Vanning


Vanning is a compulsion, an obsession, an occupation, an affliction, a fascination, a fate. It is not a hobby. Those who do it, must. Those who don't, think it's a waste of time. For me it is a calling.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

DAYTONA SPRING SHOW

This past week I was in Florida to do the show at the Daytona speedway. Before the show I did a trike for a customer of mine from Columbus, who is now a snow bird in Fla. He painted it himself and needed me to finish it off.
When I arrived at the track to set up, the weather wasn't cooperating. The wind was as bad as I have ever seen it. Gale force winds made it almost impossible to set up my tarp. If Jim Bag hadn't been there ,I would have been blown into the next county.
Note the wind lifting my cover..It was like that all weekend... after all was set up Jim and I went to the Holiday House for a fabulous meal. (That was for you Kenny)
Working in the wind sucks, to be blunt. Very tiring. I was fairly busy on Saturday. Note that the center poles aren't touching the ground... at least it was warm... while I was slaving away I got a visit from a pinstriper buddy from California. Mr. lyle Fisk. I met him several years ago at the Brush off in L.A.. A major player In the southern California custom scene, Lyle has pulled up stakes and moved to Florida. I was surprised to see him. I guess the so.Cal area isn't as rich with opportunity as it once was. Good luck Lyle, come back and see me again! Lets trade panels..I'd love to have a piece of your work!!! The weather man was predicting a thunder storm for sat. night and rain for sunday. With the wind as it was I was concerned that my cover wouldn't be there, if I left it up. Notice that the wind had knocked out the center legs of my cover.. We went to dinner with Don ,Kathy Bonnie, and Joe then came back to pack it all away. Then headed back to Jim Bag's.. It was actually nice to take the day off on Sunday. I had some work lined up to do the next couple days. I went to Melbourne on Monday to do several jobs for my good customer Wayne Mann. He had me do stripes on his motor home and PT Cruiser to match After I was done I ended up at Lew and Agnes' for a day. Here I am parked at the Skoko ranch. Agnes' sister was there so I got the special quarters out back, LOL. Actually It was very nice. The weather was warm and the nights cool. Loved it!! We went to the favorite mexican place and I had some fun hanging with Lew & Ag.. I had a low tire when I left there. Went by Lew's work to check it. Couldn't find anything wrong, so I headed to Judith's . She was expecting me and she was going to do some sewing for me. WE went to the IKEA store in Orlando found some material,and after some BBQ at Sonney's. went back to her place. She was kind enough to sew up some curtian panels for the house. Isn't that material cool??? Thanks Judith!! Woke up thurs to a flat.. Took the tire to the tire shop. The mechanic tested it for leaks ,and this one is bizzare.... there was an air leak coming through the metal at the center of the wheel. You couldnt see a crack or hole.. just bubbles coming out of solid metal.. He put a tube in it so I could get home. Luckily I have a couple spare matching wheels. Does it get any more bizzare? Left Fri morning . The trip home was uneventfull.When I got home I had a surprise waiting. Those of you that have been following the Flying Eagle saga know, I have been missing some of the accessory decorations from the interior. One thing that has been missing was the ship figurehead that was in the corner above the wine barrels. Before I left I found a figurheadon Ebay, that looked exactly like this one. I was able to get it and it was waiting on me when I got home.

This has got to be just like the origional, you can't imagine how excited I was to find this. I'm only a couple brass lamps away from finding everything that was missing.. Next to get it mounted! Well its back to work this week. Stay tuned gang .

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