HemiDenny and I dutifully stayed over Saturday night with the sincerest
intention of working the show on Sunday despite the dire weather forcast.
Sunday morning we hitched up the trailer at our hotel and slogged through
the 4" of unplowed mush to get to the fairgrounds. Per the event's parking
rules, Denny dropped me off at the front door to set up the display and then
drove over into the infield of the mile dirtrack to park. He waited and waited
but no shuttle appeared. He went up and asked the man at the gate when
the shuttle was coming. The guy got on his radio and then informed Denny
that the shuttle was not running. Denny then drove the truck and trailer back
over to the exhibit hall lot and found a worker who told him that it would be
ok to park there despite warnings that vehicles with trailers would be towed
from that lot were placed on our truck's windshield the day before.
Denny came in and by then I had everything uncovered and set up. I was by
this time nursing my first $2.00 cup of mud. I had noticed that a lot of vendors
were MIA or busily packing up and unattended swap meet spaces were pretty
much all that remained. Evidently a lot of people left overnight.
We stayed for about an hour and when the 9:00 AM time came to open the front
doors, nobody came in (there had been a big crowd waiting to come in on Saturday
morning). The one gentleman from Indy Cylinder Head came by and said that they
had suspended the admission charge because, with the weather, nobody was
coming in anyway (by this time it was snowing quit hard).
After a few more minutes the same gentleman came by again and told us
that it was ok to open and utilize the large overhead doors directly behind
our display if we wanted to go ahead and get loaded up. Soon came word
that they may shut down early due to the weather.
When no showgoers whatsoever (not one) stopped by during the first hour we
made the decision to load up and try the road, fully expecting to have to stay
another night in a hotel if it proved to be too dangerous.
It was snowing heavily during the loading process but we secured everything and
hit the road. The Garmin got us on I-70 in short order and even though it was
completely snow covered, traffic was relatively light and we proceeded east with
care.
Eventually we turned north on I-75 and by the time we had gone another 60 miles
the road was pretty much clear and dry until right before Findlay (home) where
they had received 4-5" overnight.
I'd have to blame it on the weather this time but I have been going to major car
shows for a lot of years, arriving early on Thursday and going strong through
Saturday night but Sunday always has been "go home" day.
John
