Wild Nights 2017 took place a few weekends ago, and I had a great time there with friends.  We also took a stop at the Choctaw Casino Resort – Durant on the way home.  Let it ride!

1. PREP/THURSDAY Taking a 14″ grill along, which is adding a layer of ‘fun’ to prepping for the trip
2. Not having many Con Talk listeners means I’m not too worried about a resident of Wilburton, Oklahoma hearing me and WolfBoy talk noise about their town.
3. Always have to make one last trip to the store!
4. Good idea: Use Telegram to communicate. Bad idea: Virtually no cell service at convention.
5. Leaving my rings at home.  Not wearing them only bothers me when I walk out of the restroom.
6. Thing I left at home: condiments and tortillas >.<
7. When they say chicken strip dinner at Braum’s, they ain’t joking!
8. What’s with the pudding cup, though?
9. Picked up tortillas and BBQ sauce at the Waxahachie HEB, crisis averted!
10. We drove 400+ miles across Texas to eat at Pizza Hut in Oklahoma on Thursday night. 😀
11. Gas lantern providing light.  AM/FM radio providing weather and entertainment. Hooray for old technology!
12. Super-bright LED lanterns should come with deflectors.
13. If you’re setting up a tent at 1AM with a super-bright LED lantern, you suck.
14. FRIDAY I’m genuinely a little disappointed that I can get a cell signal out here, but that’s what airplane mode is for.
15. It’s driving me nuts that I get notifications on my phone, but I can’t actually SEE the thing I’m being notified about.
16. Glad to get snapshots of a few fursuiters…a shame my friend whose fursuit fan I fixed wasn’t one of them.
17. The criteria for being a guest at a furcon now seems to be: Be somewhat popular!
18. People playing Nintendo Switch in the mess hall…REALLY?
19. Hearing hacking and coughing throughout the camp, glad we’re outside
20. Electrical cords running into tents make me sad.
21. McDonald’s for breakfast on Friday, we’re really roughing it!
22. They seem to be a little behind in getting situated, no crafting/panel tents were set up until Friday afternoon.
23. We went hiking and everybody stopped when cell service resumed.
24. Nothing like BBQ hamburgers for lunch and dinner!
25. Fancy people have to melt the chocolate and the marshmallow for fancy s’mores.
26. Maybe too fancy: I don’t think graham crackers should have grill marks.
27. WolfBoy does not care how much your beef jerky costs.
28. Nothing like being overprepared for the storm Friday night.
29. The campfire area was closed off on Friday night.  Aw.
30. On the plus side: NO MIDNIGHT AWOO.
    

    #31: Storm’s a-brewin’

31. SATURDAY Storm didn’t come until early today, but we were ready for it!
32. There is a special place in hell for people that have a crowing rooster as their alarm…and abandon their phones
33. We don’t care for quiche so it was off to Mickey D’s again.
34. Are there really that many people wanting quiche and crepes for breakfast at a camping trip??
35. PROTIP: If you haven’t figured this out already about Wild Nights: Bring food.
36. I’d forgotten how polite small town grocery store people can be.  NO, I DON’T NEED HELP WITH…oh
37. My hometown doesn’t even have a grocery store anymore, so yeah.
38. I ran a stop light in town.  Sorry.
39. “Your poncho is pink.” “It was red when it was folded up.”
40. Not to be mean to the artists, but once the rain starts, maybe rearrange the tables so people can sit in the mess hall and eat
41. Random conversation I could have done without: “What is your name?” “Eduardo Soliz.” *long pause* “WHY?” “You look like some Asian guy.”  HUH?
42. Nothing says ‘oblivious to my surroundings’ quite like people blocking the whole sidewalk that is SURROUNDED BY MUD.  MOVE IT.
43. LOL at the weather radio saying ‘Arkansaa.’
44. Waiting in the bathroom for the storm to pass.
45. About to storm like crazy but DAMMIT WE BOUGHT FAJITAS AND WE ARE GOING TO HAVE FAJITAS.
46. And s’mores, of course
47. “Okay, guys, here’s the plan to get in the car, we’re going to…” *BOOM* RUN LIKE CRAZY!
48. What do you do when the camping con gets rained out? Sleep in a bunkhouse!
49. SUNDAY Crap it’s cold. Crap it’s cold. Crap it’s cold.
50. I know it annoyed some people, but the 90s car alarm repeatedly going off in the morning was hilarious to me.
51. Note to self: Buy a cheap shower head for the small bathroom shower.
52. And maybe some soap holders.
53. I’m sure you’ve noticed by now that hardly any of this has to do with the con itself.
54. PROTIP: Get your heads out of your phones or you might miss something cool like a truck doing a Dukes of Hazzard over a hill in the opposite lane.
55. I think they meant to do that.
56. The business that gave us the Fudge Cheese Butter sign appears to be no more, aww
57. AFTERWARDS/CASINO Funny that ‘Try Everything’ comes on over the PA as we’re entering the casino.  THEY KNOW.
58. I had to at least try the slots that had bears on them…no better luck, though.
59. We had to eat ‘Krispy Krunchy Chicken’ after seeing the name. Tasty!
    

    #61 Not-so-sore loser

60. Parrot Beach Bar and Grill at the Choctaw Casino Resort was good, shame it’s going to become Just Another Mexican Restaurant in a month or so.
61. No luck at the casino, guess it’s back to work on Tuesday.
62. If you’re dropping money into the slots at 9AM you might need help.
63. Yes, that includes me.
64. I wonder which table at breakfast is ours…OH, it’s the one with the T-Rex hand puppet.
65. When  you have a hand puppet on your table, some rando will inevitably ask why it is there.
66. After the fact, I have a box of hot cocoa and two things of Jiffy Pop left. Stupid weather.
67. While the con itself wasn’t much to speak of, we had a great time!