I was out of town most of the last week. I went on a road trip with a couple of my coworkers. Phase one of the road trip was to attend an energy industry convention in a state north of Oklahoma (not Knebraska). It is good to get out and see our customers and competitors.

This is my third year at the event. I like going but the difficult part is that it starts Sunday afternoon. We have to leave Tulsa about noon so and the family doesn’t go to church. We hang out and then drive downtown to meet with the other two guys. They are both named Dave. Both Daves are pretty cool and good guys to be with.

We go to the city where the show is being held quite a little bit. We have a tradition now. We stop at the Braums at Blackwell, OK and me and one of the Daves gets a “large chocolate mix with Heath Bars.” I had never heard of them before driving with this particular Dave but I am now addicted to them. . To show you how addicted, there are two geocaches within walking distance of the Braums. I would love to get them while Dave gets his mix. I don’t want to miss out out on the mix.

Anyway we finally get to the hotel where the convention is and get changed into our dressup clothes. We have to be at the booth for a few hours. People come by and chat. It is pretty nice. Then the bar opens up. Free Drinks! Free Food! I’m there.

Below is a picture of one of the Daves. He is a very nice guy. Very old school in that he is very polite and courteous. The other Dave is nice also but I didn’t get a picture of him.

While there I always run into people I know. My friend Sonja was there. I have known her for 20 years. I told her that it was our 20 year anniversary. I got the other Dave to take the anniversary picture. You can see why I don’t like pictures of myself. Mrs. Yogi always says “you did that thing with your mouth.” I can’t help it. So I try to not smile or show any expression at all in pictures. I don’t like how that looks either so I avoid all unnecessary pictures.

Another anniversary is with Derald. He is my employer’s booth guy. He is wonderful. Previous employers always required us to put up our own booths. That is a lot of work. Derald does all that. He and his wife do it all. Derald is awesome. I started with him 8 years ago. I would show up and try and help him to make sure that it is done right. He was polite but I could tell he didn’t really want my help.

Derald is awesome. He is one of those guys who just handles things in a very competent, professional manner. He takes a lot of pride in his work. He won’t let me take a picture of him so I took one of him while he was taking one of me at the booth. Its kind of fuzzy, but it is the best I could do, for now.

The show was well attended. Why not. Oil prices are way over $100 a barrel. The doo-dah days are here! Time to party! A big downer is the Symcrude situation. I’m told that Symcrude buys 20% of the oil produced in this state. Some of the folks at the show got stiffed for over $20 million. I just hope that Symcrude doesn’t take anybody down with them.

High oil prices lead to a lot of goofiness. Most small oil producers are very good businessmen. They are very generous but conservative financially. Something new this year was a helicopter dealer. I had never seen that before. The dealer flew one in to the vacant lot next door to the hotel. I wonder if they give lessons. I didn’t ask the cost. I don’t think that you could talk me into riding that little thing. It doesn’t look very safe.
It was a long road trip. About a week. More later.