I was a little delayed in posting these pics from the swapmeet a week and a half ago, so I will push the pics of the WAAAM visit off until tomorrow.  At the swapmeet there were a few pics of jeeps and racers I wanted to include in this post.  But, I couldn’t leave the booth because the two times I did leave readers dropped by to say “hi”.  My faithful photographer did make it out to snap some pictures, getting wet in the process, but couldn’t quite read my mind as to which pictures I wanted;  Of course, my mind, like the rest of me, was cold that day, so I doubt there was much going on inside my mind for Ann to read.

As you can see, the booth design was compact, but efficient.  Herm was nice enough to give me some front space.  In exchange I even managed to sell something for him while he and his kids were off purchasing all kinds of deals (and he found a couple of astonishing deals on parts).  I have books, tshirts, signage and, most importantly, warm liquids.

In this picture you can see Herm wheeling and dealing on the phone, with his son Richard to his right, and their friend Dan to Richard’s right.

Here is a good example of the type of trailers that are brought in by sellers.  Trailers are piled with as many parts and pieces as they can put on them.  The building in the background is full of sellers and is only one of several buildings.  Many more sellers were outside.

Thanks to Herm, Richard, Don and Marty for sharing their space with us!

It was a wet and cold morning when Ann and I arrived at the Puyallup Fair Grounds for the 2012 Swap Meet.  Because we dropped our stuff off on Saturday, there was very little for us to bring in, so we arrived at 7:30AM, pulled out some books, tshirts and business cards and began our wait for the gates to open at 9AM.

It was a cold wait as I was under the impression that they would close the large doors to the build where the space was located, so neither Ann nor I were dressed especially warm,  but the windy cold weather blew in all day.  We did our best to keep warm.

I really didn’t know what to expect when the crowds arrived, but eventually we were selling both books and tshirts, so by day’s end I was pleased by the results.  Even better, there were a surprising number of people who hadn’t heard of eWillys, so many business cards were passed out.  Ann also went around letting people with older jeeps know that I would list their jeeps for free if they didn’t sell.  More than a few wondered what the ‘catch’ was.  She tried to explain that there was no catch, but I don’t think everyone was sold on that.

A number of readers stopped by, some to just say hi and that they loved the site, others stayed longer and talked.  Even my cousin came by, though I’d forgotten to text him I was there.  A few of the guys from the space next to us came over.  It turns out they were from the Misfits Jeep Club, which was a club based partly in Renton, so I was familiar with the club (truth be told, I had a crush on one of the female members of the club in high school, but that’s another long story).  Anyway, Bob Miles and Bob Moran were members of the Seattle Jeep Club, so they knew many of the older PNW4WDA and Wandering Willys Jeep Club Member folks that I knew.

So, despite the cold weather, the swap meet was bigger than ever and people found treasures in other peoples junk.  Ann did takes some pics, but I will download and publish them tomorrow.  I’m wiped today.

Looks like snow in Snoqualmie Pass tomorrow (pass is currently closed as of Sunday Evening) so we will be taking the longer way back to Pasco.  We are hoping to have time to drop by the WAAAM to take pictures of the jeeps on our way through The Dalles, Oregon.