Charleston Collecting--Part I

Well I continued my streak of attending ALPCA conventions, this makes my fifth in a row and seventh overall. This year I dragged my folks down to Charleston, West Virginia. We did the trip down in two days stopping halfway in Maryland at Rocky Gap State Park and Resort, it was such a nice resort I almost didn't want to leave....I said ALMOST. Every year that I arrive on Wednesday instead of Tuesday I also think going I am mmissing something but not being there as soon as the hall opens. This year wasn't any different, however the exception was I was setting up a table for the first time and didn't want to miss any sale. I found some friendly faces behind the registration desk handing out welcoming packets to members. I grabbed mine and hunted for my table. The covention center layout itself was a bit weird but doable. They had the bathrooms sort of in the middle, in a separate room that divided the hall up a bit meaning you had to go around the bathrooms to get to the other side. Since this was the first time I got a table, a new challenge was balancing the time I spent cruising the hall with the time I spent trying to make some money. I wasn't expecting to make a killing but I figured I needed to recoup the entrance fee, didn't quite make it, but it didn't really matter.
On the first night of the convention there's usually a social gathering. This year it took place on a riverboat on the Kanawah River. Instantly I renewed friendships I made in Texas, even prior conventions. One in particular was with famed drummer, Jim Fox of the James Gang. A former president of ALPCA, Jim and I enjoyed a chat and even snapped a picture. More to follow...