Bangor to New Hampshire 9.7-9.8

We leave Boothbay Resort with big hugs and memories of hand picked lobsters, with directions to stop in Belfast, Maine. Lori has called ahead and set us up a meeting at the Welcome Center.
And welcomed we were! They had printed signs to greet us, including one being held by a bear!
Win and Lori's friends, Jim and Pattie are a wealth of information about the area. And Win took the opportunity to make a nice donation.(He did not expect the sound it would make as a result!)
They make some calls and a reporter shows up and we are interviewed by Abby Curtis of the Bangor Daily News! Photos taken and off we drive for Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park. Bar Harbor is busy, there's a huge cruise ship at port! We park the car on the street across from 'Oli's Trollies', and let her do her thing. We enjoy a walk to the pier and around town. We meet Larry a street puppet, quite a character. Larry is purple with blue hair. Oli asked him if he enjoyed blueberries? Larry said why yes! We enjoyed blueberries in ice cream, yummy. When we return to the time machine, a crowd of restaurant workers are lined up, taking photos, making donations and generally overlooking the scene from their nearby deck. We get directions from them, then drive through Acadia National Park. Finding the entrance, we decide to buy an annual pass for national parks since we'll be checking out several, later on, out west. The fresh air is intoxicating! We take a hike down to sea anemone cave that can only be seen at low tide, because at high tide its filled with water. No critters in the tidal pools. Tide is coming in and the sea gulls have had all day to dine on the captive lunch. We continue on around the island on a one way loop, stopping for some photos at a scenic overlook at sunset. Really beautiful. Then off to find a place to rest. We find a cute cluster of cabin/cottages that we saw on the drive in, and rest we do!

Quilts, and going back to 1980.

Recently I had the enjoyable opportunity to do a different kind of time traveling.
My friend from way back in Junior High School, Robin Ballew Culbertson, contacted me through Facebook earlier in the year.
First, let me tell you a little about Robin. As kids, we had several classes together, and many of the same friends. Robin was extremely academically gifted and we tended to travel in the same creative circles. While I was often anxious and tended to use 'broad strokes', her artistic skills exhibited a mature patience and meticulous attention to detail. I've never told her this, but I would often take my cues from her, watching to see how high she would 'set the bar', when it came to class projects. One of my favorite memories about Robin was when the two of us collaborated on a marionette production of 'Pinocchio' together. Her craftsmanship just blew me away, and she challenged me (without even knowing it.)
Another memory is when we did a rock and roll puppet show with several of our other partners in crime, -and unwittingly filled the classroom with noxious green and red fumes from smoke bombs.
The less said about that, the better. (But boy, Mrs. Tate was MAD!)
Fast forward to February of 2010.
She wrote: "I am planning on doing a customer quilt show in the spring, and one of the ideas I had was to perhaps tie it in with your DeLorean time machine and your [Team Fox] efforts. I want to do the quilt show as a fundraiser for charity, but haven't settled on which one."

Well. I don't know anything about quilts, and at first, the idea seemed like a stretch, even for a time traveler. But Robin had sincere interest, and, like back in our school days, I knew anything she's involved with would have outstanding results. And those results could help us in our mission to find a cure for Parkinson's.
We corresponded back and forth and came up with a date and time. And as predicted, the event was wonderful. She took out display ads and alerted the media. She lined up sponsors to reward winning entries with prizes, including a Baby Lock Grace Computerized Sewing Machine.
(I think the word 'Grace' is so appropriate.)
And even though she felt a little nervous about it, Robin even appeared on a local television show to promote the event.
The quilt entries were amazing, and I've now been properly introduced to this art form. The folks who came out for the 'kick off' were so kind and generous and encouraging. Several people came out to the Asheville Cotton Company for the first time to see what the DeLorean was doing there. And one guy even came dressed as Marty McFly! After talking 'horsepower' and 'MPG' with some fellas, I even convinced them to step inside and check out the quilts! Another long time friend, Conrad Shirk, came by with his family to say 'Hi.'
Afterwards, Robin and I enjoyed a BBQ lunch together and caught up on 'old times.'
Now that all is said and done, I'm thrilled to share that Robin and her hard work resulted in a donation of $2331.57 for the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research!
Check out her website that describes the event and even displays photos of the winning quilts! -And if you're ever in Asheville, North Carolina, be sure and stop in at the Asheville Cotton Co. and say 'Hi' to Robin.
Even if you don't sew, you'll consider yourself lucky after meeting such an exceptional, fun and generous person.
-Oliver
(7th grade.)

