Indiana Winter Moot 2013

[Greg]

Greetings!

Manuveron was kind enough to remind me (unknowingly) that I haven't yet posted my planning thread for our midwest January/February shenanigans! The fall moot kinda fell through since I wound up having a daughter and am bracing myself to move into the new house next week, but that won't stop us from getting out there...we just get to reschedule!

This year, I'm determined to do at least one night in the snow. I can't guarantee that this event will land on a weekend with snow since it's planned in advance, but that's not excuse to not plan a group get-together to once again get out into the wilds of the midwest and give the weather our best one-two punch.

Schedule

What we're looking for this time 'round would be a three day stretch, Friday through Sunday, in late January or early February. The date range I'm tentatively looking at would be:

January 18th-20th
January 25th-27th
January 30th-February 2nd
February 8th-10th

Beyond that, it'd be a Friday mid-day meetup through a Sunday Morning break-camp kind of schedule.

Location

We'll have two options for the location...I have yet to scout out beyond the backyard of my new place which we're moving into next week, but I'll be sure to do so within the first week or two (and yes, I'll post pictures!) My soon-to-be new backyard is directly adjacent to something like 2,000 acres of public state land which I'm free to camp on, fish in, hike while armed, and generally cause mayhem. By this point in time, deer season will be over, and we'll be well set up to have an unobtrusive, private, and authentic weekend.

The other option would be on site at my workplace, which is 1,000 acres of private land, with similar permissions to the above region. The only difference is that you'd have to sign a waiver and would be charged $5/night...which is just about the cheapest camping fee in existence.

For those who may plan to make the trip, hit up Nashville, IN on Google maps, and I'll pm you a more direct address as the date approaches.

Gear

This will be a strictly survival skills meetup. No wasters or sparring gear of any kind, please. Carry what you think best to appropriately get you through the weather, as Tolkien-inspired as possible. I will understand if you're wearing modern thermals under your gear. I'll understand if you bring a sleeping bag, just-in-case. Just try to keep things aboveboard as well as you can, and load up on the wool and fur. The weather may wind up quite nice...who knows? I'll let everyone know in the final weeks leading to the event what the weather is slated to look like...but the midwest is unpredictable. Last April, the weather said "Possible Isolated Thunderstorms" and we wound up with ten+ hours of downpour. If the weather gets absolutely absurd, either location has a back door retreat plan, but that wouldn't be used unless we're completely miserable, being unsafe, or otherwise not enjoying ourselves.

Provisions
Everyone needs to bring food for themselves, in the form of a Dinner, a Breakfast, a "working" lunch that you can eat on-the-go, another dinner, and breakfast for the following morning. Hot meals will be beneficial to the weather, but by the same token, fires are hard to keep going in the snow, so make sure you have bread, cheese, or other similar items that can be eaten uncooked so you aren't malnourished amongst the battle to keep a blaze going. Small-game hunting season will still be in full-bloom, so if I can get Dusty to nab a squirrel or a rabbit during the day, so much the better.

Now that all of that debris is out of the way, sound off if you're interested, and we'll go from there! Let me know what dates would work best for you, if any, and we'll start narrowing things down.

Cheers!

-Greg

[Odigan]

I am definitely interested. Whether I will be able to make it is another question!

[Odigan]

Not much movement on this, eh? I'm curious to know who else might be able to make it or die in the attempt.
I'll suggest the 25th-27th as a target date, as that will give us a full moon.

[Greg]

Good call there let's have that be the date. February promises to be the worst of the winter for the year..I'd like to avoid that if possible. Jake has been booked solid with life, but plans to attempt to come. I have a few in-town friends that may be trying to join us, though one from a different period. Gondian has mentioned to me in PM's that he's going to make a try at making his schedule fit it as well.

Dwayne...you gonna be around? We'd love to have you!

[Odigan]

I've a lot to get together before then, but I'll plan on making it - barring exceptionally inclement weather of course. I'm not driving eight hours in a blizzard.