Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Toledo RC Model Airplane Show

One of the reasons I haven't written lately is because Linda and I went to Toledo Ohio.

The "Weak Signals" model airplane club hosts annually the biggest RC trade show in the Central United States.The show actually has two parts. The first part is a swap meet that is free to the patrons. The vendors are charged for their tables and the visitors get in free. The same is not the case with the trade show. There the price of admission is $10 per day. The show ran from Friday to Sunday.

On Thursday we put the dogs in the kennel and headed out. A friend told me to avoid Chicago even though the detour might add an extra forty miles. We took his advice and that was the longest forty extra miles I can ever remember driving. We would have been better off timing our departure to get around the Chicago traffic. That is what we did coming home and had no problem. We spent the night in Shipshewanna, which has an Amish/Mennonite community, crafts, furniture and good food. I say good in the sense that it tasted great even though it gave me some serious heartburn.

The Swap Meet: On Friday, about noon we got to the Seagate Center. First off I took in the Swap Meet. As a hobby Radio Controlled model airplanes are on the decline, so there are always plenty of great buys. This show was no exception. I saw a nearly completed model of a Hawker Hurricane that caught my interest but they wanted too much. Just before we left I went back and made the dealer an offer of $50. He took me up on it and we had to figure out how we were ever going to get it into the car.

The Trade Show: First let me say that the Trade Show filled me with a sense of awe. All the top vendors in the country were there with their first teams to answer any questions the viewing public might have. I bought a foamy, twin engined war bird suitable for indoor flying. In addition there were models and electronic components galore. Also featured this year was First Person View (FPV) quadcopter racing. While I have some quads and fly them indoors in the winter, that is not where my interest in the hobby really lays. I like long range FPV model airplanes and that is not where the commercial market has gone. Still, I bought a gas tank for carrying my gas/oil mix fuel, some latches and other odds and ends. Now that I'm home I wish I had gotten some high end servos, electric motors and extensions. Buyers remorse in reverse is what I call it and more often then I care to recount I pass on things I should have purchased.

The trip home was uneventful and the dogs were glad to see us.

On Monday Linda had to go in for her physical. On Tuesday I tried to get a walk-in appointment for my hearing aids but the lady that handles them was on sick leave. On Wednesday I had breakfast with my friends and participated in Field Maintenance Day. Today we went back to the VA and the repair lady was still not back.