Fighting the Civil War, Eating BBQ, and Going Back to the 60s

Saturday and Sunday, I helped man the Camp Douglas Sons of Confederate Veterans tent at the Lakewood Forest Preserve in Wauconda, Illinois, for the 18th annual Civil War Days. Camp Douglas was an infamous prison in Chicago where over 6,000 Confederates died after being incarcerated there.

We did quite well in the recruiting area, with three new members (remember, it's not easy recruiting behind enemy lines) and about six possibles. Plus, I was happy to hear the Confederation in Illinois might be growing two more camps, one in Rockford and another in Peoria.

I saw two battle re-enactments and definitely had to keep an eye out where you walked because of all the horses.

Saturday evening, Camp Douglas had a fantastic barbecue out at Compatriot Mark's farm west of Marengo. And then, there was that smoother-than-smooth "recipe" moonshine which we all enjoyed. One of the member's daughters did not know what a live turkey looked like (well, city gal, you know). These turkeys were descendants of the ones the Pilgrims brought.

I will have more about Civil War Days in my Civil War Blog: http://sawtheelephant.blogspot.com


SUNDAY: THE WAR AND THE BAND

Sunday, I was back there again, and after breaking camp, Liz and I went to Peterson Park in McHenry for Fiesta Days and saw the 1960s-1970s band, Berwyn's Pride and Joy, the Ides of March, who had hits with "You Wouldn't Listen," "LA Goodbye," and "Vehicle."

Then, member Jim Peterik had success writing with .38 Special and Survivor and especially the huge hit "Eye of the Tiger."

Really good show and worth the $5 to get in.

I'll write more about the show in this blog.

Having My War and Music Too. --RoadDog