I’m suffering from a sort of delayed drive lag today. Considering that my trip to Stromsburg, Nebraska was eight road hours either way, nearly 1,000 miles all told, I came home feeling surprisingly vigorous. I gauge my depletion by how hard it is to unload Mrs. Hermanson, my Chevy Tracker, when I get home, and it wasn’t too bad. Today I’m kind of dragging my feet and taking extra time to make simple decisions, like “Shall I zip up my trousers or not?” but all in all I came away with a good feeling.

Stromsburg, Nebraska calls itself “the Swede capital of Nebraska.” In spite of this, I saw no actual acts of violence committed against Norwegians during my time there. This was their annual Swedish Festival, and in my opinion it was a very impressive one, especially for a community of that size. They generally have a Viking encampment as part of the festivities, and I gather this year they tried to make it an extra large and impressive one. Unfortunately Viking attendance was down. On the upside, they had me.

I set up my awning in the shade of a tall hedge (you can see it to the left in the picture), and sold books and did some leather tooling. Sales weren’t bad. I also did a PowerPoint lecture at the public library on Saturday afternoon, which was fairly well attended. It was a new lecture I’d never done before, and as far as I’m concerned it was a success. If you know otherwise, please keep it to yourself.

Here’s a Viking fight show, done by the same Skjaldborg guys you saw in the video Phil posted on Friday—all framed by Sam Shoults‘s Viking boat, Yrsa.

I should also add a plug for Spindle, Shuttle, & Needle, the shop in Stromsburg run by Kelsey Quandt, who invited me to the festival. She is an actual, degreed scholar in historical costume, and sews fine outfits at what I consider pretty reasonable prices.

Also thanks to Kelsey’s parents, who provided bed and board.

And Skjaldborg.

I stayed a little longer than I planned on Sunday, and so drove home with minimal stops, subsisting on peanuts, water, and a small chocolate malt I got at a Dairy Queen.

Thanks to all the people of Stromsburg for making it a very pleasant weekend.