On Wednesday morning, before we built carts, Harlo and I were up before everyone else. We talked about what we were going to do later in the day and we drew pictures of carts.

We discussed steering mechanisms, brakes, seats, the importance of the right wheels. We talked about how the frame of the cart had to be really stiff or it would sag in the middle and drag on the ground.

And we played tic-tac-toe.

Saturday – T minus 1 and counting. Special thanks to my good friends Tim Tumbleson, Matt Keveney, Paul Howett, and Stefan Schulz who gave up a whole day for cutting, sanding, stacking, and hauling.

Sunday – T minus 0 and counting. A day of last minute details and some fooling around. Now with improved video links.

Monday – Day 1. The building begins. We do chairs, chairs, and crazy contraptions.

Tuesday – Day 2. We said bridges and towers, and we meant it (looks like we’re having a little trouble with our new video solution, we’ll get the links working on this entry as soon as we can). Now co-captioned by Joss!

Wednesday – Day 3. Carts and tripod racers. There has been a request for some documentation of the dinner process, unfortunately we had a mish-mosh of left-overs tonight and it was deemed unphotogenic by all at hand. Tomorrow’s menu is salmon tacos, so standby for some photo highlights of that. Tomorrow is also the first day of our epic rollercoaster project. Given that we barely finished the carts before dusk today, there is some shared concern among the staff that we may not complete the coaster before Saturday…

Thursday – Day 4. Rollercoasters and mutiny. And, for those of you who wondered what we are eating, some delectable shots of our dinner. Hmm, two of the movie links are not working. I’ll try to get them up and running tomorrow.

Friday – Day 5. Maybe we could call this session “From Chairs to Rollercoasters in Five Days.” Actually, the rollercoaster isn’t quite done, but we’re close enough to taste it. We expect to put the finishing touches on in the morning tomorrow (but given the late hour, I have a feeling the instructor will be letting the Tinkerers take the lead).

Saturday – Yes, it’s rollercoaster day! This day will live forever in our hearts and minds, for we built the greatest rollercoaster in the history of the civilized world, and we built it with our own hands. The Tinkering School Class of 2005 will be known throughout the galaxy as the greatest builders of rollercoasters. At least, that’s how we see it. Alas, the video is trapped on the Mac and I still can’t get it sized and formatted correctly for web viewing – but I will.