Monday 2nd November…

Monday the 2nd. November, at last we are off on our holidays. Our Son Richard is taking us down to Gatwick airport and we are staying the night at a hotel near the airport so we are ready for our morning flight to Orlando, Florida.

While I have been packing the cases, John has been sorting out the pigeons, we will be away for 24 days, so he needs to make sure that the automatic drinking system is working okay and the feed hoppers are full. Richard will be in and out every day and will keep a watch full eye out to make sure everything is running okay, in past years everything has worked to perfection and nobody has had to go into the lofts while we are away, so fingers crossed for this year. We are taking my laptop with us this year as I hope to be able to use the internet while we are away to book hotels on route.

We will be travelling about 2,000 miles by road all told. Tuesday night we are booked into the Ramada in International drive, this is only a short drive from Orlando airport. When I booked our flights way back in April, I had booked the early flight out of Gatwick. The reason for this was so that we would land in daylight and be able to drive 60 miles up the motor way on the Tuesday night, before stopping overnight in a hotel, which would have meant we would have only had 350 miles to drive on the Wednesday and 150 on the Thursday morning. To get to Spartanburg in the North West corner of South Carolina for the Dixie Southern Pigeon convention.

Then in July we got a letter from Virgin airways saying the early flight was cancelled and we had been transferred onto the later flight, at that point, we decided to book the Ramada in International drive for the first night and make an early start on the Wednesday. Then a week before we left we received our tickets and low and behold we were back on the early flight, but as I had already booked the Hotel we left things as they were and intend having a good nights sleep before we start our journey.

It is now December and we are now home safe and sound, after what was the most unusual holiday we have ever had. Where do I start? We had not even left England before we had a problem. We had an evening meal in the hotel before retiring to our room, by 1am I am up being sick and this went on all night, thankfully, it had stopped by the time we had to go to the airport, but both of us were shattered having had no sleep. After an uneventful flight we arrived at the Dollar car hire site in Orlando airport to pick up our hire car that had been booked and paid for including there top insurance policy, way back in April, only to be informed that the all inclusive insurance no longer included any problems with tyres or AAA cover. Of course if we wanted to pay another $132.They would insure us. John decided not to pay the extra fee, as it seemed unlikely that we would have a problem with the tyres. Wrong. After a nights sleep we were up early, ready to start our drive to our first stop, which was at St George 410 miles.

I decided that I had better text our Son’s to let them know we had arrived, that was when we realized that the new mobile phone that we had brought only weeks before did not work in the USA, yes it was a tri band, we had made sure of that before we brought it. then we discovered that we could not use our computer either because although we had been assured in the UK that the Dongle we had brought only needed a US Sim card which we could buy from Best Buy no problem, except we had not been told that we would need to sign up for two years. So it is now 10am and we have no phone or email, so we buy a new phone and think that is the end of our problems.

Back on the motor way with the sun shining, we thought we would be at our hotel by late afternoon. Suddenly in front of us was this metal thing on the motorway, there was no hope of John avoiding it, the front tire went bang, by the time we got to the hard shoulder there were two other cars in the same state as us. The tire was beyond repair, so John changed the tire and put the get you home tire on, luckily for us our Sat Nav worked and we got it to show us the way to the nearest garage, which turned out to be Sears. Of course, they did not have the same make, but a similar one.

We decided that we had better ring Dollar car hire and see if it was okay to use this similar one. An hour later, we were told no it had to be a Firestone tire. According to Sears computer base there garage in Daytona Beach had one so as it was sort of on route, we set of there. Yes, you guessed it, same number wrong make. Help, it is 2pm. and we have only completed about 50 miles of our journey.

The salesman said look across the complex, there is a Firestone unit there, with grateful thanks we drove across to Firestone and thankfully they had the right tire, so at 3pm. with a new tire and being $145 out of pocket, we set of for St George and a nights sleep. One thing to be said for there motorways is you do not get the hold ups you get at home, at one stretch we went 18 miles without seeing a motor in front or behind us. M25 eat your heart out.

Next morning we both felt shattered, but after an early morning breakfast, we set of on another 150-mile drive, with the help of the SatNav we made it to the hotel for the Dixie Southern Pigeon Convention, with out any more problems. We had only just got to our room when Derrick and Denise Humphreys were at the door; they hale from Manchester but have been living in Atlanta for the past 22 years. They had put pigeons for us in the one Loft race and the convention race in our name. When they first arrived in the USA Derrick called everyone, he met Mate, as we do in this country.

With his strong Manchester accent, people thought he was called Mate, and now he is know by everyone as The Mate, he even flies under the name The Mate. He races the same Mark Evans GabyVandenabeele as we do, the only difference is we brought ours direct from Mark and his came from Mark Evans, but was brought from his USA supplier so of course John and Derrick have a lot to talk about, they discussed the possibility of sending some top Gaby Vandenabeele over to Derrick.

