This is a long post - sorry folks. Feel free to skip it if you don't feel like reading about my Road Trip to Michigan....
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Wow - what an AWESOME road trip. I left home in York, PA at 8:00 Friday morning with my Glasco slider loaded up and the rented cargo van pointed West.
I stopped on the way to pick up a sweet Pepsi 81 for Slider-Bob (Upright-Bob?) just outside of Altoona PA and hit Ken's house just inside Ohio in the mid-afternoon.
I dropped off my Glasco for Ken to have a look at - it just wasn't getting cold enough. We exchanged pleasantries for a while and I saw Ken's collection including his wife's awesome phone booth.
I continued on in the early evening - still pointed West and made it about 2 hours before I got a call on my cell from Ken. My Glasco slider's cooling woes were fixed already. Chalk it up to a bad fan and some crispy wiring. Awesome!
Continued north-west to Okemos MI about 9:00 Friday night. I called Pat to let him know I arrived and to arrange a time to meet in the morning. To my surprise Pat offered to drive over to my hotel and pick me up to grab a beer and a bit to eat. I have a bad habit of not stopping to eat if I'm in the middle of something, so as it turned out I hadn't eaten anything since a pack of Tastykakes at about 10:00 that morning. We grabbed some grub at a local sports bar and worked out the logistics for the next day. I emailed Slider-Bob to let him know the timing of everything for the next day.
The next day was COLD and yep, snowing. I left home in PA with mid-70's weather and woke up to mid 30's and snow. Welcome to Michigan!
By the time I got to Pat's house, Bob was already there. We spent some time fawning over my awesome Ideal slider - seriously great work Pat! - and picked up the V-59 I bought from Bob about 6 months earlier. Pat was kind enough to store it in his garage for me until my slider was done. We loaded everything into my van and the 81 into Bob's ride.
Next we took a little side trip to pick up a slider for Bob that was only about 15 minutes from Pat's house. It was in the basement of an older house with a small staircase, but Pat and I were able to pretty easily carry it up the steps.
Side trip on the way back to Pat's house. We stopped at Cravings - an awesome gourmet popcorn and soda shop. Met the owner, who apparently is a fan of my Ideal slider, and picked up a selection of flavored popcorn and some interesting sodas.
After a stop for lunch, back to Pat's to load up Bob's slider into my van and Bob and I headed to his place, which is actually on the way back east for me. Dropped off Bob's 81 and his new slider acquisition. I got to see the SWEET Coke 81 that Pat restored for Bob, along with his awesome jukebox.
I hit Ken's house around 8:30 last night to pick up my repaired Glasco. Ken had it plugged in and man it gets COLD. There was a small layer of ice on the rack.
Made it home to PA at around 2:00 this morning with no issues. I'll be unloading the van later this afternoon and will post some in-house pictures of everything.
It was really a pleasure to meet Ken, Pat and Bob IRL (that's In Real Life in Internet-speak) and see so many cool machines. Standing in the swirling snow at Pat's it really felt like Christmas for me as I picked up my gorgeous Ideal slider and the sweet original V59. I am already looking forward to my next trip, and hope to make it to Chicago in November for the big show.
Thanks guys!
Jim
