(Continued from previous message)   
      
   drives anymore. That 14 hour ride will be rough, but the bus will stop every   
   few hours to let folks get a snack, stretch their legs, grab a smoke, etc.   
   Being fully disabled, I'll be able to sit in front of the bus, and I might   
   have a little more leg room.   
      
     There are several reasons I decided to treat myself to the Huntsville   
   Hamfest this year:   
      
   1) I've never been to it, but have heard a lot about it.   
      
   2) Amateur Radio Newsline does their "Bill Pasternak Young Ham Of The Year   
   Award" presentation...and I might get to meet some of the Newsline staff.   
      
   3) There are a lot of vendors there, although I likely will spend more on   
   prize tickets and food.   
      
   4) The Royal Order Of The Wouff Hong may be done Saturday night at the Embassy   
   Suites (adjacent to the convention center). I've been through it twice, and   
   thought I was going to die laughing both times.   
      
     As a side note, there is nothing degrading or vulgar (unless you let your   
   mind go there), and participants get a very nice certificate afterwards. You   
   have to be a paid up ARRL member (for the current year, or a Life Member) to   
   participate. It's a "secret society", but no dues, officers, or politics...the   
   way a group should be.   
      
   5) The D-Star Forum, done by John, WB4QDX. There likely will be several D-Star   
   hams at the forum. John is the Net Manager for the Southeast U.S. D-Star   
   Weather Net on Sunday evenings on Reflector 2A, at 9pm Eastern Time.  We get   
   quite a few D-Star checkins from Georgia and Alabama on that net, as well as   
   Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, the Carolinas, Tennessee, and Texas...but for   
   now, I'm the only one in Arkansas checking in.   
      
   6) Eyeball QSO's with hams...and one of my FIDONet BBS connects apparently   
   lives in the area. The fun thing of the eyeball QSO's is that you make a   
   mental image of the person you're talking to; but when you finally meet them,   
   they're not at all like you pictured them to be!!   
      
   7) If it's ARRL/VEC doing the license exams, I can assist them with that. I've   
   been accredited since October, 2007, and have done over 155 sessions this   
   then. It has been the most enjoyable thing I've ever done in ham radio.   
      
   8) On the way over and back, I change buses in Nashville, Tennessee; where I   
   have some family (aunts, uncles, and cousins). So, they'll come down to the   
   station during my 90 minute layover.   
      
   9) I get tired of looking at 4 walls in this 960 square foot apartment (more   
   like a doll house), day in and day out...having been a widower for almost 9   
   years now.   
      
     That will likely be one of my last big trips out of state, due to health and   
   financial issues.   
      
   Daryl, WX1DER   
      
   ---   
    * OLX 1.53 * Apathy Error: Strike any key...or none, for that matter.   
    * PDQWK 2.53 #5   
      
      
   --- GTMail 1.26    
    * Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - wx1der.dyndns.org - GT Power 20 (1:19/33.0)