Denise and I had a catch up on our families. As more and more people arrived for the convention, they kept asking where Carlos and Judy were, being the Queens Loft manager everyone wants to meet them, so there were a few disappointed fanciers, as Judy and Carlos could not make it this year. Most of the old faces were there, but the one we missed the most was our old friend Carroll Smith. He died after a short illness last summer, most fanciers knew he had died but some did not and it brought tears to my eyes every time when someone asked me where he was. The two oldest members were there, Walter and Edd are both 92 years young.

Edd is still working as an auctioneer and is the auctioneer for the Dixie. Also there was one of the youngest members four year old Daylin Lee and his Dad Stanley, what a great Lad he was, I am sure he will be racing on his own one day. All the pigeons for the race are brought by there handlers to the hotel and put in show pens so that anyone can see and handle the birds before they go to the race. There were two races “a one loft race “with prize money of $15,000.00 where all the birds are sent to the one loft. The same as we have here. And another race where the pigeons are sent to the host club, which this year was the Spartanburg, flying club.

Then the members of that club who wish to take part are given a batch of pigeons to treat as there own. If you send birds to the race and wish your birds to go to a certain loft you can request that, if not they are split between the members. This race had prize money of $21,000.00. It is while the birds are on show that the fanciers decide after having a good look and maybe handling the birds which ones they are going to pool. A lot of money changes hands on the Thursday night. On the walls around the room are lists of the birds that are in the race.

Against each bird there is a space to put x from $1 to $100. Pooling starts by the breeders being able to pool there own birds first; they get 30 minutes to decide. Then the handlers get the chance to put x against any birds that they had in there lofts that the breeder has not put a x in. after they have had 30 minutes it is a free for all and anyone can fill in the remaining free places. They then start marking the birds for the race. And while this is going on Edd starts the auction, you are not buying the pigeon you are buying the position the bird comes in the race.

Say my bid of $90 was the highest bid, and John was the under bidder at $80, I would have to pay $90 and John as under bidder would have to pay $80. Still with me? Should this pigeon come in first I would win the $90 pot and John would win the $80 pot. Next, they auction the Breeder and then the Handler the same way. Therefore, as you can see a lot of money is spent. The organising club takes a percentage of the pool money, to help cover there costs.

The pooling gets everyone going and with the odd pint of beer, it has been know for some to run each other up. It is all good fun and can go on until late in the evening.

The race was a 250-mile race from Lebanon Tennessee this meant that the birds would have to come across the mountains, something that most had not done before. Friday morning and there was not a cloud in the sky a brilliant blue sky, the only worry was the fact that the Moon and Sun were visible. The Convention race birds were liberated at 7.30am and the One Loft Race birds were liberated an hour later at 8.30am. Each participating loft lays on food and drink and you can go to any loft you wish to see the birds come home.

We went with Derrick and Denise to the lofts of Billy and Lenare Johnson; there was quite a few of us there being well fed and having a good time sitting out in the sun. We were given a tour of Billy’s loft and then it was time to get down to the serious business of watching the sky for what would hopefully be the winning Pigeon. Billy’s loft is designed so that everything is as easy as possible, it has grilled floors, and about 12inchs under the grilled floor is a thick tarpaulin sheet so when cleaning out is required, a hinged flap the full length of the back of the loft is lifted so that the tarpaulin can be pulled out and easily cleaned and hosed down.

At the front left hand side, note the bolting wires, where the training crates are placed for loading the pigeons. In addition, the wire frames at the front lift up to form an aviary. Nine lofts had sent 158 birds and they were liberated into a variable wind with clear sky it was not that warm as it was 35 degrees. Billy had sent 35 birds, so we were all expecting to see a good few birds dropping in, the expected time came and went and by 2.30pm. People were beginning to think it was not going to be an easy race after all. Just as people were beginning to think there might not be any day birds three birds were spotted in the sky, relieve all round they dropped on the loft and two went in first through the trap was a BB Hen at 15.25. 16 the breeder of this bird was Dave Donnelly. The second bird a BB Cock was timed at 15.25. 38 this one was bred by Bob McCarty.

The third bird sat on the loft and in the end, it flew of in the direction it had come from. The phones started to ring as the news went around that Billy had birds and it soon became clear that Billy’s birds were the only two home. Billy had another bird at 16.10.42.the breeder of this bird was Skip Cason. and they took the first three places in the race. In fourth place was King Loft, fifth and sixth places went to McDonough lofts. 7th. Davis Lofts and the last bird home on the day to take 8th. Whiterock loft. He timed in at 17.05.09. By then it was almost dark. After we had seen the Billy’s birds come home we went over to the one loft race to see if they had any birds home, and it was there that I got a good photo of The AU Exetitive Director Karen Clifton and Alvin Petty who hales from Chattanooga doing there interpretation of the birdie dance. I did warn them I would include it in my article. We were at Alvin’s loft in 2006 when he won the Dixie Southern convention race.

