Dec. 5, 2009 - Vacation! Skip & Barbara left Baton Rouge and drove to Tallahassee, FL, where we spent the the night and next morning with Rudy and Brenda Slaughters. We were happy to see our friends again this year. On Sunday afternoon, we left and drove to Orlando, where we checked in to our resort, Vacation Village at Parkway in Kissimmee, FL.

Vacation Village put us in a brand new building, and we had asked for a two bedroom lock-out suite. We had planned to take the grand kids with us, but they had tests and could not come. The facilities were great.

My sister, Bea Bea Smith, came over from her home in Ft. Pierce, FL and spent two days with us. She enjoyed her side of the apartment.

Our main purpose of the trip was to attend the Performance Racing Industry Trade Show at the Orlando Convention Center. We attended one day of the trade show. Last year was my first time visiting the PRI Show, and I spent two days walking around all the displays. Barbara enjoyed seeing all the vendors and the size of the facility.

We spent some time shopping at the Premier Outlet Mall in Orlando. Barbara completed almost all of her Christmas shopping at the outlet mall. We used the kitchen facilities to cook some meals while we were there, but for nights, we ate out.

We came back on Sunday, Dec. 13, 2009, after having a great time. We stopped in Biloxi, MS and visited the Sunday Dinner Buffet at Boomtown Casino. Boomtown is one of our regular food stops when passing through the Gulf Coast.

We plan to go back to the Orlando area for another vacation, without going to visit "The Mouse". Barbara and I have been to Disney World several times. There is so much more to do in Orlando that we have not done. I know Barbara wants to go back to the outlet mall(s). I don't mind shopping either.

May 4, 2009 - The weekend was spent in Tallahassee, FL, visiting and celebrating with our old friends, Brenda & Rudy Slaughter. Brenda retired from the school system with 35 years as a guidance counselor. Brenda worked at three schools during that time. Representatives from each school spoke about how much she contributed to their school and how much the kids loved her. Brenda was totally shocked to see us at the ceremony. There were many well wishers and relatives that gave Brenda lots of nice comments and loads of love. Barbara and I would like to say that the food was plentiful and great tasting. We enjoyed the whole weekend. Rudy knows how to give a party!

Rudy and I are best friends and we lived 5 houses apart on the same street in Daytona Beach, Florida. We were in the same H. S. graduating class and played football on the same team. Rudy lettered for 4 years as a defensive end and got a full ride to Morris Brown College in Atlanta. I started out in 9th grade as the play-by play announcer, kept stats. for three years. I only played football in my senior year (I should have stayed in the broadcast booth)! After H. S., I went into the Navy. Rudy has had a great career in federal and state government. We have kept up with each other for all those years. Rudy currently is head of student recruiting for FAMU. Rudy travels all over the U. S. A. and gives out scholarships, mostly to top high school performers.

We got to see the commencement speech given by President Bill Clinton to the Florida A&M University Graduating Class of Spring 2009.

4/17/2009 - Barbara and I went to Hilton Head Island, SC for four days of vacation and relaxation. We enjoyed every minute and we are looking forward to going back.

Visit to the PRI Trade Show in Orlando. Photos from the show. Dec. 11-14, 2008.

Weds., 12/10/08, Alvin, Devin and myself left for the PRI Show early in the morning expecting to have a short 5 hour plane trip to Orlando. We arrived after traveling for 14 hours. The weather caused delays all along the east coast. This was the same weather cell that produced 3-5 inches of SNOW in the Baton Rouge area starting early Thursday morning and the ice storms in the northeast.

Thursday morning, we arrived at the Orlando Convention Center and I promptly got in line to get my Media Camera Credentials.

This place is awesome! Many times "Awesome" gets overused, but there are not many words that can describe the size of this show. The size of the Orlando Convention Center complex (1 million Sq. Ft.), the amount of displays (1400 Vendors), the cost that the vendors have gone too to make their displays the best that they can. If I had to give an award for the best display, it would go to SRP (Scorpion Racing Products), along with several of the companies that displayed full working CNC machines in Machinery Row. I did not have official attendance numbers, but I am told it was well over 45,000 people that attended.

I walked, took photos and collected information from so many vendors, I had to stop taking every book and I had to become very selective. The smart people that had attended before had small suitcases on wheels that they were collecting their booklets in. There must have been at least 20 - 25 rows of vendors lining each side of an aisle. There were many trailer vendors, RV vendors and hauler vendors. Outside there were full working dyno test stations.

There were scheduled news conferences and presentations in a special press/media area. Each day had several scheduled seminars. I had planned to attend several of them, but did not make any. Maybe next year.

After the first day I had only covered about 5 rows. I had too many books, my feet were hurting and I was just overwhelmed with the enormity of the show. Alvin, who has attended the past two years, was in heaven. Talking to many of the great people that he has talked to on the phone, including Joe Mondello.  Joe invited Alvin and his crew to dinner after the show on Friday night. We ate at a place called Tu - Tu's Tango. It was unique. We enjoyed the dinner and the conversation with the total of 12 people that were invited.

Wednesday night we had dinner at The Butcher Block, a steakhouse with excellent steaks. We were joined by my sister, Bea Bea Smith, from Ft. Pierce, FL.

Friday I completed all the remaining rows of vendors and purchased a few items that I thought were unique products or that I always wanted but did not know where that product was available. Some of the vendors were allowed to sell at the show, while others were only allowed to take orders. Some took my card, or swiped my credentials and said they would call me this coming week.

While Alvin concentrated on cylinder head porting and Ford racing engines, I was looking at race car graphics, computer engine control, computer simulation software, racing suits and shirts, transmission and converter technology and of course, all the information that I could gather on carburetors. I found three carburetor manufacturers that I did not know existed. All of them use some of the Holley design and most of them use the Holley gaskets and needle & seats. All of them have their own body and venturi configuration. All of them claim to be better than Holley. I own a Holley HP 1150 of the new modular billit design. I would sure like to run each of these new designs on my 555 BBC to see what they can do. Since I have owned three Barry Grant carbs, I spent a lot of time at their display talking to the salesmen and technical experts. I heard a lot of talk about "Wet Flow Benches", for carbs and for heads.

I am already preparing to go back next year. Barbara did not attend this year, but she wants to go next year. I know we will drive over and stay in our Time Share in Daytona Beach (60 miles). This will allow us to bring back much more equipment and information. Being restricted on a plane, with the tight security, was a definite draw-back.

I did not attend the Sat. session, but I traveled over to my home town of Daytona Beach and did some visiting, which was very relaxing, and I had a very good time.

Our trip home was very uneventful, and we got back to Baton Rouge in just under 5 1/2 hours.