[AT] Portland Swap Meet

[Indiana Robinson]

	Snorkling anyone? Mud wrestling?   :-)
	We only went for the weekend so we missed the bulk of the water falling from the sky. We 
pulled in just before noon Friday and the old beater Ford P/U I was using for the bigger 
trailer decided it didn't like rolling in hot then having to crawl along around the 
drives while old geezer after old geezer stood in the middle of the road like a deer 
looking at headlights... Yeah I know we all get distracted and the drives are really 
there for the shoppers but there is a limit to just how long you should be allowed to 
stand in one spot looking stupid...   :-)   Anywho... the old thing loaded up and died 
just as I was about to pull into an available space to set up. The tiny battery in that 
old truck has about a 30 second reserve (and getting weaker) and it drained quickly. 
Thankfully Gene Dotson saw us pull in and when I discovered that I had waited too long to 
charge my booster pack and it was weak he grabbed his from his truck and we got it fired 
back up quickly. It didn't matter too much on time since it took the guys that were 
standing there open mouthed and in the way that long to move anyway...   :-)   There was 
a minor glitch with the heckling woman in the van behind me yelling and calling us names 
but what can you do when you are married to her...   ;-)    Diana was in the WUV and 
pulling a smaller trailer. We had a chance to visit with George Willer and Gene Dotson a 
few times and talked to a lot of nice folks. We didn't get rich but paid all cost and 
came home with maybe an extra $100 and a little more than that from some stuff we sold 
for son Scott. We had a lot of fun to boot.
	I managed to Control myself at the auction and only ended up with two two-wheeled garden 
tractors that were just alike for $9 for the pair. Not sure what brand they are. Neither 
had an engine but I have engines. Both have good tires. I bought another small "stack-o-
stuff" for a buck and now I have to figure out what to do with it. I wanted the forced 
draft fan made to fit into a vent of a furnace or stove and make a positive exhaust 
draft. One thing included was a large soil pipe cutter/breaker. Looks like a big chain 
wrench but has cutter wheels in the links. You clamp it around the cast iron soil pipe 
and tighten the ratchet until it pops apart. I think it is a Rigid.
	We stayed Saturday night as well but the place looked like a ghost town by around 2PM 
Saturday. We had planned to spend the day away so we moved up to the front section near 
the bridge and spent the night (we have a bed in the WUV). By Sunday morning there were 
only 3 of us still setup to sell. We gave up when it started raining again (what! rain at 
Portland?)   :-)   We talked to several customers Sunday morning that had driven in to 
look and expected to find a bunch of vendors since Sunday was listed on the schedule...
	We could not make it to the work day earlier on so we made an effort to walk around the 
grounds picking up trash other folks had left on the ground and putting it in the piles 
around the grounds that were waiting for pickup. We wanted to do our part. I don't think 
we missed much of anything. I picked up several items like electric rod type fence post 
buried down in the grass and one rebar tent stake with a washer welded on it. Those would 
have sounded nice going through the mower...   :-)   I took down a lot of twine and tape 
from the trees.
	We are making plans for next year and I am determined to not have to drive two vehicles 
next year.
	I won't say I am "ready" for the August show but I am looking forward to it.  :-)
	

-- 
"farmer", Esquire
At Hewick Midwest
      Wealth beyond belief, just no money...

Paternal Robinson's here by way of Norway (Clan Gunn), Scottish Highlands,
Cleasby Yorkshire England, Virginia, Kentucky then Indiana. In America 100 
years 
before the revolution.


Francis Robinson
Central Indiana USA
robinson at svs.net