Gulf Wars XX is just about one week away. Actually the official start of the war is on Tuesday, but I will be heading down on Saturday with a stop somewhere along the way to arrive on Sunday mid-morning. There are a few things going on Monday, including getting together for the opening ceremonies and the mounted royals processional, but more than that it allow me to get the camp all set up on Sunday afternoon instead of like the last couple of times I have been down where I arrived just about at dusk on Sunday evening and had the fun of then trying to set up a tent as the darkness fell. I am really looking forward to it though, as I am ready for the break from the mundane – forward that is except the long drive down and all the crazy stuff I need to get done between now and then actual departure time.
Three things I am hoping to do this year (or in this do a better job of then in the past) and they all have a direct consequence for here at the Eligius blog site, so I thought I would post those here so folks would have some inkling of what to expect. Hopefully it will also allow those equestrians and others that can not make the trip to live a bit vicariously through others that are actually down at the event.
- I am going to be doing my blogging this year during the evening and early morning hours of the event. As I have noted, my first several times down I made notes about each day and translated those notes into full-blown day by day report of what occurred at the war for the local Baron’s newsletter. Last year, I attempted to do that with the blog site after the event, with minimum success. Mostly, once I got back to the mundane life, actually having the time compile the notes and put them together in blogs required more time then what was available. By the time was available we are so far past the end of the Gulf Wars I doubted the relevance of the material at that point. The clear solution is to spend, just I typically do, a few minutes each evening and/or morning actually composing a blog to post. That will of course depend on connectivity, though the last couple of years that aspect of things has greatly improved.
- The last couple of times I have been down I have had very limited opportunity to take photographs of things, especially things in which I was interested in because I was always participating. Hopefully this year I am going to have a bit more organization and hence a better opportunity to get some photos to share of the event. It is one of my favorite parts of events – having something to share and look over after I get back home. I may even try to put a few of those online with the daily blogging of things going on a the war, but no promises on that one.
- The last effort will be with capturing some video. My chief aspect to capture is equestrian activities, but that one is so hard as I will almost always be participating. Hopefully I will get some folks to help with that though. As a secondary goal I do hope to capture some video of both rapier and especially heavy fighting. At this point I am not 100% sure I will be participating in heavy fighting or not – lack of practice is weighing on that, but also so much stuff do with equestrian this war as well for me in particular. I will say this, video is pretty much a given to not be available until after I return from the south and stretch in to the things I will have to catch up on mundanely.
Edit: Not sure it is was clear, so adding this.  There will be a post at least daily next week, from March 13-21!
** – Image from Gulf Wars XX website.
