September 3-5, 2009
One of the advantages to living in Northern Alabama, as opposed
to Maine, is that now the drive to the National Corvette Museum is
under 3 hours, not a day and a half, and a tank of gas round trip!
The Museum's 15th Anniversary was a very big deal,
with Caravans coming in from all over the country.
I hadn't planned on going, just because I felt Corvettes Conquer Cancer
would be lost in the mob. About 2 weeks before, I relented, got a room at
my usual Microtel in Bowling Green and prepared to hit the road.
Friday September 4
Departure @ 5:52am
Arrival @ 8:38
When I got there, parked in my Special Donor reserved space on the circle and started looking around I realized that it wasn't nearly as mobbed as I expected. The traffic was extremely well managed, with all of the Caravan cars parked off-site around town, and a constant stream of shuttle busses running all day. Inside I expected wall to wall vendors, but it actually seemed like there might be space for me to set up a display. I just happened to have everything still in the back from Carlisle the week before.
I tracked down Facilities & Displays Manager, Bob Hellmann, and asked him if
he had a space for an impromptu display. "How's this?" he asked, and pulled out an
8' table for me! So there I was, the first space inside the Conference Center, just off
Corvette Boulevard! Half the usual table space, but beggars can't be choosey. Thanks Bob!
Right outside the door was this. More later...
Saturday September 5
Back in front @ 8:30am
The unveiling: Crouching behind the Transformers Stingray are
Tom Peters (C6 Designer) and Jerry Palmer (C4 Designer).
"Hiawathaland Corvettes" added their name to the underside of the hood,
for a donation to the American Cancer Society.
The highlight of the weekend: Tom Peters got into "Stingray" and actually
DROVE it outside for a better view. Never guessed that it was actually a drivable car!
I had seen photos of it before and wasn't impressed. In person, I LOVED IT!
(Note: I'm in the background of several of the video scenes: red shirt & camera)
Back inside, there it is, right outside the door from my display.
No trip to the NCM would be complete w/o a visit to Sandy's Brick...
Sunday September 6
The 15th Anniversary event over, I took my time packing up, then took a
leisurely tour of the expanded Museum.
I was pleased to find the retired Maine "Lobster" plate DIDNTW8
(from the Corvettes Conquer Cancer C5) on display
in the newly completed "Enthusiast" section!
Right around the corner was this spectacular collection of Corvette concept cars, starting with the original Sting Ray.
Roland Roth's new pride & joy Z06!
Back home by 3:45. Gotta love being this close!
Thanks to Bob Hellmann for accommodating us
on the spur of the moment.
Thanks to him we were able to send the $385.00 we collected to the
Bowling Green office of the American Cancer Society!