Ah , In my younger days tyhe road always called ! I was so obsessed with Arizona I visited the Grand Canyon State five times one winter ,in the 1980s . Now I dread travelling , but business calls . Despite a dying transmission , I set out for Narrow Gauge Convention Monday , August 30 . It was incredibly hot most of this trip . 108 degrees in Needles ,the nadir of Southwest travel . I made it to Tehachapi about 7:30 and picked up a hotel room . The lady at the desk was beautiful and demure - and the first woman I had seen all day that was not sporting any bad tatoos ! The next day I ducked though the Coast Range through the beautiful Cholame Hills - more about this unique California backwater later . I spent the night with John and Veronica Bush near Felton .
The next day was all hard work-the set-up and first night of the Narrow Gauge Convention at Santa Clara . The venue was huge , with over 300 vendors .I saw my colleague Jan Rons in shorts ,and asked him when he was going to get a neck-to-ankle dragon tatoo .I need not explain his answer ! Unfortunately as a vendor I had no chance to enjoy the excellent clinics on all kinds of narrow gauge railroading that are offered at these shows . Nevertheless , the show was a successful one for me personally . The next day my brother Brian flew in for the day from LA . He is a closet railfan ,but no foamer like his big brother , thank the Good Lord . We went to Roaring Camp with a friend and customer, Dr. Ron Ronsenquist . Both the "Dixiana" (2-truck Shay) and the "Tuolumne" (Heisler) were running . Special treat was John Bush fired up and demonstrated the Kahuku ,a Baldwin 0-4-2 . John was going to give me a ride ,but he was basically doing three jobs at once that day . The show itself was very good with the usual new products . Kit-makers were doing real well . I bought a few myself , including a little something for Floppo , as well as a perfect green-enamel Union Pacific spittoon for the Coker Collection . It's hard to believe but pre-World War II America was slpping and sliding on a sea of brown tobacco juice (yuk). The show had very little in the way of old brass locomotives for sale . I saw hardly any HOn3 or even On3(e-Bay is said to have dried up the for-sale brass at shows) . Though fun to look at ,there was simply too much large scale brass . The consensus among exhibitors was that the crowd was in no mood to spend a nickel over $1000 .I found this true as the only big painting I brought did not sell . Driving around Silicon Valley , though the telecom biz is making a modest comeback ,there are plenty of empty buildings, casualties of a big bust, a long recession and changing times . Friday Dr. Ronsenquist and I went to Ardenwood and rode the "Deanna" ,a lovingly restored Baldwin 0-4-2 smaller than the "Kahuku" but also hailing from the north shore of Oahu . The Bay Area is famous for its excellent model railroads ,but I saw only one - a beautiful Sn3 Westside layout in San Bruno . The final day was the usual flurry of last-minute sales and a quick tear-down . Jim Vail , Eric Bracher , Charlie Getz, Bob Brown and Company did an excellent job organizing this show . While shows are exhausting for exhibitors , it is wonderful to visit with longtime friends and be part of one of the best fellowships in the world , narrow gauge fans and modellers . Next , it was off to Napa ,to visit friends and some more (mis)adventures for El Coke .