Vulcan Con!

Thursday April 29^th, depart for Tampa, 5:30 am. Driving under a full moon, bright in the early morning sky. Roads are clear except for some patches of fog. I’d like to say the sunrise was beautiful, but I can’t because this trip found me nodding off a lot! Oli drove like the mad man he is and I slept. He even took a picture of me catching flies! Well, I took one of him after our first gas stop enjoying a banana; re-fuel, as he would say.

Our regular path is 95 south to 4 to Orlando. This time we veered west at Jacksonville to 10 – 301 – 75 and we were in steamy hot Tampa. After a bit of hunting we found a self serve car wash and gave little D a bath. Then on to the hotel, where the crew at the Double Tree were waiting and ready to load the car into the hotel lobby via the rear entrance, (through two banquet halls and one heck of a 180 degree corner into the lobby. Oli drove most of the way, until ‘yellow shirt man’ let it be known that you cannot run an automobile in a hotel in Florida. So we pushed it the rest of the way, yes pushed it around the tight turn. After some clever maneuvering and the moving of the lobby furniture, she was in place. A quick plug-in and clean up and we were ready for guests.

Javier and Fernando were happy to see the car in place as they arrived, unloading their gear. The hotel staff has been great and we really look forward to meeting all the Star Trek people, Klingon, Vulcan and more!

After a dinner of Papa John’s pizza we relax to some TV and well-deserved sleep!

Auto Show Day 2

After a tasty cookout and visit with friends last night, I arrived back at the garage around 8am to light the car up and prepare for the crowds. It was drizzling and being a weekday, most of the folks were retirees. This is the south, and much of the attendees were dressed in stereotypical denim farmer overalls, or camouflage pants. And of course, ball caps.
The day was long and a little disheartening. I played the video on Parkinson’s and the mission, along with some brief clips from Back to the Future, which helped with the education part of our goal, but donations were going to be a struggle it seemed. Many would read the sign “Take a photo, but give hope”, quickly snap a picture, grab a brochure and move away as if an emergency had just come up. More than a handful of people replied that they were out of work, as I started welcoming them to make a donation. There was no shortage of cameras and video recorders, and people seemed quite enthused about seeing the car and taking what they could from the experience. I quickly realized that once they purchased their ticket into the auto fair, they did not expect to spend anything more beyond a corn dog and a ‘Sham-Wow.’ And I can’t blame them. I questioned my wisdom of exhibiting at this show, and quickly tried to think of ways to turn things around and make it more of a success. My growing frustration was soon diffused. One particular man seemed to really study the video and the car and the donation signs. He wasn’t repelled by the invitation to help cure a disease. After some careful and genuine consideration, he approached the donation jar and without stopping, placed a prepared bill in the top. With a tight throat, seeming to force back emotions, he whispered ‘My wife has Parkinsons.’ He kept moving, not wanting to engage in conversation.
In a way, I am grateful. It would have been very difficult for the both of us.
But he had given more than he realized. He gave me a gift of renewed resolve, and encouragement, right at the moment I needed it. This weekend was going to be a struggle, but if I had given up, it wouldn’t have progressed as wonderfully as it did.

MegaCon Saturday

Saturday was much busier with lots of costumed fans roaming the aisles. A few celebrities stopped by our display to lend their support. Terry and I compared notes afterwards about the large number of attendees that spoke about how Parkinson's affects their lives. One lady just lost a good friend at the age of 40 due to the disease and a gentleman lost his wife, who had experienced complications during a brain surgery trial.
It's a real challenge to educate folks about our purpose and why the time machine is on display.
The iconic vehicle certainly triggers attendees to whip out their cell phones and cameras, but we try to encourage them to do more than just 'take.'
Take a photo, but give hope.
Fortunately, for every person that misses the point, there is another that donates, just for the sake of contributing, expecting nothing in return.
It's a surprising balance.