Fairburn Frist 100 Campout

This was our real estate that we staked out yesterday [a.m.] at the Chick-fil-a First 100 camp out in Fairburn. Fairburn is just up the road [Highway 74] from Kedron Village which is just up the [same] road from Star's Mill. Now, Star's Mill filled up at like 3:00 p.m. [if I remember correctly-- that was a while back so my memory fails me somewhat], Kedron [more recent] filled up at 11:30. [I remember that better because WE were numbers 101 and 102 -- ONLY because I made my best friend stop on the way so I could buy me a new pair of running shoes, that I could have bought at any time -- anyway, we make the cut, people dropped out], Fairburn filled up at 10:00 a.m.! It was the fastest one of these First 100 Camp outs has filled up since it's inception approximately 3 years ago.
I had planned to get up about 5:45, run 3 miles, make the kid's lunches, shower and be ready to go about 8:00. My best friend [who is the nervous type -- always has us at the airport not less than 2 hours prior to any scheduled flight] said we should get up at 5:00 and leave at 6:00. So, that's what we did. We actually ended up leaving about 6:10 and arrived on site a little before 7:00-- Numbers 18 and 19.

We set up our tent as far away from the festivities as we could, hoping to get a little sleep during the night. Then, thanks to my best friend's brilliance, we did something we've never done before, we claimed a table up near the front of the store, a two-seater, handicap [how appropriate] table, plopped our stuff down and there we sat -- NICE umbrella and all. By the time the sun gets up in the sky 11:00 a.m. or so, these tables with umbrellas are PRIME REAL ESTATE!So, there we sat, my best friend with his Civil War book [which he always brings but never reads-- watching the people is just FAR too fascinating!] and me with my Bible [which I did read quite a bit, several passages during the day]. The Bible turned out to be a real conversation opener which was interesting to say the least.

By 10:00 a.m. this is about what it looked like. They wanted to keep us all on one side of the building [different from other First 100 camp outs we've attended]. As a result, tents were 4 deep in the parking lot but it all worked out. The police presence was greater at this camp out than any others we have been to. I'm not aware of any trouble they've had at any of these events; maybe that's just the way it is in Fairburn. They were real stern about the boundaries, which at other First 100 Camp outs has just been the property itself. However, at this one it was the corners of the building and you had to stay on this side of the building at all times or you would be disqualified IMMEDIATELY!

There was a lot of laptop computing at this camp out, more than I've seen at any other. Our friend, Stephen, went across the street to a hotel to get the access code for their wireless and they gave it to him. I couldn't believe it! He shared it with someone and they shared it with someone, and so on... and before long everybody knew it.
There was a live "Christian" rock band [which was all together interesting] and the Cow made a visit. The band played "It Is Well With My Soul" [sort of]

Have you ever played Twister with the Cow?

The heat of the afternoon passed quickly. Before we knew it the sun was setting and it was cooling off nicely. There was pretty much a constant breeze all day so it never got unbearable.

After a buttered biscuit for breakfast, and CFA sandwich for lunch I really thought we'd get something different for dinner but it was CFA again. We've been to one camp out where they ordered pizza. Then about 10:00 p.m. it was nuggets and ice dream with all the toppings.

After that, they played the moving Facing the Giants which is a REALLY GOOD MOVIE! We had the opportunity to see it at the First 100 at the Truett's in Griffin but chose to hit the sack instead. After I heard how good it was I was disappointed. This time, we watched the movie!

As night fell the XBox came out with games being played on the BIG screen.

There was a final "line check" [that is where they pretty much call roll to make sure everybody is still there and nobody has dropped out or left the premises] about 12:45 a.m.

THEN, we hit the sack and I slept pretty good for about 4 hours on the FULL SIZE air mattress, with my old army sleeping bag and a pair of ear plugs.

They woke us up around 4:30 a.m. and let us pack up our stuff and TAKE IT TO OUR CAR across the street. WooHoo! That's the first First 100 Camp out we've been to where they let you go to your car and take your stuff BEFORE they open at 6:00 a.m. and give you your free coupons. It makes good sense though, because at the others we've been scrambling to try to get our stuff out of the parking lot and to our car while the store opens up and people are pulling into the drive thru trying to order -- a REAL NIGHTMARE and potential deadly situation, especially accounting for all of the small children that are usually there -- A LOT yesterday and I can only imagine that next month in Smyrna [it begin summer and all] there will only be more!

All in all it was an EXCELLENT camp out and we'll do it again -- June 20, South Cobb Parkway, Smyrna. Mark your calendar -- we'll be there EARLY!