Up at 4.00am and snuck out after breakfast, on time to leave at 5.00am. All was going according to plan, until I left the car door open too long and the alarm went off. That shattered the usually quiet neighbourhood, but after pressing all the buttons on the car remote, the noise stopped and we were able to drive away from the scene of the crime.
We negotiated our way out of DC with the aid of our trusty GPS, whose skills I have come to respect, and ended up on I 270 heading north into Pennsylvania en route to Hershey. Arrived there on time at a little after 7.00am (I think it was 136 miles) and found the gigantic car parking lot together with the even more gigantic vendor lots. The map they provided (in exchange for a five spot !) showed orderly rows of vendor positions and a variety of selling areas. However the effect on the ground was anything but orderly. It was impossible to walk the rows one by one and cross them off the list as having been covered. It was immensely disorganised with the result that I couldn't follow where we had been and where we had still to go to do a complete coverage.
and a look at the well equipped Hershey adventurer. Note the two males scouting ahead, while the packhorse tows the trailer -
Every fully prepared shopper had one of these trailers (probably stolen from the kids), into which all the purchases were stowed.
A full house of luverly crown lampshades - I don't think they sold !
and me out the front of the giant Coker tyre (tire)-
We managed to walk over Chocolate Field North in the morning followed by Chocolate Field South in the PM after a hot dawg and were completely buggered. (We had verification from a brief encounter with an Australian from Canberra the next morning, that she and her husband had done the same - he had a GPS and measured the distance they walked at 20 kms !)
We managed a small haul including some number plates (a 1917 Pennsylvania plate - for the T Model and a Texas plate), but in the afternoon in Chocky Field South, Margaret steered me towards a top windscreen frame complete with hinges for $10 - bargain time !
Some car photos follow:
a jeep selling for $50,000 OBO ! (They are that rare, aren't they ?)
A 1919 Locomobile on sale for $115,000 -
A twin six (ie V6) 1916 Packard, only $59,000 -
and lastly a 1926 Bentley (didn't see a price) -
After reclaiming our Nissan, we drove from there back to Harrisburg, found our pre booked accommodation and flaked.
It was a great day, despite having bought so little and I'm pleased we made the effort to attend.
