More Fun, Frolics, and Vaudeville at the 2012 Manchester Sons Convention
Thursday, September 20th, 2012
I got to sleep in on the morning of Friday, July 20, 2012, and that felt nice. The convention was underway and we’d had a pretty late night the night before and this one would be even later. So I didn’t bother with Chuck McCann’s morning “Let’s Have Fun Presentation”, nor Silent Cinema, nor the ITJ breakfast (considering I wasn’t invited), and not even ‘breakfast on your own.’ I just slept in. Then at 10am I meandered down to the Grand Council meeting. As has been standard, there has not been any ‘business’ discussed, so the meeting was just restricted to the two convention bids. I was involved with the first. Read the rest of this entry »
Business first. That’s my motto. Although I was ready to indulge in plenty of Laurel and Hardy frolics and frippery with my fellow Sons of the Desert, there was a historical location nearby that I needed to get under my belt. Although Bob and I had driven by the New Hampshire state capitol in Concord the previous Friday, weren’t able to go though it since it was after-hours. I had thus far only compromised going inside a capitol building one time, and visiting this this one would give me six on this trip that were fully toured. So that’s how I started my day on Thursday, July 19, 2012. 
Thursday, July 5, was the second day of the two-weeklong road trip that Bob and I were taking. It was a good day overall, although just a bit grave-heavy, so please have tolerance. Checking out graves of the famous appeals to me for a few reasons. The first and most obvious is to simply pay my respects to someone whose work I like or admire. If rule number one doesn’t apply to someone who has achieved some other fame or notoriety, see rule number two… which is the checklist/scavenger hunt aspect of it. And finally, I legitimately enjoy the detective work sometimes involved in tracking down a headstone based on various clues that we pick up in advance. So although it is easier to just go to the main office of the cemetery and ask for directions, a lot of times I enjoy it more when we have to scour the cemetery to find it. So while I have no objection to the stereotype of the grave-hunter to be somewhat morbid, I wanted to lay out the facts as I see them. 
Dull care was left at home as I made my way to the final destination of our road trip. Bob and I had been on the road for two weeks, staying in different lodging each and every night, so I was ready to lay my head on the same pillow for the next four days. I was also really looking forward to the antics and camaraderie with my many old friends who had been part of the Sons of the Desert for many years. Bob and I rolled into the Radisson hotel in Manchester at 8:30 in the morning on Wednesday, July 18, 2012. This would be the first day of the 18th International Sons of the Desert Convention. So naturally the first thing I did was to plant myself in the lobby for the next three and a half hours. 
My New England trip now officially holds the record for the longest vacation I have ever taken. Clocking in at 19 days, it was a magnificent trip that saw all sorts of bucket list items and checklists being crossed off of my life pursuit. If you have enjoyed reading about these types of road trips in the past, then this one will be one nice, long doozy for you. I not only enjoyed nearly every minute of it (except for when Don yelled at me), but I will look forward to writing and posting about it – which is about as close as one can get to actually living it over once again.