2001 Southwest Regional Hot Air Meet

I had been wanting to attend a hot air engine show ever since Lassie was a pup. Then, I got wind of one coming up at Cottonwood, Arizona. Seeing as how son Tad was working near Durango, Colorado, it was a natural. I flew down there and he drove his camper down. For their first-ever meet, the organizers did an outstanding job. Through the years I'd been hearing and seeing such names as Bob Seir from England, Ole Berge, Jim Symanski, Don Isaacs, Jim Tangeman, Alphonse Vasallo, Rob Skinner, and Kelly Garcia. It was an enormous thrill to get to meet all of them in person. Here are some of numerous engines we saw. If you note any errors in the captions or can supply any additional information, please e-mail me and I'll make whatever changes are needed. Orrin Iseminger

Other demands caused me to miss the Second International Hot Air Meet at Lake Itasca. Much to my surprise, the first person I met at Cottonwood was this giant in the field of historic hot air engines and the ramrod of the Lake Itasca meet, Ole Berge and his wife "Wally." Ole went out of his way to greet people and make them feel at home. The presence of this gracious man from the land of Paul Bunyan turned this meet into a very special event. Rice and Egge's Lake Itasca page Graystone Ltd Lake Itasca pictures

Alphonse Vassallo, a quiet genius, gets his four cylinder Stirling ready for a run. Click here for a larger image 40k (Use your browser's "back" feature to return to this page.)

Wade Connell and his beautifully built reproduction Kyko fan. Wade said he hoped to start supplying Kyko castings, soon. Click here for a larger view 48k

Here is Wade's full scale Lake Breeze reproduction. Click here for a bigger view. 53k (Use your browser's "back" feature to return to this page.)