Bill P. does all the hard work in getting the Camps organized and making sure that everything ends up where it’s supposed to be and when it’s supposed to be there, but also gets the fun of attending all the Camps and meeting all the ShopBotters. Occasionally I decide that Bill P. shouldn’t have ALL the fun…though I still agree with the “doing all the hard work” part…and make a trip to one of the Camps. The New Jersey Camp has been a “must do” and I can’t miss the Florida Camps because my wife gets to come along and spend a few days in Disney World, but there’s a great group of ShopBotters in the Atlanta area so this year Ed’s Conley’s camp was added to the list.
In order to make it a little more of an adventure I decided that a train trip would be a neat way to go. The closest the train to Atlanta…the Crescent…comes to the Eastern Shore is Charlottesville, Virginia which is about 3 1/2 hours away, and it leaves Charlottesville at 9 at night and arrives in Atlanta at 8 the next morning. A sleeper made the trip very comfortable..and being able to work a couple of hours without the distractions of phones and email was a treat! The thing that made it really work though was that David Buchsbaum offered to pick me up at the Train station in Atlanta and drop me back off…a big inconvenience that I greatly appreciate.
Most ShopBotters go to ShopBot Camps with the hopes of learning new tricks, and it would be hard to imagine that anyone could ever be disappointed, but for me the best part is the informal time between sessions to catch up on what everyone’s been doing. There are a lot of folks that I’ve met at other Camps, at the Jamboree, or at trips to ShopBot and it’s great to see them again, but one of the neatest parts about going to Camps is meeting people in person that you’ve only communicated with previously by email. There are a handful of ShopBotters at each Camp that I feel like I know from email or the forum but have never met…it’s great to put a face with each name.
One of the “new faces” was Ed Lang from Charlottesville. He had driven for 11 hours while I rode in comfort…he had never thought of taking the train. Maybe next year we’ll both take the train to Ed’s Camp…I’m sure we’ll both be there.
Bill Y.
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