Homecoming weekend at Rose-Hulman! I haven’t been in years, but since this year is my 30-year reunion I thought I would. I’ve also wanted to get down to campus for a while to donate the framed cross-stitching of the RHIT seal that mom made for me years ago. Beth and the girls went up north because this weekend was also the annual chili cook-off that Ric and Nickie have for Ric’s birthday, so it was just me going to Rose. I left work around lunch time, pulling the camper so I could save a little money on hotels and food (and the truck rolled through 200,000 miles while on the way!). Anyway, I rolled into TH at around 4:30, really hoofing it to make it to campus before everything was over for the day. It is not easy to find a place to park with a camper on campus on homecoming Friday! But I made a parking place up, and was able to make it to the office and deliver the cross-stitching before they closed. I did a brief walk-around to the new alumni center, at which I had missed pretty much everything, then headed to the campground to set up. I had an RV spot reserved at what used to be the Terre Haute KOA, but is now an independent campground. I know Beth and I camped overnight at the KOA once before, I think in October 1991, but I did not remember anything about it. It was obvious though from the setup and playgrounds and game room and store and such that it used to be a KOA. I got the camper set up, then started on dinner. I wanted to try out some Dutch oven cooking when it was just me waiting for it. I made a version of mom’s hamburg stew, which came out pretty good but needed some more seasoning. Easy, too. So I made camp food for dinner and headed back to campus for the pep rally at 8. Uncharacteristically for me, I saw an older man sitting by himself at the stadium and asked if he was there alone and if he minded if I sat with him. So I had someone to talk to for the rally. It lasted around an hour, followed by a fireworks show (an impressive one, actually) and finally lighting the bonfire by drone at around 9:45. Just like it used to be, it’s a stack of railroad ties around 30 feet high with an outhouse on top. I brought my old calculus book from 1987-88, because I have wanted for years to throw it into a homecoming bonfire. This was the year. I was afraid I wouldn’t get a chance because security was keeping the crowd back from the bonfire pretty well (not that you can even get near it for quite some time) but after around an hour or so people started running up to it to touch one of the ties and run back. When the crowd started getting close, I took the opportunity and had a random person video me running up to the bonfire, throwing in the book, and running back. Unfortunately I threw it too far and it went over the burning pile and onto the grass on the other side. So waiting for a chance to get it and try again, around a half hour later maybe, I saw someone retrieve it and run back with it. So I went over there (a group of students) and wound up talking with them for a good half hour about my Rose experience and what’s happened since. At maybe 11:00 I finally left, retrieved the two other old textbooks from the truck, went back to throw them in the burning pile that was left, and then went back to the camper. In the morning I went back to campus to run in the 5k, then back to the campsite to clean up and get breakfast ready. I fried bacon in a cast iron skillet on charcoal and them scrambled eggs, but for some reason the skillet never seemed to get hot enough. It took forever and wasn’t as done as I like. After that I packed up the camper, left it in their storage lot, and went back and did a massive walkabout on campus, visiting the open house on the lawn where scum pond used to be, getting some nice RHIT swag at the bookstore, getting lunch at the alumni tent, and walking all through the academic halls where I used to go to classes. The Sprite can is gone, but the same old combination still opens box #388. I went to the football game vs. Hanover College, which we won with a late comeback and defensive stand, 31-21. Closer than the score would indicate. There was just enough time to go back to the campground, shower quickly, hitch up, and go back to campus for the reunion dinner. My old buddy Doug Tougaw was there, and I had a great time catching up with him. Also I talked for quite a while with a couple of guys I knew back then, but not that well. A really good time, and I’m glad I went. One thing though, I wanted to save money and do some practice camp cooking, but meal prep took so long I never had a chance to go wander around Terre Haute. I should have just ate out and saved the time. Well, anyway. I got on the road for home by around 9, and was home after midnight.

When I got back from homecoming I was home alone, since nobody else was home from the chili cook-off yet. So Sunday morning I went to church by myself, mostly because I was driving the van that morning, and was asked if I would be able to help some people move. They had their rented house sold out from under them and had to be out by the end of the day Sunday. I didn’t know who else had been asked about that, but it turned out just me, it seems. I showed up at a house with 7 kids’ worth of stuff in it, and one guy working on loading things into a van. A few more friends and family did come over a bit later. But I’m glad I could help. The family is pretty new at church. Anyway we loaded up and unloaded the van a few times, hauling everything they own to a storage unit. The last one I was pretty sure was not going to fit, but we got creative and it did. They also got dinner since I helped all afternoon. I helped from around 2 until around 8. The last couple things were a firepit and some patio chairs, which wouldn’t fit anywhere, so I took them and put them in my garage for them.

Softball continues. They did set up a tournament for the coed league, 4 teams, double elimination. We were the 4 seed. Last Tuesday we played the top team and got mercied pretty quickly, then in the second game played Harrison Center, who have been up and down all season. It was close for a while but they have a tendency to go to pieces when things go wrong, so we pulled away and mercied them. Next week we will play until we lose, and that will be the end. Actually, I’ve been feeling ready for the season to be over for a couple weeks, to the point that I was thinking ‘if we lose, the season’s over…aw man, we actually are going to win now?’