Well, I finally made it to the hotel - only an hour later than I had planned. Not a big deal when you consider the grand scheme of things.

As soon as I got to the hotel, I dropped my bags off in my room, freshened up a bit (I had only been up about 10 hours at this point), grabbed my camera (and new 70-300 mm lens) and headed of to GAREC-07 to take some pictures.

I met up with IARU Vice President Tim Ellam, VE6SH, in the hallway. I met him at the ARRL Board Meeting last month. He seems like a very nice guy.

The ballroom where they are holding GAREC is packed! There are more than 70 people in this room, all hearing about the latest in Emergency Communications. John Ronan (forgive me, but I can't remember his call) from Ireland was giving a talk earlier today. It really is amazing that hams from all over the world can come together and bond over the same activities we do here.

I also (finally!) got to meet Earle Smith, VE6NM. Earle is the President of the Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC). Earle and I struck up an "e-mail friendship" over polar bears, of all things. See, I love polar bears (if you ever see my office, you will discover this). A while back, Earle had sent me an e-mail congratulating me on my promotion to ARRL News Editor. We corresponded a bit, and when I found out he was coming to the ARRL Board Meeting in July, I asked him, if it was not too much trouble, to bring me something polar bear-ish. We didn't get the chance to meet in July, but I met him earlier today. He brought me a magazine from Nunavut, and Nunavut has polar bears. I really want a Nunavut license plate with my call sign on it, but that might have to wait a while.

I also got the luck to get to chat with Ray Novak, N9JA, a while. He invited me to sit next to him at GAREC, and we caught up a bit in between (and sometimes during) the speakers.

I guess I better get back to GAREC. The mayor of Huntsville is showing up at 3, and an Emergency Communications vehicle demonstration is at 3:30. No rest for the weary!

I wonder how Jon's doing...

Hahahahaha Jon!

Here I sit in beautiful Bradley Airport. The boarding agent Judy was kind enough to move me to a better seat on the plane, so all is good (so far). I got up at 2:45 this morning to be at the airport on time, so after about 12 cups of coffee on the way here, I'm a tad wired.

I can't wait to get to Huntsville - so what if it's 104 in the shade? The "all-air-conditioned Von Braun Center" will be the place to be this weekend.

I'll check back in when I get to the hotel.

Well, some of the people, anyway. ARRL Marketing Manager Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R, led a team of ARRL staff to Huntsville today, Thursday, in order to be ready on Friday morning to start setting up. We left Hartford at dark o'clock (OK, 6 AM really) and arrived in the late morning.

With time on our hands during the afternoon, and as Bob had previously arranged, we first visited the US Space and Rocket Center museum here in "Rocket City," then got a tour of some of the payload control spaces at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) thanks to Chuck Lewis, N4NM, a Marshall retiree. It was a fascinating visit. We not only learned a bit about MSFC activities but also got to see first hand some of the passion that NASA people bring to their work. It was inspiring.

One of the things I enjoyed most was hearing about a program called HUNCH that is used by the Human Factors group (I probably have that name wrong) to help equip their training simulator room. Students at high schools, mostly in northern Alabama and Texas plus one in Montana, build simple equipment for the NASA lab. Examples we were shown were light fixtures and cable assemblies. In the process, the students are trained to do work such as welding and soldering to NASA standards -- and are certified as such -- while NASA gets some needed items at a cost to the taxpayer far below what it otherwise would be. The very definition of a win-win situation, and a creative solution to a procurement problem.

Tomorrow we expect to get the ARRL areas set up in the Von Braun Center, ready for the thundering herd on Saturday. I figure Khrystyne will arrive at the convention center just about the time the work is finished. :-)

Jon Bloom, KE3Z, my blogging partner-in-crime, should already be in Huntsville as I type this. My plane leaves Bradley at 6:15 tomorrow morning. I change planes in Cincinnati and then arrive in Huntsville at 9:24 AM. My plan is to pick up the rental car, check in to the hotel and then head off to the second day of GAREC-07.

I still need to pack tonight -- ack!!!

Work is just about caught up, so "it's all good" (as my friend Paul likes to say). I still have to worry about the October QST Table of Contents and Correspondence, but I can (hopefully!) do that when I get back.

If you're at the Convention and Hamfest, please be sure to stop by the ARRL EXPO and say hi. I'll be at the Publications table - I'm the one in the yellow shirt. I can't wait to meet all y'all (and yes, since I'm from Texas, I can legally say y'all).