YumaHamfest2019

It was up into the teens and low twenties and sunny as I passed through Kentucky.

When I arrived at my hotel in Germantown, TN it was up to 48 and still sunny!

After he headed back home I made a trip to the van to pick up a couple of things with plans to spend some time in the pool upon my return. However, it turned out there were two rather large families in the pool so I found some other activities to spend my time.

After dinner I spent some quality time in my “whirlpool hot tub” type bath tub and thoroughly enjoyed my warm massage!

I was up a bit early as I am still adjusting to the new time zone. I discovered that I had forgotten the adapter for my camera memory card to put photos on the computer.

Around 8AM I headed to Max’s for the morning IOOK radio nets. It had rained some earlier and it was up to 48 then. Here are Max and I getting ready to play radio!

Conditions on 20 Meters were tough but we did manage to get checked in. 40 Meters was a lot better.

After the nets I came back to the hotel and Max followed me over. He wanted to check out the issues he is having with his new antenna tuning device for his HF station in his car. We did a complete series of tests and were still confused by the results of our efforts. In other words, we tried everything we could think of and never figured out the problem. I never thought about getting any photos of our efforts!

While we were out we stopped at a Best Buy and I picked up a new adapter for my memory card.

Max has called the antenna tuner manufacturer and expects a call back after they finish things up at HamCation.

Since I had just eaten a pretty good sized lunch it did not seem like a good idea for me to go swimming. So, I decided to walk the hallways and steps in the hotel for about an hour.

Later in the afternoon I went online and checked the results from last Thursday’s bowling. Our team had moved up into 3^rd place! I called my team mate, Judy, to tell her the good news!

About 6:30 Max and Lee picked me up and we headed to dinner! Here are Max and Lee as we arrive at the restaurant.

It was a wonderful Chinese place they had heard about! Truly a delicious meal! Max did get a call back from the antenna tuner folks and he thinks he has a solution. We shall see how that pans out tomorrow!

After dinner I did another session in the “whirlpool hot tub”. Fantastic! Golly, I really miss doing that at the gym back at home since they closed the pool area!

I managed to sleep in until about 7 and then headed to the pool to swim some laps. I could see that we had gotten some rain recently. However, the pool was not nearly as big as I remembered it.

I think the reason I was confused is because this hotel is laid out exactly the same as the one we stay in when we are in Findlay, Ohio. The pool there is a nice size and there is a hot tub. There is no hot tub in the pool area here and the pool here is half the size of the pool up there. I tried swimming laps but I was at the other end only after a few strokes. So, I decided I would be better off walking than trying to swim. So I headed back to my room, dried off and got dressed. Then I went out and walked for about an hour.

After I rested up a bit and played a bit of computer I noticed that it was raining outside again.

Max called and came over around 10AM and we headed towards Best Buy to pick up a couple of adapters that the antenna tuner guy suggested he replace. We found the necessary adapters needed and THEY FIXED THE PROBLEM! Once we got the new adapters in place we were able to set it up and get it working to 100%! Yee haw! We did this in the parking lot at Best Buy. This will enable Max to be able to change frequencies on HF while moving without having to check the SWR setting!

Max had talked with Jim – KI4I and they had agreed to meet for lunch at Pop’s Comfort Kitchen! Here’s a shot of Ann – WB4FAA (Jim’s wife) and Jim – KI4I!

What a great place! Jim and I had the Catfish Luncheon Special and it was delicious! Because it was a luncheon, the portions were not as large as if you had ordered the dinner! We had a delightful visit!

After lunch Max and I headed back towards the hotel. It was still raining and the temperature was around 60. We applied some Velcro stickers to the remote control for the antenna tuner and stuck it to the dash. That way Max will have easy access to it without worrying about where it is!

I spent some of the afternoon working on photos and this update. Then I did some R&R time.

Max picked me up around 6 and we headed out for dinner. We ended up at an Irish Pub called the Celtic Crossing! We both had their fish and chips and it was GREAT! Max got a telephone call during dinner that was bad news. We learned that our friend Lew – KC4US from the Villages in Florida had lost his wife, Miriam, this evening. That is truly sad. We had learned last night that she was due to go into Hospice today. Obviously she did not make it.

Max and I have thoroughly enjoyed our visit! I really appreciate Max’s hospitality! He has been a great host!

