It’s been a while since I’ve posted. Not because I haven’t had things to write about, but because there have been more important uses of my time than blogging. Sad, that. But there’s still a day job and I’m still plugging along with my writing.
LibertyCon 2022
LibertyCon is more than just a convention, it’s a gathering of friends and family you know and those you haven’t met yet. There’s always something to do, someone to talk to. I drove down starting on Wednesday, stopping a few hours away in Knoxville where my friend Olesh had moved to relatively recently. Like all good road trips, it was uneventful and it was great to catch up with him and his wife.
We arrived at the con Thursday a bit after noon and offloaded the literal truckload of party supplies for the weekend and spent a few hours catching up with other early arrivals and staging the room for the weekend. (VIDEO OF STAGED ROOM ). I was open for a little while Thursday and Sunday and with Olesh’s support and a drink menu was open for most of Friday and Saturday. In hindsight, one night was more than enough – both nights cost me time with people that I came to see vs. time with people that came to see me.
There were some programming issues – well, I had some issues with the programming – where everything I wanted to do was happening all at the same time. But that’s my problem, not the con’s.
There’s too many people to list that I saw, but some highlights were spending time with my good friend Mike Massa and his lovely wife Lorna, chatting with Monalisa and Rick, getting some conversation in with Kevin Ikenberry, a long and interesting chat about the Titanic and other topics with Dan Butler, and spending time with my David Weber fan club Executive Officer, Evil Penguin who was recovering from some serious health issues. It’s always great to see Rob Hampson – a good friend and honest to goodness scientist – who was gifted with a full page layout of a Wall Street Journal article referencing his work and signed by his friends, including yours truly.
The highlight for me was a personal one that came Thursday night from my friend Greg Donahue. As a Marine, the Island of Iwo Jima is a special place in lore and legend and the battle fought there is part of the mythology that builds a Marine into what we are. He gifted me with some “sand” from that island. I can barely imagine thousands of men pressed face first into this sharp-edged, volcanic gravel, fighting for their lives. Nor the Japanese defenders giving their blood to defend it. When I was in service, I was slated to travel for the anniversary of the landing, but that trip was canceled due to weather. It’s unlikely that I’ll ever stand there and certainly wouldn’t be allowed to take home soil from there. This hallowed dirt was brought over many decades ago, before such things were forbidden. And now I have some. Thank you, Greg.
Despite getting reasonable amounts of sleep and not drinking all that much, by the time I got home Monday night, I was exhausted. It honestly took a couple days before I was back into the grind of the day job. But it was oh so worth it.
Tickets for 2023 went on sale the day of the airshow and I was fortunate that a friend grabbed tickets for me while I was in the middle of an airfield with inconsistent cell phone connectivity so I can attend next year.
Sorry for the lack of pictures. I was too busy peopling to use my phone for anything other than comms.
I proved to everyone’s satisfaction that really expensive rye whiskey makes really amazing Old Fashioneds.
Transition
In between the convention and the air show, I found out that I was NOT one of the ten finalists for the Baen Fantasy Adventure Award. No sadness. I did come up with a protagonist and a world that I like if I ever want to get into urban fantasy. There’s always next year.
Thunder Over Michigan Airshow
This past weekend was the Thunder Over Michigan Airshow and the first year of their two-show-a-day, drive-up format. While I loved the show, I am not at fan of the new format at all. I’m going to complain first and then tell you about the awesomeness that made it all worthwhile.
So… the “day of show” prices for the airshow are obscene. I have the advantage of getting a discount for being a museum member and buying early, so I wouldn’t be paying these prices, but still more than half of what I’m going to describe
- The all day $25 per vehicle parking and $60 per person walk-in entry was replaced in its entirety by a flat $225 per normal sized vehicle. No RVs or vehicles over 20 feet long. As many people as you can legally fit. For ONE two to two and a half hour show. Morning show opens at 7, starts at9, ends at 11. Afternoon show opens at 1, starts at 2:30, ends by 5.
- $170 more to get a full day pass. For that you get a second, different show of the same length after a three and a half hour wait.
- Performers are never guaranteed and there are no rainchecks. The morning show had several cancelations (Lysander, Mosquito, and Navy Leap Frog parachute team), so we only saw 6 planes take to the air. Math: $225/3 people in the car/6 planes = $12.50 per person per plane. OR $225/3 people/2 hours = $37.50 per person per hour. If the show is rained out, you’re out your money.
- No more WWII ground battle re-enactments
- No more WWII/Vietnam re-enactor campground outside the airshow
- No more surplus, militaria vendors at the campground
- No more significant ground equipment displays of historic tanks and armored vehicles (though there was still some)
- Limited ground displays – there was barely anything to do between shows and some of the static displays were closed. There were fewer aircraft on display.
- The all-day beverage and lunch included tent at the flightline “Bomber Club” was turned into the “Thunder Deck” which didn’t serve a lessened lunch until 2pm and that put you up in raised grandstands a couple hundred yards from the flightline. Still an additional $100+ per person.
- Basically, you’re paying a lot more for a lot less.
So… on to the good and why it was still worth it.
Every single one of the Thunder Over Michigan airshows is an opportunity to see something you’ll almost certainly never see again. This year I was hoping to see one of the few flying original DeHavilland Mosquitos, but that was one of the last minute cancellations. I DID get to see a FW190, an Me109, a P-51 Mustang, and a Supermarine Spitfire fly together, in formation. I also got to see a canceled then arriving late DeHavilland Vampire, both of those in the afternoon show.
The star of the morning show was the Hawker Hurricane. It was unanimous that it was the most graceful WWII warbird any of us had seen.
Because I had made the decision to attend all day, and I’m a veteran, I was eligible to get one of nine slots on a Vietnam era (5 year, 3500+ flight hour veteran of that conflict) Huey, courtesy of Pentagon Federal Credit Union. I got to check a bucket list item off of my list. 🙂
Writing Takeaways
Since this is a writing blog, I figured I needed to insert some takeaways.
- Networking with other authors and fans is a valuable use of time. Make time for it. #LibertyCon
- Get out and experience things to assist you with your writing. I now know what it’s like to ride in a helicopter (no thanks to four years in the Marines), have heard how quiet a jet fighter can be (Vampire is really really quiet for a jet), heard how loud a jet fighter can be (my ears are still ringing from the F35s I’ve seen in years past), and have gotten up close and hands on with the past and the present with static displays. It doesn’t have to be an air show, but just something outside of your daily experience.
I’ve got a lot more images to share. Let me know if you’re interested and I’ll post them in a follow-up thread!
Nathan Balyeat 