GETTING IN AND AROUND

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An event the scale of the Gulf War is a good bit different from your average tournament.  Here are some things to consider in order to be ready:

Link to the Gulf War web site.

I.   Registration and Finding Your Campsite

Everyone has to sign in at the registration point, even those who pre-registered.  When you drive in you will go up a short slope.  At the top of the slope is a row of two-story buildings -- these are the camp offices and rental townhomes.  The registration point is in a shed that is to the left of, and slightly behind, the two-story buildings.  When you sign in and pay any fees that are still due, they will give you a site token and information booklet.  People who are pre-registered do not have to fill out the paperwork here, but they must sign the list and get their site tokens.
The land office is next to the registration building; at GW VII it was in a tent.  They will have a plastic-covered map showing the areas reserved for various groups.  If your group is not specifically named on that map, you will have to camp in one of the kingdom 'general' areas.  Link to site map.

II.    Getting Around

The Gulf War site is a lot bigger than most tournament locations.  Resign yourself to doing a lot of walking.  For fighters who don't have servants to carry their stuff, it would be a real good idea to take some kind of cart, like a kid's wagon, to haul your armor to and from the battlefield.
The far ends of the newest camping areas are more than half a mile from the fort.  There are a couple of horse-drawn wagons that the site owners provide for taxi service.  They make regular rounds but they're pretty slow, and they fill up quickly.  If you wind up in the outlying regions, you're going to stretch your legs each day.
The parking areas -- so near and yet so far.  Make sure you have unloaded everything from your vehicle before you park it.  The main parking area is near the entrance, as far from the camping areas as you can get and still be on site.  From the main parking area to the westernmost camp sites is over a mile by road.  The spare parking area is separated from the camping areas by only about 40 yards of woods and a loose barbed wire fence.  But at Gulf War VII, the only cleared path from the spare parking area to the rest of the site went from the south side of the parking lot to the main site road (called the Queen's Highway on the site map).  To get from the spare parking area to the northern camping areas, you could either take that path and then follow the roads for about a mile, or you could crash through the brush and climb over the fence.

III.   The Access Road

Yes, they will let people walk up the road to use the bathroom.  For those who have been driving all night, this is important.
Access is tight.  There is only one road to the site and it is just wide enough for two-way traffic if both drivers get way over.  The road is actually a causeway for about 50 yards -- it runs along the top of the earth dam that forms the lake just outside the site.
THE QUICKER WAY TO DO IT:  Even if you preregister you still have to sign in at the registration building when you arrive.  So, leave one person in the vehicle to move it when the traffic inches forward.  Have everyone else walk up to the registration building and sign up, pay their fees, get site maps, check at the land office to find out where your group campsite is, etc.  Then send someone back to relieve the driver so he can come sign up.
Access is controlled on the first day because the roads are narrow and there is limited parking at the registration building.  This is how it works:  the gate guards are in radio contact with other people who monitor and control the traffic flow at the site office.  They let in enough people to fill the parking spaces at the registration building.  When some of the parking opens up, the gate guard is told how many vehicles he can let through (a trailer counts as a vehicle because it takes a parking slot of its own).
There will be a long line on the first morning.  The gates officially open at 7:00 AM.  At Gulf War VII we made the last turn onto the road to the site about 9:00 AM, and there were what looked like about 60 vehicles ahead of us.  One lady I spoke with said she arrived at 7:30 and was number 40 in line at that time.  It took us more than 90 minutes to reach the gate.  Don't worry too much about the time getting through the gate; all the serious action starts the second day.
Take the access situation into account when you load for the trip.  Don't make the mistake of thinking you can drive in, drop your stuff, and then go hit the local stores to stock the ice chest.  The road is so busy that first day, once you get in you may have a problem getting back out before sundown.  Either load a lot of stuff at home, or stop in Lumberton and pick up what you need before you head for the site, but in any case make sure you arrive at the gate with enough supplies that you don't have to go shopping for a day or two.
The access road goes through a subdivision of private homes.  The people who live there may need to get in or out; try not to block the private driveways and please don't disturb the neighbors.  And yes, there really are trees growing in the middle of the access road.
The roadways are narrow and traffic moves clockwise.  In the main part of the site the lanes are pretty tight, and they're all one-way.  Traffic signs are posted telling drivers that all traffic goes clockwise, and they're serious.  In the outlying camping areas, the cleared roads are somewhat wider and two-way, but there are few places wide enough to turn around, so to get back out you will have to back and fill with your wheels off in the dirt.