This evening I will enjoy one last bout in the whirlpool hot tub before I go to bed. Here is a shot of the whirlpool hot tub that I took last night.

It was 57 with light drizzle when I left Germantown, TN this morning. When I got into Arkansas I experienced some strong head winds but the drizzle had stopped. The temperature had fallen to 48 by the time I got to Little Rock. The sun finally came out from behind the clouds after I was south of Little Rock. There was a lot of standing water all through Arkansas and into Texas. The temperature was up to 57 again when I got to I-35 east of Dallas.

When I got south of Dallas I called Wil - WB5YFX on his repeater as I passed through town but I got no response. A while later I called Ron – AA5RT on his repeater when I passed through the Waco area but, again, I had no response. Shucks! It would have been nice to touch base with the guys as I passed through!

The van was displaying 73 degrees and severe clear when I backed into my spot at the Motel 6 in Austin! Yes, another uneventful trip! I called my high school buddy Don and left a message. Shortly afterwards I got a call back from him. Sadly he had to cancel our plans to get together for dinner tonight because he had to take his wife Malee into the ER in the middle of the night because of a reaction she had to some new medicine! They didn’t get back home until the middle of the afternoon! Naturally I was very disappointed but I am glad that Malee was well enough to come back home after a LONG night for both of them! He commented that he felt badly about having to cancel at the last minute but he was very tired and needed to get some sleep. I told him I totally understood and was glad she was well enough to come back home!

Since I had no other plans for the late afternoon and early evening I went out and did some local walking because I had sat in the van all day. It felt good just to do some walking!

After my walk I decided to go to a local fast food restaurant for a quick dinner. I ended up at Taco Bell. I think I chose well because 90% of the customers were Mexican. Also, the guy who took my order was Mexican. I must say that there was more stuff in each of my items than I usually get at the Taco Bell near home! It was a pretty neat experience! The rest of the evening was answering e-mail and doing some R&R!

I learned later in the evening via e-mail that Pink – K7ILA had experienced some kind of heart related incident Monday evening that she was unaware of until her doctor called Tuesday morning and told her to get to the Emergency. She has heart related monitoring equipment at her place. She says she feels fine but they were keeping her over night tonight for observation. She will not be bringing her camper to the Hamfest as planned.

OK! It was 37 degrees when I headed out this morning. As I headed west across highway 290 is saw the temperature go as low as 30 and I saw frost in low lying areas. Once the sun came up and I was able to see what was around me it became quite obvious that this was wine country! That would explain the castle that I saw as the sun was trying to come up.

There were clear skies and the sun warmed things into the 40’s by the time I got to I-10.

I stopped for a restroom break in Sonora and on my way inside a guy was kicking his tires and said to me “Man, I can’t believe how cold it is!” It was 51 then. My reply was “Yeah, but, just think how much worse it could be!”

Around mile marker 362 I encountered fairly strong crosswinds that remained with me for MANY miles. I stopped for gas in Fort Stockton and it was up to 69.

When I got some good coverage for my cell phone I called Chas – AI0OK to let him know about my progress and he already knew because he was watching my progress on APRS. I was going to be earlier than usual getting to our dinner place but he said that would be OK.

I expected to hear from Chas on the radio as we approached La Mesilla, New Mexico where our dinner was to be but I never heard him. It turned out he is having radio problems he was unaware of. His microphone audio is not passing through to the radio so all we get is dead carrier.

It was 67 when I pulled into the parking lot at La Posta and Chas pulled in right behind me! Talk about great timing! Here’s Chas getting his camera ready to go!

We did some shopping. Here’s Chas in front of one of our favorite places to shop.

Then I went to the post office to mail a couple of post cards and then we went into La Posta and ate a GREAT dinner!

After dinner we headed towards Lordsburg where we had room reservations for the night. It was 60 when we arrived at the motel. We spent the remainder of the evening catching up with each other! It was a really fun evening!

Chas and I headed out about 6:30 this morning. It was 44 degrees. After we got into Arizona we stopped at the Texas Canyon Rest Area. Here’s a shot of Chas digging for something at the rest stop!

After leaving the rest area I called Jim – AE8R to let him know about our estimated arrival time for breakfast in Tucson. He had been watching our progress on APRS so he had a pretty good idea when to meet up with us!

It was up to 67 when we arrived at the Cracker Barrel! Here are Jim and Sue!

