Thanks...This rendezvous stuff I mentioned was something for people liking the 1820 to 1840 fur trade era period.Buckskinning!!!!!Smaller ones with friends are really nice but the bigger ones of 300 or more camps are really cool.Meet all kinds of different people.Different types of shelters and see the things that they make.Learn a lot of things.The barter system is used there too for exchanging items.I remember exchanging a coyote hide I had tanned for an extra teepee pole once.We were all called traders.Met John Mcpherson at the New Ulm rendezvous in Minnesota.He was boiling meat in a deer skin pot on a tripod with hot rocks.Quite a fella.Very diverse in skills.Very good bow maker himself.
I got into it because I liked fur,being a coon hunter.Living by South Dakota led me to adopt the Siouw or Cheyenne influences.Geometric beadwork and quillwork too.Really cool at these big camps where there is the smell of smoke every where.Lots of activities like the hawk and knife throw,muzzle loader shooting,and nowadays bow shooting too.A family type event.They did'nt have the bow part when I was into it,but I quess they do now.
Just mentioning this in case someone has'nt been to these things and just remembering how it was.A person can be gone every weekend going to rendezvous if they want.It becomes a life style.