We have promised Karen that we will go to Oklahoma next November for the AU Centenary Celebrations. Karen is a great lady who works very hard for the American Union. Over at the one loft race, it was even worse with no bird’s home on the day. They had one bird home at 11.45.11 next day and one home on the third morning at 07.18.30.

No one knew what to do, as there was prize money for the first 20 bird’s home in both races. In the end they decided to leave the races open until the 20 positions had been filled. When we left on the Sunday morning, they had still not been able to fill all the places so the race was still open. It was so sad as many good birds were lost. We were told that this happens sometimes the birds just do not come across the mountains. We have the same problem sometimes when the birds do not come across the channel. Therefore, we felt for the handlers who had spent all season getting these birds in the best possible condition for this one race, it was heart breaking for them.

Since we have been home, we have had an email from Derrick saying that the pigeon he had put in the one loft race in our name had been reported in Pigeon Forge. which is in the Smoky Mountains and would you believe it when we left the convention we went to Pigeon Forge for a week, so we were there when our Pigeon was reported. The Banquet went ahead on the Saturday evening and a good time was had by all even though no money was paid out to the winners. It turned into a late night for a few of us. Next year the Dixie Southern Convention is being held in Tennessee.

We left Spartanburg on the Sunday morning for the 150-mile drive to Pigeon Forge. We had decided to use the motor way as that was quicker and shorter than driving through the Smoky Mountains on the scenic route. We were doing okay until we were stopped in our tracks by a mayor rock fall that had completely closed the motor way. The diversion took us back through the Smoky Mountains scenic route. It is very pretty so we did not mind too much it just added a couple of hours to our journey. As we were coming down the mountain into Pigeon Forge we stopped and looked at this trickle of water slowly running down the mountain over the rocks it looked very peaceful.

It was warm and sunny. Pigeon Forge is the home of Dolly Parton and country music. It is a very pretty area with plenty to do. With the Dolly Parton theme park and plenty of shows in the evenings. In both Pigeon Forge and the next town of Gatlinburg, they had the main street lit up with the Christmas lights. On the television, they kept talking about Hurricane Ida that was causing problems in Atlanta where they were having flooding and trees down, but as we were about 150 miles away, we did not think it would affect us. Wrong. by Tuesday the heavens opened and it rained all day, we had booked a show for the evening so we had to go out but it was not raining so hard by then. There were many empty seats because many coach trips from out of town had not been able to get there. We were lucky because our hotel was very close by.

By Wednesday, it had moved on and we were shocked when we went out to see the flooding and the little trickle of water that we had seen on Sunday was now a raging torrid of water pouring down the Mountain. What a fantastic sight. and one we could not take in, I took lots of photos and as I am writing this I have just looked at them and I still cannot believe the power of the water and how the scenery can change that much over night, with trees that were on dry land now bending over with the force of the water rushing past them. If you want a slightly different holiday from the theme Parks in Orlando, and you like scenery, as well as entertainment, you will enjoy Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg in Tennessee.

Derrick and Denise had offered to put us up for a few days after we left Pigeon Forge. As we could have gone through Atlanta on our way to Orlando, but because of the bad weather they had in Atlanta we decided to go back the way we had come and miss Atlanta, so we stayed a few extra days in Pigeon Forge and did not move on until Saturday. We had a 300 mile trip back to St George, where we intended staying the night, once again we were driving along the motor way when we again came across the rock fall we pulled into a parking lot and the women there gave us a map showing the diversion. Unbelievably it was a 161 mile round trip to miss these rocks.

Luckily she suggested that we go on the old route that the locals still used that went through the mountains and that would only take us an extra two hours and 65 miles of mountain roads. In the end, it was so pretty that we were glad that we had gone that way. We made St George just as it was getting dark, booked into a hotel had a meal and went to bed.

Next morning John’s cold had got worse but we still had to drive 200 miles to St Augustine. Next day we made it to Orlando and by then John was not at all well and he needed to see a doctor. He saw the doctor and was put on a nebulizer machine and given antibiotics and steroids the cost $320. Thankfully, that made him feel a lot better and we managed to enjoy the rest of our holiday in Orlando without any more mishaps. On the way home, we were given a free upgrade on the plane so at last something had gone right. Roll on next year.

When we arrived home, we had a chat with our son Jonathan about Derrick’s suggestion of sending some pigeons over to Atlanta. He thought it was a good idea and contacted Derrick Humphreys (The Mate, as he is known), he has now had a

Number of conversations with Derrick about the M&D Evans Gaby Vandenabeele and the Ron Williamsons birds and they have decided to set up a partnership loft in Atlanta. Formula 1 lofts are going to be sending brothers/Sisters sons/daughters of there multi national winning stock birds to Derrick to both race and to sell young birds, from these top bloodlines in America. The first batch of pigeons is scheduled to leave for the USA in early 2010.

Pam Gladwin. Tel 01702 542019 or email pamelagladwin@yahoo.co.uk