It is Friday morning at 9AM and Hamvention is underway. The early weather is sunny and pleasantly cool. I don't have a good sense yet of the attendance. Based on the number of cars in parking lots, it seems about the same as last year.

Well, touched down in Indy around 6 o'clock eastern and after a 90 minute drive arrived in Dayton!

Went around checking out some suites; Contest Supersuite, Bavarian Contest Club, Society of Midwest Contesters. They were all jumping! Especially the Supersuite, I met up with a few friends including my first ever HF contact, N4PN.

There were quite a few youth at the Contest Supersuite, Cal K0DXC was one of them. Cal is hamfamous as a young contester, and has operated at K3LR for CQ WW CW, so it was great to meet up with him.

Other than that, I thought it all went really well! First night, a bit of a thin crowd but no lack of spirit. Looking forward to tomorrow, going around and seeing the vendors and forums, the DX Dinner later on and a few other attractions.

73 for now, time to shut down and get some rest for tomorrow!

Who says that you can never go home again? It is Hamvention Eve and I am relaxing in the sweet opulence of Casa De Mi Madre. When I drove up the deeply rutted driveway and glimpsed the family homestead, my heart leapt into my throat. Lil Luke had set up a comfortable, if not imaginative, front yard swing just for my use. Before I could admire its craftsmanship, my mother rushed out of the house, threw down her shotgun and began dancing with joy.

The weather here in Dayton is unsettled. On the way into Greater Cincinnati Airport our Comair Canadair Regional Jet was bumping and thumping through dark clouds. Rain streaked the windows as we eventually taxied to the gate.

The sun is shining as I type this, but there is a possibility of showers and a few isolated thunderstorms tomorrow and Saturday.

We'll close out the evening with an invigorating game of toilet seat horseshoes in the back yard and then retire early. The doors of Hara Arena open at 9AM tomorrow!

It's my third year attending Contest University-- and Contest University's third year here at Dayton. Since last year (my second year) I received my "Masters in Contesting," does that mean I get my PhD in Contesting this year? And is that ARRL President Joel Harrison, W5ZN, over in the first year section?

Actually, I'm excited about he slate of courses I've signed up for -- a whole morning of RTTY contesting taught by W0YK, followed by K5ZD's presentation on Sprint and Sweepstakes contesting, Antennas and Propagation with W3LPL and Advanced Station Design with W6NL.

Tonight I'm off to Jay's Seafood wih a group of friends. And then tomorrow we all start bright and early at the ARRL EXPO. Let the good times begin!

Well, I've done my running around. Finished my frantic thinking. Reorganized my hurried packing. All systems are go!

Only possible delay on the horizon is the weather, we've had some interesting storms in the north eastern Kansas area this evening. A few tornados and strong storms, just about par for the course. It's starting to pass by, although there is still an eerie yellow in the sky. Hopefully the clouds will have had their fun and moved on by tomorrow, for a nice flight into Indy.

Till tomorrow, 73 and safe travels!