Well, that can best be described as a whirlwind trip, with significant fanny fatigue from U.S. 80! Sucker's endless!
But with Rob spelling me at the wheel on the way out (and doing the navigational chores the entire way), we raised Pittsburgh in under nine hours… weather was great! sunny and in the mid-70°s… and immediately hit the floor of the main exhibit area. Saw a lotta people I know in the industry… most of whom had been at SHOT, and got Rob introduced to some chemicals contacts for his next metals testing exercise.
Then 'bout a half hour before they threw us all out, we hear a screeching "Deeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaannnn!" and there was Bane and his crew (but not the Amazonian protective detail, sad to relate)… in my frantic final day preparations to get outta here, I missed his post that he was gonna be there, so that was a nice surprise.
Unfortunately he had sold out and accepted a dinner invite that evening from a former Editor who'd also sold out and gone with a gun company some years ago, so ultimately Rob and I were left to our own devices… a couple of swells loose in Steeltown for the evening, looking for Jennifer Beals and the Flashdancing bar… we settled for a excellent ribs joint with $2.00 Yuengling on tap, some great draught hard cider, and lotsa large screen TVs on which to watch the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Hit the Convention Center for the Members' meeting, which was most interesting… while several of the speakers helped me catch up on some ZZZs (literally), and ILA Executive Director Chris Cox has got a lot to learn, President Kayne Robinson was pretty good, and that cute-as-a-button pint-sized dynamo 1st V.P. Sandy Fromen was sensational! Someone else who was most effective, and affecting, was the meeting's oldest Life Member (fourth year running!), 98-year-old Claude from Wisconsin, and the guy looks like he could go on forever.
Sad news, though… a good friend of Sam's and mine, Jim Nicholson, one of the original dotcom SSBBers, failed in his re-election bid to the Board, probably because of his outspoken condemnation of one of his fellow Texan "Winning Teamers," Sue King. But Rob and I caught up with Jim right after we'd voted for him as the 76th Director, the one-year term "Director at Large," and he was all right with the results, and told us that the guy who was going to win that seat (Dailey, I think his name is) was a good man and deserving of election.
I took some photos… including ones of a new Sturm Ruger (CeePee… got to visit some with Chris Killoy… there's a regular S&W Foreign Legion there, it seems) compact, the P345: nice size, much slimmer than any other P-series guns, and the same if not worse horrendous DA trigger! Also snapped one of the Springfield XD in .45 G.A.P.! Proof positive!
Also got one of one of the numerous signs all over the place advising that anyone attending last evening's banquet to hear Cheney speak would be passing though a magnetometer!
More later, and undoubtedly from both Rob (who's now determined to attend SHOT '05 in Las Vegas 28-31 January) and Bane, as well!
