My First Pig Pickin

Well I finally got to go. I have wanted to make the journey for two years now. I wanted to see the legendary collection, yes, but mostly, I wanted to meet some of the folks in the AFCA and shake some hands. To me some of these individuals were just faces in magazines and text on a message board. Now I can say otherwise. It is easy to read people wrong when all you do is correspond via email and message boards. I will say for the most part, everyone was friendly, and they welcomed me in to their midst. I was labeled "that guy with the web page..." Which I am used to. In high school I was "that guy with the cool Monte Carlo." It's okay. You have to start somewhere.

Fans, fans, and more fans!!! They were everywhere. Everyone, knowing that it was my first time visiting, kept saying, "what do you think?, kinda overwhelming isn't it?" I would smile and say yes. I spent much of my time walking around looking at the vast collection. I actually made a video and took several photos. I am in the process of converting it to a DVD with music. While I was strolling one time, I found a pile of old Fan Collector magazines. I decided to sit down and skim through a couple. Wouldn't you know that fate would lead me to an article on the Dr. I think it was in one of the 98 issues. Anyway I decided to read it. It talked about how he started and mentioned his influences, but one comment that stuck out in my mind, was he said something like, "I originally intended to get around to restoring each fan, but I quickly acquired more than I could do in a lifetime." It really got me to thinking about the future and my priorities. Fans are great, to me, but I don't want to become obsessed to the point of neglecting my family. Thanks for the lesson, Doc.