Back from NOAC and the Tradeorees.....

Hi Scouters!!

Wow!! What a Weekend!!

I finally got meet John Pannell....I was expecting this really tall
guy with balding hair (like me) and there was John...standing
there, getting ready to scan more CSPs and flaps. I was hoping
that we would have had more time to get some coffee and talk, but
both he and I was busy doing "our things" on the last day of the
NOAC pre-tradeoree....

Jessi later said to me "He's shorter than you are, honies!" as she
smiled. This was to be our big Scouting trip before her new job
search and our trip NEXT WEEK to Minnesota.

(Yeah. Minnesota. Can't you all see how *excited* I am about
this?? *grinning from ear to ear*)

Jessi and I left town on Saturday noon; we were supposed to go to
Louisville to eat lunch with some old friends. They called early
Saturday (which got Jessi in her "let's go, honies!" mode
EARLY!!!!!) and told us that they wouldn't be able to meet us.

So, with boxes of patches, books, and uniforms in the trunk and
backseat of the car, we took off for lunch and then to get on the
road. We spent the night with Jessi's cousin (they have this
wonderful log house out in the middle of Illinois....its
wonderful!) and sat around and talked with them before leaving at
4am Sunday morning for Ames and the Tradeoree and NOAC.

On the way, we saw several OA members either riding or driving and
waved to them as we all moved our way westward.

In addition to seeing John from our list, I also got to talk again
with Bob Zadima, the former Scout Executive from the Transatlantic
Council. Bob's now retired, but he's still out there mixing it
with Scouters as he showed off his collection. Sure wished he had
the TAC segments as part of his collection. I guess I have the
largest segment collection now.

A couple folks I was expecting to talk with didn't show up; job
conflicts. Others that I thought would be there couldn't make it
because of the tougher "contingent standards" that the OA placed
upon its Lodges to attend this years' conference.

I also got to talk with a couple other Scouters while I was trading
patches and selling some of the boxes of stuff I brought with me.
Then, Kevin either noticed the lone Black man standing in the rows
of traders, collectors and dealers (or he noticed the German forest
ranger's hat I was wearing....) and came up and introduced himself.
It was really great to finally meet Kevin Koloff, after talking
with him electronically here on Scouts-L!!

We went over to the other dealer's site, but it was really, really
dead. There were only a few collectors and dealers there.

Finally, my day of trading and collecting ended at 5pm and Jessi
and I made our way back toward Kentucky an hour or so later.

We arrived back at the house at midnight last night and went to bed
an hour later.

A good trip....we enjoyed ourselves much, but as Jessi stated, it
sure would have been nicer to meet more Scouts-L people on this
trip....

Perhaps in the spring, maybe??

Settummanque!
(c) 1998 Mike Walton ("no such thing as strong coffee,...") (502) 827-9201
(settummanque, the blackeagle) http://dynasty.net/users/blkeagle
241 Fairview Dr., Henderson, KY 42420-4339 blkeagle@dynasty.net
privately at kyblkeagle@aol.com or waltonm@hq.21taacom.army.mil
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