During the past month I have been very busy with a lot of neon related travels, going from coast to coast to attend neon related events and to visit several friends and neon shops along the way.

I set out from our new location in St Cloud, MN on August 26th to attend the first ever Neon Symposium being hosted at the Pilchuck school in Stanwood, WA.  My plan included a 4 day detour into British Columbia to visit with friends Cameron and Holiday and to see their neon shop...I even got to appear in a "Neon Trenches" episode!  Following this, I reentered the US (Yes, there were funny stories about my going through customs with all my portable neon shop equipment and the items being brought for my presentation at Pilchuck, but I should save those for another time.)  and headed for Pilchuck.  This was my first time seeing the Pilchuck campus and all I can say is it is truly AMAZING!  The setting is perfect, the facilities excellent, the food was great, and the staff went above and beyond to insure that all of us had what we needed and had a positive experience.  

This conference spanned the Labor Day weekend and had a variety of presentations and demonstrations related to neon and plasma artwork, there was something for everyone, regardless of your specific area of interest or expertise.  (The presentation I gave involved pre-WWII neon tools and history and the early development of electrodes, with a smattering of the chemical and physical processes that take place during processing and operation.)  I especially enjoyed getting to meet so many neon and plasma experts and the opportunity to exchange ideas.  After years of working in a vacuum  (haha, see what I did there?) it was great to have such an event and I am sure we all came away with newfound knowledge and energy for our art.

After the conference I had a brief visit at Radiant Neon in Seattle, and several other attendees dropped in throughout the day--I suspect Alleson and Marisa got nothing done that day with all of the visitors coming down from Pilchuck on their way home.

Upon returning home and unloading the gear from the car, I had about 4 days before leaving again--this time heading east to attend the first Neon Makers Guild Benders Bash.  This was hosted by Chloe at Uptown Neon in Richmond, VA.  On the way there, I made a point to stop by Evening Neon to pick up some antique equipment that Eve had been storing for me, as well as a stop at my brother-in-law's house in Philadelphia for a similar reason.  (I was stashing vacuum pumps in his garage because it was cheaper to send them there to pick up later than to send them to my home in Alaska.......I am fortunate to have friends and family who will indulge such foolishness on my part.)  Additionally, I made a brief stop to visit with Michael and Steve Grossmann of Cathode Lighting Systems in Gaithersburg, MD and then headed onward to Richmond.

The meetup at Uptown was wonderful!  It was well attended and I know I overheard at least one person mention that it was almost as if people we've regularly seen in our monthly zoom "Benders Brunch" meetings had jumped out of their screens and into real life!  Uptown is an amazing shop with a long history and I am sure you could walk through it a hundred times and see something new every time.  This was a lively meeting, with opportunities to visit and learn, play on the torches a little bit, a swap meet of neon related stuff, and great food!  A big thank you to Chloe, Morgan, and Danielle for driving the organization of the event and another big thank you to all who traveled to attend it!  I hope we can do it again.....and if anyone wishes to host such an event at their neon shop, please reach out as this is something we'd like to be able to do several times a year.

Rounding out my journey included a stop at Fair Radio Sales in Lima, OH--an electronic surplus store that is a favorite (a place open since 1947 and where I have been a customer since 1981.....this time I even found vintage neon there!) and then a stop at Electric Eye Neon in Milwaukee.

I've been home a week now.  Gradually trying to fall back into some sort of routine before my next bit of traveling for neon purposes.  (yes, there is something in the works already)  A long roadtrip that has been a great experience (well, other than the tire that was damaged on I-95) and I truly enjoyed getting to meet so many talented neon people!  Oh, and on the subject of mileage and cars.....You have likely seen or heard about the Bentley ad featuring a bit of asmr in it and all the various parodies being done of it.  Well...apologies in advance....maybe I was sleep deprived, or just nuts, but it was too funny to pass up so I made a neon related one, click here:   Bentley vs Neon Shop