Raven's Roads
Living an interesting life: the travels and musings
of motorcycling author Linda R. Moore

May 1, 2004

16 April: Book-Crossers, Reno, and Cheese

Filed in BX Convention 2004, Book Crossing

As we walked into the hotel, and were getting signed in, a telephone call came in for me. I was a bit mind-boggled: who would be calling me? I was handed the phone and a voice tentatively asked, “Can I speak to Linda Moore…” I said, chuckling, “It’s me!” and it turned out to be Shendoah…she had just got in and was trying to find out where I was!
Talk about spectacular timing…

We went at once to hang out: Shen, Tzurriz and Jason all in Shen’s room. Shen had discovered that the TV made magical internet noises, but after paying her magical ten dollars discovered that it was a) monstrously slow and b) very unwieldy. We sat there and cracked up as she failed dismally to get the drop-down bar to select anything like “St. Louis” for her release alerts. We also laughed at ourselves for being so excited about the presence of TV internet in the first place. As Shendoah put it, “What a bunch of geeks!” Even if the reality just didn’t live up to the idea.

Finally it was time to go down to the bar for the initial meet-up. I decided that I would be much nicer to know if I took a shower, so I took a detour. I noticed that a little stream of books had started to appear in the corridor, placed strategically on coffee tables.

A word about the hotel at this stage: it really was pretty classy, much classier than I’m used to, and I liked it very much. The artwork on the walls was, at times, a bit peculiar (like the picture of Mt. Vesuvius or something exploding with people running away shielding their heads - very relaxing, that one) - but everything was glass and brass and shiny stuff. And nice little bottles in the bathroom and fluffy towels, and little coffee tables with flowers/ornaments. Can you tell I don’t go to this kind of thing often?

Clean and showered, and much nicer to be around, I made my way down to the bar. There I saw more Book Crossers than I’ve ever seen at once, and was greeted unanimously with smiles and grins. A lady I later learnt was “The Wheelbarrow” reached out and gave me a lovely custom nametag that she’d made, with the schedule on the back and my state flag on the front; this came in very handy over the next few days. Names and faces were thrown around; for the first time I met mojosmom, who is about the most elegant lady I have seen in a long time, and if I ever reach half that elegance in my lifetime I’ll be doing well.

As it turned out, conversation was kind of hard to hold in more than the immediate space around you. There was a lot of noise! I couldn’t reach around to meet anyone properly, really, so kind of hoped for a quieter environment somewhat later.

A bit after I arrived, there was a sudden round of applause, and of course Ron, Bruce and Heather walked in. They were a bit taken aback, and pleased, and awww shucksy, but they took it in their stride. They are, after all, the Book Crossing heroes!

They were nice enough to do the rounds, meeting everyone, and there’s a nice picture of me about to shake Ron’s hand, which is about the closest I got to having a conversation with him all weekend! But I did appreciate that gesture and effort to meet everyone, if only to get a name/user name and smile.

A few of us had established that we’d go out and eat fondue this evening, down in the Loop again (I think that Shendoah saw it while we were driving through, or something). This was beyond my budget, but Shen offered to treat me, and I said okay but she had to let me treat her when I had enough money to be lavish again. She said sure, and thus a deal was
struck. :-)

We went out in convoy. As best I can remember, here’s who came: thewheelbarrow, grover3d, First-Noel, me, Tzurriz, Shendoah, Marina, and Jason.

I have bad seating karma. Being introverted and not particularly pushy in real life, I need to be somewhere where I don’t have to shout to be heard. I just find it exhausting to make that extra effort, I can’t help it. Unfortunately I usually end up in a corner, even though I’m aware of the problem and try to figure it out. This time I sat in the middle but suddenly ended up scooting over for reasons totally unrelated to my thinking brain. Gah! So I never really got a chance to talk to anyone
other than Shendoah, Tzurriz and Jason, except maybe in semaphore.

Still, one communicates, and I could listen, and I still had a good time.

So, for the record, this is what one does with fondue.

A well-dressed, good-looking young man comes and explains what it’s all about. It sounds complicated. Two people who’ve done this all before explain to us what it’s about, make suggestions, and so things are decided.

Rule #1 when fondueling: have people with you who know about fondue.

The good-looking young man turns on the strange widget on the table which happens to be a built-in heater. Pots are added, and after a while, the pots begin to steam.

Rule #2: don’t touch the pots. That steam’s there for a reason. (No, nobody did.)

Young man shows up with cheese. Dumps cheese into pots, adds flavourings, stirs like crazy. Does both simultaneously. All present are happy with such grand cheese entertainment.

Rule #3… oh, forget it. Let’s just eat some cheese.

Platters of stuff to dip in were provided. The stuff included bread cubes, apples, and many things which don’t seem to have lodged in my memory. Each person sitting at the table and fondueling has a set of prongs with a differently-coloured handle. These colours are important for later.

You prong a small hapless piece of food, dunk it in the molten cheesy goodness, twirl, and munch.

It takes a long time. It tastes good. Conversation suddenly quietens down as this kind of eating is concentration-intensive. Bits of stuff disappear into the pot and are fished for.

When we’re all cheesed out, the young man comes back and replaces these pots with other pots. Various stocks are poured in, and, again, recipes are created before our very eyes.

Platters of meat, fish and veges come our way. We are told cooking times for the meat. I recently fell off the wagon from not eating meat since January, and found the meat way too rich and not to my taste. I ate some, but found the spuds and squash and other veges jot the spot much better. This is where those coloured prongs are important. You dunk the item you are cooking in, wait, and talk. The colour alerts you to which prong to grab when you think it’s ready.

The whole meal took three hours. It was a unique experience, a first for me, and I did enjoy it, though I found myself truly exhausted by the end. The company was grand, the food very tasty, and I had a fun time. I was also very, very glad to find my way to bed afterwards, where it took me, oh, maybe ten seconds to fall asleep. ;-)