After breakfast Chas and I headed north on I-10 and near where we pick up I-8 and head west we stopped and topped off our gas tanks at the Iron Skillet. Once we got onto I-8 we encountered light to moderate drizzle and light rain that accompanied us all the way to Yuma. The rain was moderate enough that we never had to take the windshield wipers out of one of the delay settings!

It was 66 degrees when we arrived at our hotel in Yuma. Once we got checked in we headed to the Hamfest and checked in with BJ.

Once the banner was in place we ran a couple of errands and went back to the hotel.

We met up with Ti - NJ6T at the Golden Corral for dinner. Sadly none of the rest of the gang were able to join us! What was really strange was that at 4:30 in the afternoon there were no parking places. We figure this must have been because of Valentine’s Day! I dropped off Chas and took the van back to the hotel and then walked back to the restaurant. Things were moving slowly enough that Ti and Chas had not been seated yet when I got back there! We did get a table shortly after my return and we had a dandy visit and great dinner! Here’s Chas!

We invited Kristin – K6WX to drop by my room for a visit. She was running behind in her arrival because of weather related issues coming from California. Here are Kristin and Chas!

Before too long Chas arrived and he took a shot of Flat KBob and then he helped get things set up!

A little later I caught Chas cleaning up an HT that one of the guys has for sale.

This guy saw a posting about the IOOK at the Yuma Hamfest on Facebook from Bill – WZ1L. He shared some info with Bill! It is very cool that he took the time to look us up and shared the info with us!

What we have here is an Animal Style Cheeseburger, Animal Style Fries and a diet soda!

Keith went inside to register and to purchase some prize tickets. Here is a look at the crowd inside then!

Jack – KC7DUU has started a new business. He is doing engraving! Here are a couple of shots of him at his new business!

Dale – N7BLM stopped by to pick up some shirts that Pink – K7ILA had ordered but could not pick up!

This fellow has volunteered taking pictures for the hamfest for many years. He tells me that he is now retired so there will be no more photos from him at the hamfest!

Here is one of the Yuma Hamfest volunteers who has always been here to help us over the years!

Charlie and Keith look into a problem with a power supply that turns out that in shipping it had gotten bounced around and caused the fuse to not make contact!

As you have seen, things are a bit strange this year. We have a lot smaller turn out than usual. Here is our dinner group!

Even though Jack and BJ had planned to be with us this evening they had pass because of engraving needs caused by Jack’s new business!

It was 53 degrees when I headed to the fairgrounds this morning. I skipped breakfast and had a hot and spicy V8 instead.

It was a bit breezy and chilly when I started setting the stuff up. I had gotten things set up and was in the process of making my first sales of the day when Chas and Charlie arrived!

Oh yes, in addition to an old HT, this guy also has a backpack HF station he is using!

This is the first time I ever remember seeing BJ taking the time to walk through the flea market!

After lunch it was time for us to take our group picture! Jack was able to break away from his engraving long enough to be included in the photo!

A special congratulations to Kristin for being selected to make such presentations!

A while later Gordo stopped by for another visit and I had to get a shot of him in his LOUD shirt of the day!

If you look carefully you can see Chas's new camera on the tripod by the building. The remote control is in his pocket!

It warmed up nicely in the afternoon and the wind died down too. We saw a high of 71 this afternoon! Delightful! Here’s Chas in R&R mode during a lull from shoppers.

About 5PM I started boxing up the stuff. I ended up with one empty tub and another tub that was only about half full, so, we did make some sales!

Yee haw! Here’s a look at the booth after the storage tubs and boxes have been put in the van!

Here’s the stuff in the van! If you look carefully you will see that Flat KBob is napping on top of the pile!

Then it was time for the Buzzard’s BBQ! I heard they sold 500 tickets. Here are several shots of the crowd at their tables.

Ti caught a shot of Gordo visiting around and posted it on Facebook. Chas saw it on Facebook and copied it and sent it to me!

BJ always helps with serving the dinner as well. Here is BJ helping with the serving!

Jack usually helps with serving the dinner as well, however, he had some badges that he had to engrave and ended up working into dinner time.

Sadly none of the IOOK won any prizes but we had a great time and a wonderful visit!

