Asheville

  After leaving the record show in Spartanburg, my next stop was the Red Roof Inn near Asheville, NC.  I was staying there before our next record show.  Anyone who has driven along I-26 toward Asheville knows that there is a very steep hill on that highway.  I had a bunch of records in my trunk and videotapes on my backseat, so there was a lot of weight on the back part of my car.  When I saw that steep grade ahead of me, I tried to take a running jump at that hill.  I was going 70mph in my little Nissan, when I got to the hill.  I cut off my AC to get more power.  I was even leaning forward to try to get some more momentum.  By the time I got to the top of that hill, my car was creeping along at 35mph.  I was just praying I wouldn't blow out my motor.  I made it over the incline and headed to Asheville.

 On the day of the record show, my friends Chris and Del were supposed to help me.  Unfortunately, they got stuck in a tunnel for hours with a car wreck ahead of them.  They never came until right at the end of the show.  One thing I would do would be to travel around to antique and record stores and find things I could sell for more.  A place I found in Augusta, GA had a lot of music memorabilia.  I found some concert posters for The Beatles and Elvis Presley.  They were $5 each.  At the time, I didn't know they were reproductions, so I had them at the record shows selling them for $20 each.  I had sold the Elvis posters in Spartanburg but still had the Beatles for Asheville.  A guy came up to the table and asked if the posters were real.  He was a high school student.  I told him they were, and he bought one.  I found out later that the date of the Shea Stadium concert was wrong on the poster, and it was fake.  I would like to personally apologize now to whoever bought it that it was fake.  

 There were also some big-time Beatle collectors from Black Mountain, NC who were at the show.  They told me that their collection was in a vault up in the mountains, and no one could see it.  That kind of goes against my thinking.  I used to have a pretty big collection of Beatles stuff.  I displayed it for all to see and for me to enjoy.  For them to put it in a vault sort of takes away from the joy of collecting.  

 When the record show was over, I headed back home.  I still had some records and tapes to leave with.  When I got to the I-26 hill going down, I just took my foot off of the brake and sped down the mountain.  The weight in the back of my car allowed me to not fly down the mountain, but it was fun doing 70mph in my little Nissan.  You meet all kinds of people at record shows.  Some want to bargain with you on price.  One trick for buyers:  if you get there right before closing, you get the best deals.  Most sellers will allow bargaining with the buyers, because they don't want to haul their stuff home with them.  The downside to this is that if you are looking for something in particular, it might be gone by the time you get there.  And, don't ask sellers to hold items for you, unless you offer your first-born male child as collateral.  Finder's keepers, loser's weepers.