[SEL] Portland and Buckley Reflections

[Mike Royster]

I am thankful that you continue to make the trip, enjoy our country and 
content,  and accept us in spite of ourselves!  Thanks for your comments, 
pictures and videos.  You do us proud.

Mike Royster


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Listerdiesel" <listerdiesel at gmail.com>
To: <SEL at lists.stationary-engine.com>; "Stationary-Engine" 
<stationary-engine at oldengine.org>
Sent: Wednesday, August 27, 2008 9:07 AM
Subject: [SEL] Portland and Buckley Reflections


> Having had a decent bit of sleep and a chance to reflect on the
> previous two weeks' activities, I thought about a few notes for future
> trips.
>
> Travelling was fine with no major problems, fuel was reasonably priced
> (for us) and our hire car was quite up to the job. Our only real
> problems were at Heathrow on our return.
>
> Buckley was a very good show from any perspective. There was much more
> variety than we were used to, and much more in the way of alternative
> interests on show, such as the steam shed, the oilfield engine shed,
> the woodworking shop, the sawmill and the Prony Brake. As the club
> owns all the land it is much easier for them to have fixed exhibits
> than the shows that use other facilities.
>
> There were also places to sit and rest, without buying something. Most
> important for us old 'uns that need to take it a little more easily
> than before! The lack of seats or benches at Portland has always been
> something we have commented on.
>
> Travelling down south between the shows we had a look at the USS
> Silversides submarine at Muskegon, and we were able to reflect how
> well the USA does its visitor attractions, and this goes for the USS
> Pampanito in SFO as well.
>
> Portland was everything it ever was, and we found more engines that we
> hadn't seen before. Being almost 'regulars' now, we were able to talk
> with many people who we had seen before and catch up with most of the
> ATIS gang. We didn't seem to have as much time on our hands this year
> for some reason, possibly because of the  extra pictures and videos
> that we took while walking round.
>
> The Charity Auction was fun, and thanks to everyone who was involved,
> we always look forward to the dinner and auction as part of the whole
> Portland show.
>
> One comment we would like to make, is that the arrangement with the
> separate back room that we had last year worked better in our view
> than having it in the main room. This is more obvious when you look at
> the videos, the background noise from the other diners is too high,
> and masks out a lot of what is being said in the auction area. We are
> editing the videos as I write, and we should be able to start posting
> them soon.
>
> This isn't a criticism per se, just an observation. We both felt that
> items might have sold better/higher priced if the descriptions had
> been clearer to those watching. Dick did a good job as auctioneer in
> our view.
>
> We almost called back Saturday morning as we had missed our good byes
> on Friday, but in the end we decided to carry on with our arrangements
> as we still had quite a few things left to do before we went home.
>
> Guns and Brits don't often mix, but we had a real blast with Jim & Jan
> Dunmyer on the Monday. Jim had bought a new handgun, a Ruger LCP,
> which he had to wait for as there was an order backlog. We went with
> Jim to Cabelas huge store at Dundee MI to collect the gun, and saw for
> ourselves the paperwork and checks that he had to go through before he
> could actually pay for the gun. Then he had to take it to the
> Sheriff's office to have it safety checked as well!
>
> Back at Jim's place we had an impromptu shooting session with the new
> gun, plus three others including a .45 (with reduced charges in the
> bullets)  Very interesting!  Then Jim asked Rita if she wanted a go,
> and she did.... very surprised indeed!  Rita also shot them
> single-handedly while I had both hands on the gun when I fired.
>
> I think Rita was less concerned than I was at actually shooting the
> guns, and she tried three out of four if I remember correctly. The .45
> was easiest to handle for me, as it had a full-sized handgrip and
> being heavier than Jim's carry guns it absorbed more of the recoil
> than the little ones. One of the guns was a real animal, it had a very
> light frame and kicked quite viciously, didn't like that at all.
>
> All too soon it was airport time and we were at Detroit checking our
> luggage and hire car. We had bought a load of stuff, including a
> cylinder head for the Onan W3S, a 4" thick Kohler manual set and other
> stuff including tools and presents. Fortunately Northwest's check-in
> didn't look at the weights of the bags.
>
> Flight home was quicker than scheduled, we landed at 06.46am, but we
> hit delays and problems at Heathrow. Our son was in the locality on
> time and we were out of the airport and on the way home in the morning
> rush hour by 08.05am. Home just before 10.30am and after a quick visit
> to the factory, we both crawled into bed, we had been awake for just
> on 24 hours continuously, apart from a catnap on the plane.
>
> Thanks to everyone for the great hospitality, especially Jim & Jan,
> and for making our trip so enjoyable, of the five trips we have made
> to Portland, this one was the best!
>
> Peter & Rita
> -- 
> Peter A Forbes
> Email: listerdiesel at gmail.com
> http://www.oldengine.org/members/diesel
> http://stationary-engine.co.uk
> http://www.oldengine.co.uk
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