Dear Vice President Farley (aka - Keith),

I wish to take humble exception to a comment you made regarding your trip to and from the Yuma Hamfest. You stated that no IOOK Vice Presidents won anything at the dinner drawing following the close of the 2019 Yuma Hamfest. While at dinner in Old Town Yuma, I received a call from a hamfest committee member telling me I had won something at the drawing and to meet him at the fairgrounds the following Sunday morning after 7AM. To my gleeful surprise he handed me an Icom IC-7300 HF radio new in the box! So you see your statement is incorrect, not that it matters a hill of beans! However it gave me a good excuse to tell you how much I enjoyed reading of your travels and pictures to, from and during the event.

73 and looking forward to seeing you again next year,

Hall Blankenship, KC7RAF, an IOOK VICE PRESIDENT, Utah Chapter

kc7raf@arrl.net

My sincere apologies Hall!

Congratulations!

After dinner Charlie, Chas and I came back to my room and enjoyed some special visit time and we sipped a bit of Jim Beam and Scoresby Scotch! Cheers!

It was 48 when I headed out to meet the guys for breakfast at the IHOP nearby.

We had a nice visit and shared some fun while we got all fed up! We are all looking forward to a good HamVention and are glad that things went well for us at the Yuma Hamfest!

After breakfast I headed back to the hotel and spent a good part of the day working on photographs and trying to organize things a bit.

In the early afternoon the lady came around to make up my room. I decided I would get out of her way and took a walk around the hotel. It was 66 and a bit breezy but the inside of the van was quite toasty! While I was walking I found a small fortune from a fortune cookie laying on the sidewalk in front of me. I was curious so I picked it up. It said “A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory!” I reckon so! J

We went to our usual place and we got there at a good time because not too long after we arrived things began to fill up! Here are Jack and BJ!

We had a delightful visit and managed to get all fed up as well! When we came out of the restaurant there was what looked like a full moon! Sadly, this shot did not turn out as well as I had hoped!

The most disappointing thing for me was the lack of IOOK’ers who showed up. I know that the IOOK’ers who had planned to be here and then could not make it all had good reasons. So, it was just not in the cards for a large IOOK attendance this year.

Many thanks to the IOOK’ers who were able to be here! I had a fun weekend!

I awoke a bit later than usual at around 5AM! It was 53 when I got on the road around 5:30 and was experiencing VERY light drizzle. That only lasted 15 or 20 miles. About a hundred miles further along I could see that there had been recent rain.

Then the temperature dropped to 42 and I got steady light rain. About the time I got off of I-8 and onto I-10 it changed back to light drizzle and before I got into Tucson it totally stopped and it became sunny!

The temperature was still around 42 when I got to Texas Canyon and stopped at the rest area. I don’t believe I have ever stopped at the east bound side of the rest area before. Check these out!

As I was approaching Wilcox I saw the big W on a mountain off to the left and took this shot out the side window!

A bit further along I saw this bit of scenery that I thought looked pretty cool!

I stopped for fuel in Lordsburg and it was up to 48. I crossed the Continental Divide around 11 AM. I left I-10 at Deming and cut across country to get to I-25 to head north. I had taken the southern route because I was not sure what the weather up north was going to be doing. About 60 miles south of Albuquerque, this is what the distant clouds looked like.

About 30 miles south of Albuquerque, this is what it looked like to the northeast.

Just south of Albuquerque the temperature started to fall and was 39. By the time I got to I-40 and headed east the temperature was down to 35. Ten miles later it was 30 degrees! 5 miles later it was 26 degrees. When I got to mile marker 192 it was down to 23 and about 20 miles further along it was down to 14 degrees and there were snow flurries! BRRR! Here’s what it looked like!

I stopped in Santa Rosa, NM for gas and the temperature had made it up to 21. Once I got back on the road the wind had calmed down, there were no flurries and the traffic was quite light!

I crossed into the Central Time Zone when I crossed into Texas so it was suddenly an hour later in that instant! Here’s a crappy photo of the Texas State Line!

I arrived at my motel in Amarillo around 7:20ish (new time) and it was 26. After I got checked in to the motel I walked across the street to a nearby Mom and Pop restaurant and had fish tacos. They were GREAT! After dinner I worked on photos and stuff and then hit the hay! It had been a long day on the road!

Well, I managed to sleep in until around 5AM again even on the “new” time. When I got out to the van it was 19 degrees.

