Car show season kicks off early next month in LA. By January and February, rust belt cities will host their odes to all things auto. I'll have to ask him, but I wonder if Dad's ever missed a car show in Cleveland, or maybe even Detroit? He's gone with me, Heather, Mom, Linda, Gene, Joe, Lee, uncles, cousins, friends. I think once he took my grandma! There's a long list of people who've suffered through... I mean enjoyed his company for the 8+ hours he spends inside a huge arena of engines, slick brochures, rockin' music, grease and scantily clad women. (Hhhhhmmmmm, come to think of it, maybe he's not there for the cars ....)
Dad loves to see his old favorites -- the models he's owned or wished to own. And he's just as excited to learn more about concept cars and hybrids. If you go with him, plan on taking a backpack of survival gear because he WILL stay all day and into the night. He will talk to half of the sales people and get his picture taken with half the ladies standing around in bikinis. I haven't been to a car show with Dad in a long time, but I have heard reports from each show, each year. Here's a few pix of Dad and his beloved Prowler, just to emphasize his auto love and as a wish that he makes it to Cleveland or Detroit this winter. When he does, I will join him.
It's also harvest season across the Midwest, which means farmers better be getting their corn dryers in working condition. For years and years, Dad had a company called Beecheler Electric. This could have started when he was a kid, fixing appliances in his Dad's shop, but I know he had this company throughout our childhood and adolescent years because Beecheler Electric always sponsored my softball teams.Dad of course had a full-time, high-stress job in the telecommunications industry for 30+ years. As if that wasn't enough, he spent many weeknights and weekends through each fall as the lone employee of Beecheler Electric, venturing far and wide to fix corn dryers. This was a self-taught skill, as far as I know. I think he must have learned on Uncle Bill and Jim's farm. But I just know there were many days he'd get home from his 8 to 6 job, eat a quick dinner, and drive -- sometimes for hours -- to fix a corn dryer on-farm. He'd get home anywhere from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m., then wake up and put on a suit and tie to head for the office again.
Dad recently told me how much money he made fixing corn dryers. It was enough to buy a nice boat and then some. Corn dryers are not inside a barn. They're free-standing in the middle of the all the weather elements. So through snow, sleet, freezing cold wind, dark, Dad was out there for hours and hours with his toolbox. I wonder what he was thinking besides, "Damn, it's cold and I'm tired!" Knowing him, he just thought, "Hey, this is what I gotta to do get ahead. No problem. At least I have legs, arms and skills." My Dad makes me feel very, very lazy. And thankful, in this season of thanks, for all his hard, hard work. He's an inspiration to me.
This isn't a picture of Dad fixing a corn dryer, but it's him in one of his work jackets on a winter day in front of his barn.
Corn dryers, who would've thought!? I share your pain, I mean excitement! I am the daughter of a car guy and wife of one as well. Although lately that has been serving me well as they go together. But I have similar memories of trudging through Cobo with coats and bags of fliers that people just had to have, a couple of years with a stroller,just wondering where the water fountain was!
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