Big thanks and hugs to Tom and Donnie!
Wow! What a great time I had. I was only there for about 48 hours and it was vacuuming fun with new and old friends.
Tom and Donnie were so generous to have opened their home, their business, give their time and feed us as well. I got there mid Friday afternoon and things were in full swing. I met so many new vacuum collectors that were totally welcoming. We went out to dinner Friday night at, "The Sirloin Stockade", for a great meal with good serivce.
After dinner, we reconvened at Tom and Donnie's house for vacuum fellowship and fun. The conversations were all over the map about vacuums, old cars, cooking, appliances, travel, etc. It was great. Contrary to what some may think, there was no drunkeness, out of control behavior and no one stayed too late. Whatever issues may have existed in the past were long forgotten. Someone even apologized for drama they may have created years ago. I was quite moved and amazed by this.
On Saturday things started early as the contest was schedulled to begin at 9:30. Tom generously asked me to judge the contest as I had a lot of previous experience. We moved along at a nice pace and shortly after 12 noon we were announcing the winners. Around 2 PM it was off to Tom and Donnie's for the most amazing lunch of pulled pork barbecue that Tom cooked complete with North Carolina and Memphis based sauces for drizzling!! Sides were great potato salad, cole slaw and Tom's homemade Mexican street corn.............my mouth is still watering.
I was so sated that I did not have any desserts but I saw several mouth watering homemade pies created by Tom and Bob Clow. We spent the afternoon playing with Tom's personal collection of vacuums. During this time folks milled around the house, garage and front lawn talking about all sorts of things.
I left around 8:30 PM for my hotel as I had to leave early to catch a flight out of St. Louis on Sunday morning. I left on a wonderful, "vacuum high", and a lot of new friends.
I want to thank both Tom and Donnie for being just great. The amazing about Tom is that he let all of us play with ANY vacuum in the museum and some folks used some of them in the contest! I know how guarded we tend to be with our vacuums so this was a unique experience and a first for me. So thanks Tom!
I look forward to being there next year and arrive earlier and leave later!
PS--and Tom was correct: Adam Mercer was the "boy Friday", that helped run a convention in every way a person can help run a convention!