As I was approaching the greater Oklahoma City area I heard about some school closings because there was a chance of one or two inches of snow in the afternoon. It was 29 degrees. The roads were dry and there wasn’t much wind. I thought that was rather strange!

I called Joe - WA5FLT on his repeater several times but got no response. I figured he might still be out of town. I called him on his cell phone and left a message. I hope all is well and they are having a good time! Then I repeatedly scanned through the local repeaters and never heard a peep! I was hoping I might stray across Stan – N5JFQ.

When I got on I-44 eastbound it is a toll road so they call it a turnpike. I stopped at a gasoline station on the turnpike and filled up with gas and the price was very reasonable! I was afraid that the price might be inflated because of the limited access. The temperature was up to 35.

I missed getting a picture of the official sign welcoming you to Missouri but I did get a shot of the sign for the Welcome Center!

I had called my cousin Bob earlier in the day to let him know what time the GPS indicated that I ought to be arriving at their place. He explained to me that he and Sue would not be here but to let myself in and make myself at home. So, instead of going straight to the farm I went into town and filled up the gas tank again! Here is the sign welcoming you to Nevada.

As I was getting off the highway it was rather obvious to me that they had recently had some snowfall. Here is Bob and Sue’s welcoming sign when you reach the farm!

Yeah, even though it was 41 degrees there is still snow on the ground. Here’s a look at Bob and Sue’s home from the road.

Sue has a cold and decided to not go out with Bob and I for dinner. Bob and I enjoyed a delicious BBQ dinner in Nevada and it had started to snow when we headed to the restaurant. It must have quit snowing about the time we got to the restaurant because you could still see our footsteps from coming into the place when we left. We got a bit of freezing drizzle as we headed towards home.

A little later Bob and I played a couple games of Cribbage! What a nice evening!

This morning it is 32 degrees and we had some light fog earlier that did not last long. I went outside and the ground outside is crunchy under your feet and I could hear water dripping off the trees so it is melting. Here’s a look at the windshield of my van that was not driven last night.

We drove Bob’s pickup truck into town last night for dinner. Obviously we did not get much more freezing rain after we got back because his windshield is clear!

We elected to spend the day in R&R and visit mode. Later in the morning Bob and I played another game of Cribbage. Sue went into town to do some shopping.

After lunch Lincoln stopped by and he and Bob spent some time doing some farm related financial stuff.

Later in the afternoon I went outside to arrange a couple of items in the van and saw these swans in the field out back.

Sue had planned a family dinner here for the evening! There ended up being 10 of us! However, it would seem that the kids and grandkids take after Grandma and did not want their photos taken. L We had a great visit and all managed to get all fed up!

After dinner we had an extended visit time and managed to kind of get caught up with each other.

After the gang headed home Bob and I played a couple more games of Cribbage. Bob and I ended up being about even on the number of games we won! Then we watched some TV and headed to bed.

This morning it was 30 when I headed out for my first trip to the van. The light fog from the night before had frozen on the windows. So, I started up the van to warm it up to make it easier to clean off the windows. During one of my trips to the van I took this shot looking east from Bob and Sue’s!

By the time I had all my junk loaded the van was warmed up and the windows were clear! After saying my goodbye’s I headed out!

I met up with Bob – N0BIX and Jean for lunch at Ruby Tuesday’s in Illinois near their place! Bob took this shot as I was backing into my parking place.

Jean and I were enjoying our salads. Bob had chosen to skip the salad. In addition to me providing him with all the photos from the trip we had a great visit and managed to get all fed up!

As I crossed from Illinois to Indiana I also crossed into the Eastern time zone so I lost another hour.

I lost more time coming through Indianapolis where there was an extensive traffic snarl but I was never able to determine what the cause was other than maybe shear volume!

It was nearing on 7PM when I pulled in the driveway at home! Imagine my surprise when I saw that my total mileage for the trip was significantly less than the usual 5,000 miles!

Once I had the van unloaded and visited with Marian some I worked on unloading my suitcases. The rest of the evening was spent watching some television with Marian! It was good to be back home!

Many thanks to all the photo contributors: AI0OK, N0BIX, NJ6T, NN3V, W5JCS, WA8ZWJ

Yuma Hamfest Trip 2019

de WA8ZWJ - This will be a photo diary of my trip to Yuma and back!