Hamvention 2017 in pictures

First let me give you all some background... My husband got his first amateur radio license in December 2015. We had plans to go to Hamvention 2016 at Hara Arena but had to cancel at the last minute due to him being seriously ill. I'm not licensed and neither is our daughter. I support his hobby though and he participates in our town's emergency management team and in our county's emergency preparedness programs and our local amateur radio club. After failing to get to Hamvention 2016 we weren't sure about going in 2017. Finally after Christmas we decided to go for it. By then most of the hotels were sold out and we got stuck paying too much for the room we got. Our fault. Rookie mistake. None of us were sure what to expect for this adventure except that it would be BIG. We've been to Hamfests but never anything on this scale.

Here's some pictures from the weekend....

Grammar may not be correct but I'd never seen this before. I guess it's common.

The famous Gordon.

Not many people at this forum but the room was air conditioned and comfy.

Didn't expect to see guys playing guitar at the flea market! I would have stayed longer if my family hadn't pulled me away.

Robots!

The beginning of Ham Nation forum.

A stage full of Ham Nation personalities. Not often they are all in the same room together.

Big audience for Ham Nation.

Who are those guys in the back?? LOL!

Out at the flea market this food was happening but we didn't eat it. Nice trailer though.

This is the food we got. Dogs. Not exactly hot dogs. More like sausage.

Guy dressed in military gear and the rainbow flag in the background. Never know what you'll see here I guess

Trailer with canoe.

I gotta look up the website. Nice camper.

inflatable antenna

muddy feet from walking around the flea market on Saturday. Yes, those are mine.

Anyone want to buy the jaws of life?

Another forum. This one was on MESH I think. Was very crowded!

This giant antenna tower was for sale...

and they sold it!!

My car got some Ohio mud.

On Sunday the parking lot was closed because of the mud.

Nice ham shack trailer.

More food....

Cute robot...

Men in kilts! I had seen them walking around earlier. Finally saw them in their booth and asked them for a picture.  :-)

robot....

Goodbye Hamvention! Hope to see you again!

A Lap Around America by Shawn Inmon

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I don't read EVERYTHING that Shawn writes but I do like his travel writing. I followed his blog posts while he was doing this trip and I was eager to get a copy of the finished book. He's currently working on his NEXT big adventure and I'm following that one too.

Shawn is a very accessible author and I've said this to him already- I wish there was a map. That's my only complaint. I really, really liked this book but a map of the route would have been really helpful. I'm tempted to go back through the book and pull out all the places and create my own but I don't know if I will.

When Shawn was traveling around America and I was reading his blog I had no idea where my life would end up leading me. About a month ago I found out that I will be doing my own lap around America. So reading this book with my own travel plans in mind became extra special. My trip will go in the opposite direction that Shawn's did but I do see some overlap. As all of my stops have not been mapped out I can see potential for more. Shawn's adventures went to more extremes and covered more time and miles than my trip will be able to do. He's given me a lot of inspiration for future adventures though.

After finishing Shawn's book last night I looked at the map hanging in my hallway and said "Is Wall Drug really THAT far out the way?" The answer hasn't been decided yet.

I'm looking forward to Shawn's next book about Alaska although I know it will take me longer to get there.



View all my reviews