[ihc] The Nationals

[John Hofstetter <hofs@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

on 9/8/03 12:32 AM, mark stegmann at truckdriver_1977@domain.elided wrote:

> Hey guys & gals, back from nats. Got home maybe an
> hour ago(1:30am st. louis time) It was definatly a
> time I'll never forget. And I finally got to meet John
> & Wanda Hoffstetter. Not sure which was better.
> Meeting them, or getting to drive that Cab-over. haha
> Definatly meeting John & Wanda.

Thanks Mark, 

If you have any faults, which your mother denies, definitely one of them is
NOT a lack of enthusiasm. I got tired just watching you go.

I need to say that our trip out to the Nats was so worthwhile. I met so many
of our fellow digesters for the first time and renewed acquaintance with
some that I hadn't seen for a while.

I didn't spend much money on IH parts because there really wasn't anything I
needed, but besides the few IH vendors there were a hundred or so guys
selling most everything you could imagine. They made me poor(er).

As one example, Joel, Mark, and I all bought "Little Golden Books" The ones
we bought were from the 1950's, written and illustrated with a trip to the
Fort Wayne International Plant. The books sold for maybe a dollar then, but
had increased in value by 2000% by the time we got them.

Wanda kept asking me what I was going to do with mine, and I had no real
answer, but it was too neat to pass up.

My trip to the Springfield Medium Truck Plant was incredibly interesting.
Only problem is that I kept wishing that some of the rustproofing they are
using now had been used back in Fort Wayne on our Scouts.

My thanks to all including the Hampton barbecue organizers for making it a
great weekend. Especially, I need to acknowledge our Howard who had to
endure us for two weekends in a row. It started with the Labor Day weekend
parade of Auburns, Cords, and Dusenbergs, a sight to behold! I was afraid
that I was expecting too much of the parade, but it  more than lived up to
my expectations. It was interesting that the parade started with about 50
Prowlers and Vipers, but the ACD organizers made them start in a different
place and let them get out of the way for the "real" cars.

Thanks to all of you who made the Nats so enjoyable.  And, vendors, spend my
money wisely. 

John Hofstetter