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/ index.htmlI don't think I've ever spent so long driving and covered such a small distance. The warning signs were there when the main route between Daventry and Leamington (where I was to pick up Sandroo and Lone Wolf) was closed, I think due to flooding. We managed to get from Leamington to Coventry (where I picked up the stove from parents) without incident, but that was the exception to the rule.
Turning onto the M6 just West of Birmingham brought us to an immediate standstill. Learning from local radio that the tailbacks covered the next 10 junctions, we left at the next exit and headed into the Black Country and the 'roos memories. While waiting at one of many roadworks associated with the Birmingham Relief Road, the 'roo showed us his new toy: a GPRS connected PDA.
After much cajoling from the two wolves, he was persuaded to post a meet diary to Furlife, the news server I run for animal-spiritual types and others who once found like minds on alt.lifestyle.furry. As a diary it wasn't fated for success, the second post never making to the server over the weekend as GPRS coverage seemed to expire North of Manchester. A couple of weeks later, the post still hasn't turned up on the server.
Some diversion from motorway tedium was provided later by "Britain's best service station" [Westmorland] where we stopped for dinner (having some time ago given up on the idea of making the pub in Keswick before eating). The scenery was, probably, spectacular. The lights you could make out through the drizzly darkness suggested an extensive, unpopulated valley. Water cascaded over rocks in the dining area and flowed under a rustic bridge to what was probably a large pond outside. Well, there was a life preserving ring, so there was probably a pond. Walking back to the car, we saw not one, but three huskies *sigh* being lead out of a van for a playful (but functional) romp on the patch of grass next to the car park. There was plenty of evidence of more huskies still left in the van, awaiting their turn. They were a racing team, and the wheeled sled was on top of the van.
Back in the car, we were treated to Lone's extraordinary navigational skills. Aroused from aparent slumber by Lex's phonecall, he immediately announced that we were just (or should I say still) 26 miles from Keswick. While still on the phone we passed a signpost and, indeed, we were 26 miles from our original meeting place. Opting to push on to the barn, Lone's navigation proved flawless again (aside from a short excursion around the forrestry commision car park). I'll admit that I enjoyed driving the last stretch, enjoyed the fleeting glimpse of a startled fox crossing the road. Utlah's car, Mononoke, parked with the hazard lights flashing at least meant we had come the right way, or did it just mean we had come the same way as Utlah? The distinctive registration of Megadog's landrover clinched it; we had arrived, just five hours late.
Talking into the wee hours of the morning was, perhaps, inevitable - at least for the majority of the group. Rainwolf, acting as publicity agent for Lex's mask making enterprise, didn't hesitate to let us have a look at the samples they had brought with them. I must say I was impressed, both by the style of the masks, and the foam material used which was lightweight and didn't seem as strange to the skin as latex. I brought my wolf mask down as an example of the work Sandroo and I had been up to, unfortunately we had opted to leave Lone's fox mask and a few other things in the car when the rain had come pouring down. It was nice to see this too appreciated by the assembled weres.
