Breyerfest....travel and Day 0.1
Well, OK, I think I got speed tracked through the airport, which never happens. My cab picked me up a few minutes early, I got to the airport in like 20 minutes, and zipped through check in AND security...so 20 minutes after I arrived, I was sipping some pinot grigio and charming my fellow passengers. The people I was mostly trading some good natured bitching with were out of towners. They all had taxis that resembled crime scenes, so I offered some magnets from Nutley Taxi. One guy was like "OH YEAH I am soooo taking one of those!"
My cab driver was from Turkey, and he did inquire about where I was going and why, so I offered up that I was going to judge a horse show in Lexington, KY (His reply "The only Kentucky I know about is Colonel Sanders.") I left the model part out, as I thought it would be too hard to explain. Its hard enough with native English speakers.
So I am cooling my heels, post two glasses of pinot. HMB has called to advise her flight was delayed so I may need to zip over to Cincinatti tonight to get her (which would be Fine. I like driving. I do need to get directions though, since my mental map of Cincinatti is mostly confined to I-75. Which is under construction.) So I think we will miss the Artisan Showcase tonight, but seeing as how HMB is not actively buying, and my personal BIg Guns are not likely to be there in a non-NAN year, this is no biggie. And laughing like an ass for 2 hours (the distance between Cincinatti and Lexington) with HMB will just be pure awesome.
It did just feel WRONG to set out on this particular trip solo and via the airport. Lexington is meant to be 12 hours in the car, giggling with Danielle. I was already set to buy Dave some Swedish Fish...except the place I want to do that is in the middle of Ohio, and a traditional pit stop on the way home! I'll find him some other souvenir this time.
HMB is a bit delayed...she was supposed to hit Lexington at the same time I am supposed too, but her flight from Denver is stuck and she may not make her connection in Cinci. If she does miss that connection, she will hit Cinci in about time for me to land in Lex, get my rental and drive to Cincinatti...then we have to drive back to Lex to get her bags, and then I bet it is off to bed, since we are working tomorrow and we need to get to the Horse Park stupid early.
I should call LQ and advise them I will be late...but they should be OK with it.
This is SUCH an odd Breyerfest for me...I have never gone alone! My first fest was in 1995 (also the first NAN...my friend Leslie and I made a vow to go to BFest while I was in vet school, and with that first NAN, 95 seemed logical) We drove down in her little Mazda 323 (Baby Blue Car...now deceased) and stayed in Independance KY because we had no money. Independance was about an hour from Lexington, and we drove in every day for the fun! We were staying with the parents of one of Leslie's co-workers. They had an apartment in their basement since one of their other kids was a jockey and sometimes stayed with them. It was nice to have our own space...and we woke up every morning to fresh picked blueberries from their back yard. That was such a great year. We imported 10 pounds of dry ice so we could have a sliver for one of my NAN entries (we found the local dry ice emporium later....but 10 pounds will last a 12 hour non air conditioned car drive and 3 days if properly insulated!) I won the very first Original Finish Plastic Mustang National Champion with my mare Mexicali Rose that year. What a blast.
Since then, its always been a group, varying from 3 to 6. Sometimes we took one van, other times it was a pair of cars. This year, I'm traveling alone. So weird.
Oh I am so excited. It is nice to finally be excited about this trip.
So, for an update....we are now flying. My 3:05 flight took off 2 hours late! So maybe HMB will just fly in from Cinci, since I do not think I will beat her by much...guess we see when I can call her again. Dave called while I was hovering about the gate for an update. He is having fun in Cali....there were stormtroopers AND Darth Vader at the Al show last night! Dave got a photo with Vader too. There are bunch of WOWAY folk all taking in the Pacific ocean today, though I suspect by now they are in Pre Show Prep Mode. Booyah.
As it ended up, HMB's connection was also delayed, so she made it to Lexington about the same time I landed. Her flight was more exciting than mine. The Lexington airport also looks like a set from "Escape from New York" except nothing was actually on fire. We got our car (a Cobalt that is...white.) and checked into our suite at La Quinta and immediately began playing with tack HMB brought to sell. I now own a second set of jumper tack for my Extreme Justice, and it includes a bunch of little fiddly accoutrements to make him extra spiffy. Dinner was at the Cracker Barrel, and then we dragged our sorry selves to Holiday Inn where the shopping is pretty pathetic at the moment. Usually I have gotten my best deals that first night...this year is kinda bland. I'll poke about more tomorrow and see if I can dig up some vintage Breyer for the collection.
I DID score a galloping LB scale calf that I've been looking for. It is slightly out of scale, but I think the fact that it actually looks bovine will allowthe scale thing to be forgiven. Chatted with Mel, KLF, Maggie, the Boguckis and Dave and Paul. Ended up with china horse poop and clear resin horse poop. I know that sounds weird, but Dabar (Maggie and Dave) do a "limited edition" odd color resin run of a horse poop sculpture that was done some years ago as a joke. Well...this year its been cast in china. China horse poop. Ah, Breyerfest.
