Chapter 2

Several hours into the trip we pulled into a rest area to give ourselves and the dogs a chance to stretch our legs. "How much longer do you expect this to take" Meg asked as she walked back to check the horses.

"About three more hours I'd think. We should have time to unload the horses and get camp set up but we should probably eat before we get there" I replied as we walked back to the dog exercise area giving them a chance to do their business.

"I wonder how much of the inn will be done when we get there. I thought it was supposed to be done according to the project plan Martin gave us but he was rather vague on how the schedule was running." Meg mused

"Well we can hope, if it's up then we won't need to unpack the camping gear just yet as there is supposed to be enough room for us and the other people scheduled to be with us over the summer" I responded. "Ready to go?" at her nod we begin loading up the dogs. "Grab my tablet before we take off please. I'm pretty sure that there's a copy of the project plan saved on it." I ask climbing into the truck.

Muttering as she pulled the tablet out of my backpack in the back floorboard "If you had gotten the new truck we would have had room to put this in the console you know. OK the most recent copy of the plan on here is a month old but shows the Inn 'should' be done and stable framed."

I knew it was useless to try and defend our long serving truck. At over ten years old all of which were spent on a working farm it had its share of dents and dings. Meg also knew the ride was more a result of the beefed up suspension than age. "If that's accurate we can probably get the stable finished and the smithy done in the first few weeks. Depending on how much help shows up we might sneak into town and get some modern tools to use when there are no visitors around to help speed up things that it won't show up on. The hardest parts are going to be the stone foundations. Even with a good stone mason around it's a lot of work to collect and transport the stone."

"Well one of the first couples, well family really the husband is a stone mason, the wife and daughter are going to be in charge of the kitchen at the inn. I expect we are going to be wishing for a couple mules or oxen in short order though. Our horses can pull a cart but they are not built to pull the weight a lode of stone represents. There are two other couples listed, both men have experience building timber frame structures. Of their ladies one is a weaver the other I think is a basket maker." She stated looking up from the tablet. The next few hours passed and brought us to the small town near our destination. "Well there's a big box warehouse store with a farm supply right next door. There should be a grocery store somewhere close too." She pointed out as we passed them.

"Look for somewhere you want to pick up dinner from we're only about 15 min from the site." I told her, taking note of the stores present and what if anything we might want to collect from there. "Depending on how what we find at the sight we may come back in the morning and stock up. I'd like to keep trips into town at a minimum" I said pulling into the chicken place she pointed out to me. Meg jumped out to go in and order as I pulled around back to get as much out of the way as we could.

Setting the bags between us as she climbed back in she announced "I got probably way to many strips and some sides figuring if there are others already there we can share if not I see four drooling mouths that will help us finish it off" we made the rest of the trip in relative silence. Pulling into the clearing we saw a suburban as well as a new crossover style SUV that looked more at home in a suburban garage than the woods parked in front of what must be the inn its accompanying stable. "Look honey at least one of the other families is here, the crossover I think is Martins." She exclaimed. Pulling up near the stables we saw Martin and who we guessed were the Mason family coming out of the inn.

As we climbed out of the truck letting the dogs out as we did, Martin hailed us "Well as you can see we got a little more done than expected. The Inn and stable are both complete and the foundation for the smithy is already laid out." Motioning to the family standing with him "I would like to introduce you to the Mason family. This is Carl he is responsible for the stone work being so far ahead of schedule. His wife Betty will help keep you all fed and their daughter Kate here while not an official part of the team has been helping out as needed."

Reaching out to shake Carl's hand I tell them "Good to meet you all. I hope you all haven't fixed dinner yet Meg bought out the chicken place on the way in. Carl, if you would give me a hand getting the horses out and settled and let the ladies see about getting dinner laid out" Seeing that the ladies were no longer paying us any attention wrapped up in their own conversations we got the stock unloaded and put into the corral giving them a chance to stretch and get a drink. Looking into the stable I saw two of the biggest jacks I'd ever seen as well as several pairs of oxen.

"Most of the mules are in the back pasture with a handful of draft mares. The jacks and oxen just came in this morning and we haven't had a chance to do much with them" He told me brightening the outlook for hauling stone and logs needed to complete the village as planned. "It seems that Martin wanted to breed some of the stock that would be used if this really were the middle ages. Hell there's even a couple of milk cows that are about to come fresh. After dinner I figure Martin will give you the grand tour.

Walking back to the inn we enter the common room to see a buffet laid out with the chicken and fixings as well as what looked to be fresh loaves of bread. "Looks great ladies" I said as we dug into our meal. Conversation over the meal was light giving us a chance to get to know one another over a meal and a pitcher of ale produced from some yet unknown location.

As the conversation waned Martin stood announcing "Let me give you a tour of the facilities here." Leading us into the large kitchen area we could see a large hearth two ovens built into corners and plenty of counter space, iron and ceramic pots. A short hallway off of the kitchen teed off one branch leading to the Mason's apartment and the other to the basement store rooms. Climbing down the stairs I was surprised to see a huge store room with modern refrigeration equipment and a smaller room chilled by a spring. Back on the main floor an office area was hidden in a small room off of the common room, a library and what we were told would be our apartment "We knew we would have to provide modern facilities like this office so that there were means of communication to the mundane world. Here in the inn you will find modern plumbing and electrical service hidden away. When we have guests, not that I expect them this year all mundane items should be hidden away. The electrical service and phone lines were brought in underground. There is a natural gas powered generator that is more than capable of supplying the inn that we decided to put in after finding gas during the process of digging the well here closest to the inn. Its behind the inn hidden in what looks like a spring house. Upstairs are 8 more apartments, each with their own bathroom and two large barracks type rooms with a communal bath and bunk beds for 20 people. Each apartment has a bedroom, bathroom and a private seating area. We want you to be comfortable here because I expect that you will all be working your asses off getting the rest of the place built." He told us as our tour of the inn concluded.

Heading out to our truck Meg asked me what I thought so far. "Well so far it looks almost too good to be true. I can't imagine how much money has been spent getting to this point. I do think we need to work with Betty planning a trip into town to fill the pantry and head into the feed store and stock up on feed because we have a bunch of critters here and they are going to be working hard. I do intend to get some modern logging tools and a few drums of gasoline. Most of the logs we for this year's building have already been cut and dried but there is still an awful lot of timber that needs cut be it for firewood and future building. Better to do it now when no one will notice us using chain saws in place of cross cut saws to fell and buck the trees." I told her as we started carrying in our personal items. Fortunately our apartment had a private entrance leading to the back of the inn and a wattle kennel that the dogs could be kept in when needed. Deciding to leave crafting items and camping gear in the trailer for now we returned to the common room to find Carl gone and the Mason's sitting at a table quietly talking. After asking if they minded we joined their discussion. "Betty, do you have an idea of what food stuffs you need to fill the pantry? I expect keeping us all fed will be challenging enough without finding out you don't have some ingredient or another? Also Carl if you would help me come up with a list of all the animal feed we need to stockpile. I expect we will be working the stock pretty hard the next couple months and I want to make sure they are well fed."I looked to Betty for her reply first.