From the Editor's Desk

Reprinted from "Crown Jewels of the Wire", July 1996, page 3

We're back after a long vacation. Over 6,500 miles in the purple Chevy Blazer, stops along the way to see nearly 40 collectors and subscribers, mountains, deserts, ferry boats, 7 hours of flying time, 50 antique shops. This list goes on. I never fell asleep once on that trip and John and I talked like we haven't talked in four years! We are relaxed and ready to assume a scheduled life once again. Special thanks to those of you who were patient with the slow return of phone calls and delays in shipment of orders placed. 

We nicknamed this trip ALASKA or BUST!

Yes, we made it to Alaska and to prove it, we made sure our Anchorage bed and breakfast hosts, Bernie and Madeline Warren, snapped our picture in front of the beautiful Glaciers of Portage Lake.

A synopsis of our journey follows...you will need to fill in the blanks.

ST. JOSEPH, MO - Dennis and Jeannie Weber- insulators, cookie jars, telephoniana - ABILENE, KS - ATCA Telephone Museum - Model T slag glass ashtray labeled as CD 102 Brookfield - historic telephones - OAKLEY, KS - Saw Jake's wife - BIRD CITY, KS - Hemingray 106 with embossing error - YUMA, CO - CD 164 Star and royal purple W.G.M. toll - Shinn System lrb - LOVELAND, CO - Celebrating 30 years of marriage -- not much happened - FORT COLLINS, CO - Mike and Darlene Bliss - gold mine cars - world class Denvers - rare U.S. insulators - 7 flea markets in a row buying barbershop sheet music and a Kline Tool 1982 coffee mug - ESTES PARK, CO - Aspen Lodge - bed/breakfast a gift from our neighbors - Safeway grocery stop - hear announcement that Bobbi McHenry has a call at the Customer Service desk (What are the chances of that happening! See Bobbi) - ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK - Potato chip bag purchased at Safeway explodes at 12,000 feet - no harm hail storm - ROCK SPRINGS, WY - Al and Ann Richmond - rock hounds - insulators - an accountant's accuracy on unlisted insulators - gift of CD 735 So. Ex. Co./Chester in light cobalt - Brad Baker - CD 210 green Postal trade - $25 Mulford & Biddle in antique store - pickled pig's feet jar - flour sacks - historic telephone booklets - no harm snow storm - cow dead on road - VERNAL, UT - Ted Lovett - petrified dinosaur dropping - Locke manufacture golf tee markers from Jack Tod - unique insulator display throughout house - SANDY, UT - Barrie and Judith Rufi - 15 foot tall display in garage - neat backyard display - Reddi Kilowatt - SALT LAKE CITY, UT - Stan and Eleanor Sanders - incredible bottle/ insulator museum - golf balls - Utahania - man's stretcher - Personal FX stars - insulators glued to table tops - Mormon Tabernacle Choir Sunday morning live broadcast - "God Be With You" inspirational - no harm rain - BOISE, ID - Bud and Alberta Thompson - Electric company dispatch station display - Mershon trade - Laundry!! - CLE ELUM, WA - Wayne Wanechek and Connie - homemade elk roast - Canadian and threadless insulators - Collins Line digging buddy - no harm rain - EVERETT, WA - oil change - BELLINGHAM, WA - I-5 Antique Mall David Bethman Display - best display of bottles and reasonably priced colorful insulators award! - Carol begins her collection of bottles - VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA - trolley tour of city - Stanley Park - harbor - cruise ship departures - Gastown antiques - more sheet music - LADNER, BRITISH COLUMBIA - 1913 vintage bed & breakfast - watched basketball playoffs to see who would play Chicago Bulls - BC ferry - MAYNE ISLAND, BRITISH COLUMBIA - Mark Lauckner and Gail Noonan - green thumb - "Canadian Insulator Collector" editor - magnificent 100 foot long by seven foot high display of insulators outside - hot glass collection - hot Thai soup - "fish and ships" at Active Pass - BC ferry - VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA - Neil and Loraine Sprinkling - enthusiasm award - basement antique collection - Picasso - "Got it for a loony!" - NANAIMO, BRITISH COLUMBIA - great antiquing and best LRBs of the trip "Crown" and "Jewel" canning jars - VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA Oak Bay bed & breakfast - Russ Paton - computerese and "Canadian Insulator Collector" magazine production - couldn't identify "whatz-it" - BC ferry - PORT ANGELES, WA -in a hurry to make plane in Seattle - waved at Sequim (one time home of the Milhollands) - SEATTLE, WA - airport parking - down to one suitcase - pick up Illinois phone messages - new collector in Anchorage wants information - (We always like to deliver that first sample in person!) - Wasilla (AK) collector didn't receive May issue (We always like to deliver that missed issue in person!) - ANCHORAGE, ALASKA - ice fields - 10:00 p.m. arrival "Why is it so light outside?" - Bernie and Madeline Warren - midnight chat and insulator room tour - "Why is it so light outside?" - Turnagain Arm - Portage Glaciers (see photo) - Alyeska Ski Resort - jade factory - Jim and Liz Bergman - beautiful log home with a view - moose and bear visit regularly - insulators and foreign trip treasures everywhere - Jumbos - outstanding collection at home and in rafters of office - top of the Anchorage Hilton for dinner - DENALI NATIONAL PARK - Mt. McKinley in full view - dall sheep - caribou - moose - grizzley - hoary marmot - ptarmigan - dinner