Preplanning Payoff

At the second rally I ever attended, Hunt Jones was asked to say the prayer before dinner. His words were the most poignant words I had ever heard. I was very deeply moved by them. "If there is only one word you say for the rest of your life, may it be 'thanks'." Maybe you need to read that again so you can digest it... "If there is only one word you say for the rest of your life, may it be 'thanks'." I hope to someday live up to that. If it not by my word, let my actions lead me to "THANKS"

On Tuesday morning the little red rooster crowed the day. He was not the lazy one in the Howlin Wolf song, that rooster knew it was time to get busy.

For months we had been planning what needed to happen, how it needed to happen, and even a little what to do if something happened that we had not planned on. It was time to put action into motion.

The entire field was empty, freshly mown grass manicured into perfect golf course turf. Well, maybe as close to a hay field could get to being a golf course. Alright, it was a mowed field, but it looked damn fine.

The view was even spiffed up to create the perfect backdrop for the arrival of many American Icons. My god, a more perfect setting could not have been chosen in my opinion. I am so grateful Rob and Zoe allowed us to use their farm. No campground or park could have or would have been more ideal. The grace you exhibited in allowing close to 300 strangers to invade your space is inspirational. "THANKS"

Our highly trained, extremely professional parker was there and ready for the job at hand. "Where, the heck are they?" he asked. Funny thing about this situation is that many were on their way. The next three days would have Obie running around like a crazy man. He did a very fine job I must say. If parking was not enough to do, Obie also acted as the official voice of the Bash. We would just walk up and say, "Obie, tell em happy hour is four around the fire" and the next thing we knew he had everyone's attention and was announcing it. "Obie, tell them the moon is made of cheese" Yep, he would have if we asked him to. Occasionally he used a bull horn, but most times he just shouted out. Everyone seemed to respect his voice and listened intently. Obie was a huge part of making the Bash a success. To you my friend, "THANKS"

Some had dropped off their trailers early to help us get the circle started before the rush. Mr. Perkins brought his 1954 Byam Holiday over for us to place. Dick, remember I will always treat her right should you ever decide. It was wonderful to see my number one, favorite, of all time, trailer ever made. True, even more than my Anna, the Grand Dad, the Gold trailer, and Deborah's 55 Bubble. I think that much of Mr. Perkin's Holiday. So glad you brought her over. "THANKS"

Some others wanted to get a nice spot on the inner circle of the wagon wheel we were forming. The second trailer from the left is Steve Hansen's 1964 Safari he won in the raffle held by the Chenago Watershed Association. Sweet trailer for $25. He was coming all the way from Rochester Minnesota to pick it up. Steve was set on an adventure and he embraced it the entire time he was there.

"THANKS"

I went off for our first run for water. We had to haul it in 300 gallons at a time from a town about 12 miles away. The town of Sherburne allowed us to fill up for free. They gave us about 1500 gallons of water for our use. 'THANKS"

John Kwasnick was the guy who made that happen. He was not able to be on site very much due to his work schedule, but he took care of so much of the material goods behind the scenes. The 24 hour self service ice, honor system payment was all arrainged by him. The massive quantities of eggs, onions, butter, and eggs were all taken care of by him. John's buying power though his Pharmacy kept the event fee way down. "THANKS"

When I returned, this is what I saw. Obie had been very busy parking the early arrivals. Unlike other major rallies, early arrivals were not served breakfast every morning. There were no special perks except a few extra days at a spectacular spot to camp and some excellent fellowship. If something needed to be done and you were around, I was putting you to work. Oh man was this getting fun.

Unfortunately, after this day the photos get thin. I was running around from 5:30am till after midnight everyday, the photos were pretty much an after thought for me. I do still have a few to share though in the next few posts to come.