We did a beer run and I'll be turning in soon since we have to be at the Horse Park at 6:45. Oy.
My cab driver was from Turkey, and he did inquire about where I was going and why, so I offered up that I was going to judge a horse show in Lexington, KY (His reply "The only Kentucky I know about is Colonel Sanders.") I left the model part out, as I thought it would be too hard to explain. Its hard enough with native English speakers.
So I am cooling my heels, post two glasses of pinot. HMB has called to advise her flight was delayed so I may need to zip over to Cincinatti tonight to get her (which would be Fine. I like driving. I do need to get directions though, since my mental map of Cincinatti is mostly confined to I-75. Which is under construction.) So I think we will miss the Artisan Showcase tonight, but seeing as how HMB is not actively buying, and my personal BIg Guns are not likely to be there in a non-NAN year, this is no biggie. And laughing like an ass for 2 hours (the distance between Cincinatti and Lexington) with HMB will just be pure awesome.
It did just feel WRONG to set out on this particular trip solo and via the airport. Lexington is meant to be 12 hours in the car, giggling with Danielle. I was already set to buy Dave some Swedish Fish...except the place I want to do that is in the middle of Ohio, and a traditional pit stop on the way home! I'll find him some other souvenir this time.
HMB is a bit delayed...she was supposed to hit Lexington at the same time I am supposed too, but her flight from Denver is stuck and she may not make her connection in Cinci. If she does miss that connection, she will hit Cinci in about time for me to land in Lex, get my rental and drive to Cincinatti...then we have to drive back to Lex to get her bags, and then I bet it is off to bed, since we are working tomorrow and we need to get to the Horse Park stupid early.
I should call LQ and advise them I will be late...but they should be OK with it.
This is SUCH an odd Breyerfest for me...I have never gone alone! My first fest was in 1995 (also the first NAN...my friend Leslie and I made a vow to go to BFest while I was in vet school, and with that first NAN, 95 seemed logical) We drove down in her little Mazda 323 (Baby Blue Car...now deceased) and stayed in Independance KY because we had no money. Independance was about an hour from Lexington, and we drove in every day for the fun! We were staying with the parents of one of Leslie's co-workers. They had an apartment in their basement since one of their other kids was a jockey and sometimes stayed with them. It was nice to have our own space...and we woke up every morning to fresh picked blueberries from their back yard. That was such a great year. We imported 10 pounds of dry ice so we could have a sliver for one of my NAN entries (we found the local dry ice emporium later....but 10 pounds will last a 12 hour non air conditioned car drive and 3 days if properly insulated!) I won the very first Original Finish Plastic Mustang National Champion with my mare Mexicali Rose that year. What a blast.
Since then, its always been a group, varying from 3 to 6. Sometimes we took one van, other times it was a pair of cars. This year, I'm traveling alone. So weird.
Oh I am so excited. It is nice to finally be excited about this trip.
So, for an update....we are now flying. My 3:05 flight took off 2 hours late! So maybe HMB will just fly in from Cinci, since I do not think I will beat her by much...guess we see when I can call her again. Dave called while I was hovering about the gate for an update. He is having fun in Cali....there were stormtroopers AND Darth Vader at the Al show last night! Dave got a photo with Vader too. There are bunch of WOWAY folk all taking in the Pacific ocean today, though I suspect by now they are in Pre Show Prep Mode. Booyah.
As it ended up, HMB's connection was also delayed, so she made it to Lexington about the same time I landed. Her flight was more exciting than mine. The Lexington airport also looks like a set from "Escape from New York" except nothing was actually on fire. We got our car (a Cobalt that is...white.) and checked into our suite at La Quinta and immediately began playing with tack HMB brought to sell. I now own a second set of jumper tack for my Extreme Justice, and it includes a bunch of little fiddly accoutrements to make him extra spiffy. Dinner was at the Cracker Barrel, and then we dragged our sorry selves to Holiday Inn where the shopping is pretty pathetic at the moment. Usually I have gotten my best deals that first night...this year is kinda bland. I'll poke about more tomorrow and see if I can dig up some vintage Breyer for the collection.
I DID score a galloping LB scale calf that I've been looking for. It is slightly out of scale, but I think the fact that it actually looks bovine will allowthe scale thing to be forgiven. Chatted with Mel, KLF, Maggie, the Boguckis and Dave and Paul. Ended up with china horse poop and clear resin horse poop. I know that sounds weird, but Dabar (Maggie and Dave) do a "limited edition" odd color resin run of a horse poop sculpture that was done some years ago as a joke. Well...this year its been cast in china. China horse poop. Ah, Breyerfest.
We did a beer run and I'll be turning in soon since we have to be at the Horse Park at 6:45. Oy.