. Note the luggage. Adam flew in on Saturday morning, and was flying out early Sunday morning. As the evening wore on, it made less and less sense for him to stop at a hotel for a few hours, and he left directly for the airport Saturday evening. The bottle of Maker's Mark that didn't end up in Adam's luggage.

Despite a serious disruption caused by Tropical Storm Ernesto, the Felberpalooza was a lot of mellow fun. Felbernauts were there from Seattle, Pittsbugh, two parts of North Carolina, Virginia Beach, Nanticoke, and, of course, Grouseland. One thing that we found remarkable (aside from the fact that Ann, Dee, and George's Sister are all redheads): every person there was exactly like you would expect they would be based on their comments on Fanatical Apathy. We had a small but intense group of smart, funny, friendly people, and we had a wonderful time. We are all looking forward to future events, perhaps more centrally located to allow for ease of travel for more Felbernauts. But such plans can be left to themselves for now.

The night wore on, Adam had to go, and we had to relinquish the hall. After a hasty partial cleanup (Murray, who had arranged the hall and the festivities, also arranged a cleanup crew to finish things off) and a quick standup reading from Schrodinger's Ball (we nearly forgot!), we withdrew to Grouseland for some backyard astronomy through Murray's 6" Skyquest Dobsonian. Then it was off to the Day's Inn in Town Hill to rest up for the rigors of Day 2 of Felberpalooza.