CAPTIVE IN COVENTRY



Reports from behind the lines in the Coventry 'Green-Zone'



Day 1 - Wednesday
Day 2 - Thursday
Day 3 - Friday
Day 4 - Saturday
Day 5 - Sunday AM

Greetings from behind the lines.

THE SUNDAY FESTIVAL AUG 15:
THE CAMPSITE - WALKING THE PERIMETER

I entered the campsite and was greeted with a spectacle
unlike anything Coventry has ever seen. Acres upon
acres of cars, vans, tents and people spread out over
the fields.




I decided to take a walk around the perimeter of the
campsite. One thing that has intrigued me this whole
week is whether or not it is possible to walk through the
woods from our house to the campsite. I had cautioned a
number of Phishheads looking for a shortcut from RT. 5
over the past few days that if they tried it, they might
meet up with a chain link fence, Phish Security, or even
worse, my Freaked out neighbors.



The first thing I encountered on my perimeter walk
was this dead car. Evidence of the muddy catastrophe
that we'd been hearing about. Down around the entrance
the path was full of mud bogs. 4x8 plywood boards left
abandoned in the mud attested to the dire straits some
Phishheads found themselves in and the expensive lengths
people were going through to save their mudbound cars.




Further up the hill on drier ground, the first water
station with happy campers taking showers and brushing teeth.




I walked for another 15 minutes deep into the campsite
and finally realized that the barrier between the
campsite and the outside world was one of those orange
flexible plastic fences. If you were sneaking in from
the woods all you had to do was avoid this mobile security
detail and then hop over the fence. In fact the fence
had been stomped down in a number of places and a few
tents were even setup on the outside. So much for fears
of an iron barrier. Intrepid souls (like our Johnson, VT
compatriots) were ultimately rewarded for their
determination to make a dramatic ticketless entrance.




So now my curiosity was really peaked. Where I wondered
was the farthest point down along the fence where
I could actually make a jump off point into the woods
and find my way back home. This wasn't just an idle
intellectual endeavor as it was currently a 6 mile walk
over pavement back to my house. As the afternoon sun
continued to beat down the idea of a woodland shortcut
became more and more inviting.




I continued on along the fence and finally came to
this wide open area of unoccupied, unmuddy, perfectly
dry camping space. And there way down at the end was
a break in the trees, the golden path back home.
Strange that such a perfect area of the campsite
should be so deserted with only 1 tent and a vehicle.
I headed over to get a better look at the exit way and
to make sure that I could get my bearings once I went
through to the other side.



















It soon became quite obvious why there were no happy
campers in this area of the site. Someone was trying to
scare the bejeebers out of any Phishheads who were even
thinking about trying to explore the surrounding land.
It seems to me like this was only a tongue-in-cheek
Phishland Security scare tactic but it sure seemed to work.






THE CAMPSITE - PLUNGING INTO THE INTERIOR