theater at Princess Lodge - ran into sorority sister from St. Charles, Illinois after dinner - 11 mile whitewater rafting trip until 10:30 p.m. - water 33 degrees - "Why is it so light outside?" - thought about driving up to Fairbanks, but heard about wild fire near ... WILLOW, ALASKA -Jim and Terry Wright - lovely home on the lake - smoke from fire visible only six miles away - Wrights had their bags packed for evacuation but gave us a warm welcome and tour of their collections - perfumes - bathtubs - Pez - AK badges - seltzers - LRBs - insulators - purchased depression glass green H.G.CO. beehive for collection - "The check is in the mail!" - insulators with swirls in the water trick - WASILLA, ALASKA - Barbara Mickey and Mike Downs - windows of glass in the woods - insulator picker - loves cobalt - choking smoke in town as we left for Anchorage - only north/south highway closed 30 minutes after we had passed through heading south - good choice to not go to Fairbanks - mailed lost May magazine to Dan Rodrigue who lives in Wasilla from Wasilla post office! - no phone service to call and check on the Wrights or let Warrens know we were on our way back to Anchorage - ANCHORAGE - back to Warren's bed and breakfast - detailed study of the Warren collection - Canada Australia - Uruguay - Argentina - now France - 58 pound four piece power from France and the box that got it home on the plane - two loads of laundry! - ummm halibut - 18 holes of golf with Bernie and Jim - FOUR! - ummm salmon - Carol purchases five super additions for foreign glass collection - fly to Seattle - SEATTLE, WA - pick up our car - 50° at airport - Stevens Pass - 40° warmer in 20 miles - water bottle purchase - made wrong turn and went 15 miles, climbing 4,000 feet into national forest on gravel road at 10:00 p.m. - "Why is it so dark outside?" - no, phone cells to call for assistance - Carol wants to cry - John a calming force - retrace our steps - find right road - 15 miles, climbing 4000 feet to show site - CHUTE LAKE LODGE, PENTICTON, BRITISH COLUMBIA - Gary and Doreen Reed, incredible museum - great fun and fellowship - cabin #6 - "The Girls" - (Vi Brown, Carole Moeller, Dot Kirkland, Elsie MacIntosh, Jeanne Bridges), Mark Lauckner and the beautiful CD 718 commemoratives, Aiden and Carol Morgan, Ken Pezzot, Jack and Julia Garris, David Bethman and family and PA dig stories, Tom Bond and family, Gary and Mary Boyd, great potluck and pies, mosquitoes, Carol says, "I never heard the loons!" - Kootenay insulators still in the air - brown bear - coyote - deer - GREENACRES, WA - Bill and M. V. Reid - great stories of days as lineman - insulators with milk and amber swirls - too bad Bill didn't buy the clear insulators, he could have saved on batteries for his flashlight he uses to view all the steam and swirls - two-tone marvels - most colorful windows - Reveille played on a Steinway - COEUR D'ALENE, ID - Jim and Barb Sinsley - the killer porcelain buy - the window shelves that shook - Bottles 101 - working birdbath using an insulator - Carol adds red bottle, perfume and inkwell to collection - first barbeque of the season - POST FALLS, ID - Harland and Mickey Reed - Reid says Reed spells his name incorrectly - basement treasures - old photos - Hungarian insulators - Mickey's paintings - AVON, MT - only Muncie and Coolie tops in service without sleeves - HELENA, MT - Bob & Ginger Stewart - Traded for Muncie, Hemingray 23 and baby signal - Pyrex and Hemi stackers in air - large Pyrex power pieces on poles - thought we would see more of the Coolies and Muncie with sleeves and didn't get a photo - TOWNSEND, MT - Whitall Tatum purple and smoke Armstrong BILLINGS, MT - D&S lrb - Christian Cross and ice Hemingray- 10's - 60 "no shows" - watched the Bulls lose second straight playoff game - thunderstorm - Got to "bust chops" for home - No antiquing today - "Let's go through the Bad Lands." "But we have been there twice before." "Three's a charm." Sunny - cloudy - what's that black fog that's rain - that's hail - that's LARGE hail. - found a tree - no help damaged car - rainbow! - "Guess we should have stayed with only two trips!" - MURDO, SD - Antique Car Museum - Antiquing through Nebraska - three different kerosene stove jars - more sheet music "Sorry, the royal purple GNW Tel is not for sale." - oak mirror - Pez candy dispenser collection begun for grandson Hayden - priced windmill weights for Grant Salzman - CORRECTIONVILLE, IA - Jim and Faye Hinkhouse - lrbs and insulators in the yard - the town with the corrected main street - many collections floor to ceiling - great little antique stores - SOUTH SIOUX CITY, NE - Antiquing through Iowa - Hemingray water bottle - more sheet music - bubble glass oval frame - "Please, one more store!" - 3 D&S lrbs - 7-cup green kerosene stove jar - (Whitall Tatum logo) amber jar - "O.K., we can head for home now." ST. CHARLES, ILLINOIS 300+ pieces of Crown Jewels of the Wire mail - 150+ e-mail messages - 20 Wall Street Journals - household mail and bills and magazines - Ship 100+ boxes filled with 1996 show commemoratives - put together this issue - meet with post office about mail reclassification changes beginning July 1 - H.K. the cat says "He didn't miss us!" - Good to be home and glad to have had the wonderful vacation - Our gratitude to all those who shared their collections and stories - Laundry!