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22-28 August, 2005
Arnie's Bessemer had run outstandingly well at Baraboo, with the exception of running the cooling water hot enough to melt a couple of pumps, so the first job was to make a screen cooler; a relatively simple task until you add about 10 engineers of one sort or another into the mix whereupon it becomes a major project. Here Arnie and Dave work under the direction of Missy and Kelley. Arnie tries the screen cooler for size ... and here it is working as required. Once again, Arnie demonstrated his ability to delegate with Craig Prucha on the flywheels, and the usual team of Steve and Jim. The Baker Monitor bought by Devin Holland two years ago is now completely restored, and a very enthusiastic crowd were attracted to this latest technology!
Once again, Lincoln Tucker was huge hit in the ATIS area, helping everyone with their engines, tending his own 1¾HP MacLeod and his dad's Foos and generally being a pleasure to have around. Tuesday was Bill Pfeiffer's 60th birthday, so we had a showground party with a cake and candles! The show officially starts on Wednesday, so Dave had to prepare his suspenders for the official start, rearranging his pin collection. On each day the show is open, the morning begins with the singing of the American and Canadian anthems and a dedication. We decided this year needed recognition for our fifth attendance, and asked for the addition of the British national anthem. Beverly Yingst, the singer, agreed to our request provided we could supply backing music, the score and lyrics. Thanks to the miracle of the internet, laptop computers, wireless access in the motel and help from Raj, the motel manager, and his printer, we soon had all the requirements and our anthem was added to the others for the rest of the week.
While engines at Portland are of great importance, the social side of the show is paramount (to us, anyway!). Here's a typical daytime gathering with, L-R, Tom and Chris French, Devin Holland, Rob Skinner, Kelley Garcia, Joe Maurer, Steve Webre and Joe's friend Gary. Arnie and Steve Royster compare beards, Rob Skinner and Ed Herreid Snr, Dave and double trouble, Mike and Steve Royster. One evening, by the light of yellow dogs, we opened a bottle of John Fankhauser's home-made wine, brought for the occasion by Steve and Mel, and toasted a much missed friend. A crowd-puller was the Klein engine, particularly the evening they got it started and running!
As usual, there were tons of stuff for sale - it was just a matter of sorting the gems from the junk.
Evenings are for oilfield engines. The OFES area comes alive after dark, with all the engines running and yellow dogs alight. This is Rick Dorrell's Bessemer half-breed, and his intriguing hot-tube Briggs and Stratton. Oilfield tractor? The AC Thomas-pwered tractor. One year, the owners of this John Deere are going to be asked to leave the tractor display area because their tractor runs for the whole show (balanced on just 3 Coca Cola bottles) and they're with it and happy to talk to passers-by, all of which makes them unique in the tractor community!
The big event of the week is the ATIS dinner and charity auction at the Back 40 Junction restaurant in Decatur, where the staff do a great job of putting up with our antics. Here one of the waitresses serves Arnie his drink - a Cabernet 7-Up. Don't worry, it's a long story, just think about the combination of Cabernet Sauvignon and a bad Pittsburgh accent .... At last, after years apart, Dave had an emotional reunion with Little Lisa! There were two memorable items at the charity auction this year. Glenn Karch's picture blocks and the Tucker's Fairbanks Morse Eclipse. Glenn had made three sets of picture blocks, each in a beautifully made wooden box and each bearing GEM cover photographs on all sides of the blocks. But each of the three sets had one particularly significant picture - our Tillinghast oilfield engine, Steve Royster's Gade and Lincoln Tucker with his McCleod. Luckily for us, the Tillie box came up first and we were able to secure it for a good price, but the blocks were spotted by Brooky Tonneberger ... Trouble was brewing!!!! Brooky just HAD to have a set of those blocks, at any price, and had a bidding war against Steve Royster which will go down in ATIS history, and which Steve will NEVER live down. One of the auctioneer's assistants was Doug Etzkorn, and here, he shows the blocks at the Tonneberger table - you can see Brooky with her bidding card determinedly in the air. Now he shows them at the Royster table, and even as Steve bids (somewhat shamefaced) you can see Brooky in the background, refusing to lower her card. If looks could kill .... For those of you not present (why not??) Brooky was heartbroken, Steve "That Nasty Man" Royster took the blocks home and Glenn promised to make a special set, just for Brooky! The Eclipse had a long story behind it. Susan Tucker is a very talented artist, and she had said she would like an Eclipse to use as a canvas for her art. Mike set about tracking one down, and very soon, via Arnie and Steve Barr, had found just the engine. Now all he had to do was find an ingenious way of presenting it to Susan. Would it be possible, he wondered, to make it some kind of gift for their 17th wedding anniversary, which would be at Portland? (Incidently, my list of anniversaries doesn't include antique farm engines as the traditional or modern gift for any anniversary, but maybe that's a printing error). Steve "Don't be Fooled by his Innocent Looks" Webre came up with a plan. The Eclipse would appear at the culmination of the charity auction, there would be a team of unknown bidders pushing the price up and Mike would just keep going ... and going. At one point, Susan hissed that the price was almost as much as her beloved Triumph TR4 ... shortly afterwards, it went above that! When Mike, as any loving husband would know, realised that maximum effect had been reached, the engine was knocked down to him and the conspiracy was soon confessed. Here's the Tucker family, with the new addition, and the engine in question, taking it's place at the showgrounds. Other sights worth seeing were the Reid-powered laundry-dryer, owned and operated by Larry Thomas ... Brice Adams and his luxury accommodation, provided by Leroy ... Dolly and the Farmer Boys, Tim and Russell ... An interested crowd gathers round a last-day engine display, a Ford F350. And this one? Well, it's not for the faint-hearted. You may or may not know that Arnie's Bamford engine is known, because of the sound it makes, as Miss Whiplash. So here's Arnie and BOTH the Misses Whiplash ... with Jim Dunmeyer looking on in complete bewilderment! It may be noted that Dave's harem is growning, year by year. In 2001 there were just three ladies. In 2003 it had grown to five, and in 2005 he'd got nine!!!! Finally, we only took a group picture one day (getting this lot organised just once is very much like herding cats), so here's my shots.
And if all this isn't enough for you, there are more pages to view! Luke Tonneberger, Curt Holland, Joe Betz and Peter Forbes.
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