My trip to the US! (1 Viewer)

[TomNT]

Here's some more pic's of Pebble Hill Plantation. They have some historical old horse drawn carriages and I love all the moss covering the trees.

Tom

 

[TomNT]

The next day I left Thomasville and motored down the I 10 to Jacksonville in Florida to say gidday to Tim Tiler at Troops of Time. Tim owns a lovely Toy Soldier Shop in Jacksonville and despite the threatening heavy rain (which I drove through heading down the I 95 to Miami later that day), I wanted to pop in and say hello as Howard Woods my good mate in Melbourne Oz told me so much about him. Tim is a top bloke and even though I was only in his store for an hour, we had a good chat and he showed me around his store. He even offered to get me a coffee from down the road but I had to decline as it was pouring with rain outside!

Tom

 

[wwiibuff]

Back to my time with Duke in Thomasville, we all went over to Duke's mum's house (Barbara) for dinner and she cooked a very nice meal. Duke has already posted this pic but it shows us sitting down to dinner in Barbara's lovely home. After dinner Duke and Barbara told me about the exploits of his grandfather (Barbara's father) during World War 2. He was a captain in Patton's 3rd Army and during his tour he was awarded a medal for bravery during combat (Duke may post which medal he received as I forgot). He also brought back two German flags, pistols, ceremonial knife with a swastika on it and German army knife that is also used on rifles as a bayonet. The flag with the pistols and knives is almost brand new and Duke and Barbara thinks it was in storage in some building in Germany. The flag I'm holding show's it's age a lot more and they think it was taken off a flag pole somewhere in Germany. This flag is also in remarkable condition.

The next day Duke took me to a historical plantation outside of Thomasville called Pebble Hill. The rain was threatening a bit but it held off and we were able to have a good look around.

Tom

Tom my grandfather received the Bronze Star. I'm not sure what the story is for him receiving it though. Here is a picture of him and my mom when he returned from the war.

 

[Artillery_crazy]

Hi Tom,

It seems you really wanted to transverse continental USA .......{sm4}{sm4}{sm4}..in one trip go from Sunny Vegas to Sunny South....wow!
While you were at Key West did you visit the Naval base, and the old Civil War costal fortifications there?:salute::
You could not miss them.....superb exanples of military architecture...the fort even has a wet moat on the sea word side!

Cheers

Luiz

I arrived in Key West late in the day and checked into an historic, renovated little hotel that was pretty close to Duval Street in Key West. This street is famous for lots of bars and parties, kinda like Bourbon Street in New Orleans but in a smaller way. I had a stroll down there in the evening but I didn't do a bender as I had to continue on with my travels the next day. ^&grin Sorry, But I didn't take any pic's of Duval Street. It was the weekend and it was pretty crowded, not to mention parking was horrendous around the area.

Tom

 

[TomNT]

Tom my grandfather received the Bronze Star. I'm not sure what the story is for him receiving it though. Here is a picture of him and my mom when he returned from the war.

Thanks Duke, now I remember what you told me. Thanks also for posting that great pic mate.

Hi Tom,

It seems you really wanted to transverse continental USA .......{sm4}{sm4}{sm4}..in one trip go from Sunny Vegas to Sunny South....wow!
While you were at Key West did you visit the Naval base, and the old Civil War costal fortifications there?:salute::
You could not miss them.....superb exanples of military architecture...the fort even has a wet moat on the sea word side!

Cheers

Luiz

Hey Luiz

Yeah, this is how I planned my trip although I wanted to go up north to New York as well but time didn't permit. I'll have to get up there on my next trip to the US.

I didn't visit the Naval Base or Civil War coastal fortifications as I didn't have time and was only in Key West less than a day and one night. When I got in on the Friday arvo it was late and I had to head off the following day around lunchtime to get back to Miami. You can see the dome structure in one of my pic's which I believe is the naval base. I also read about a Civil War Fort called Fort Jefferson which is located on an island not far from Key West. You can travel there by seaplane or ferry and I might do that if I can get back to Key West someday.

Tom

 

[TomNT]

Continuing on with my journey, after travelling down from Jacksonville I spent one night in Boca Raton which is not far from Miami. I then jumped on a plane in Fort Lauderdale and flew over to San Antonio to attend the KingsX Texas Toy Soldier Show. The first two pic's are of this impressive looking bridge in Tampa, Florida that I took from the plane while landing. I had to change planes in Tampa and it was only a quick stop over.

The next lot of pic's are in San Antonio. I took these along the Riverwalk which has been done up nicely with shops and restaurants dotted along the Riverwalk walking paths.

Tom

 

[TomNT]

More pic's of the Riverwalk, pic of the Menger Hotel where the event was held and I also stayed and of the lovely Nicole that works part time for KingsX.

Tom

 

[TomNT]

Here's some pic's outside and near the Menger Hotel and some of the KingsX shop diorama displays. They have an awesome Alamo display in the centre of the shop.

Tom

 

[TomNT]

Here's a couple more pic's outside of the KingsX Shop. I was able to sneak into the Toy Soldier event room on the Friday and have a quick look around and speak to some of the people. Most were still setting up there displays but some like Chris Munro at the King and Country stand were just helping out. I have never met Chris but I have heard of him through my mates Howard and the big dude Chris. He is a great bloke to talk to and he also built that awesome San Pablo steam ship that Chris has in his collection. I think he told me he built 50 of them on commission from which Howard also has one in his collection in Melbourne, Oz.

Tom

 

[TomNT]

The first pic is of the new K&C Roman Fort and figures and last pic from my previous post if of the new IDF troops and Sherman Tank. They all look great when seen up close and I'm impressed with the pricing on the IDF troops considering the detail.

The following pic's are of the sellers and the pic's were taken on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Tom

 

[TomNT]

Pic's of the sellers merchandise.

Tom

 

[TomNT]

Here's some pic's with the big Texan, Mike Miller and the happy couple, Jules from Treefrog and Zach. Mike was helping out Nick from Crown Toy Soldiers or should I say Nick the Steve Buscemi impersonator...sorry Nick, I had to say it ^&grin) Nick is a top bloke as is big Mike. I also enjoyed meeting Jules and Zach and both are great people. I had an awesome night out with Mike, Jules, Zach, Nick and big John from Texas and his family. We had dinner at this Mexican restaurant in an area called Market Square in San Antonio. Mike kept on lining up the Margaritas to me at the restaurant and then we had straight Scotch whisky with ice back at the Menger! Mike was a laugh a minute and we all had a ripper of a night although the next day the hang over cloud was hanging over me a little!!!! Sorry about the quality of some of the pic's, I was racing around a lot and should have steadied more when taking them. The one with all of us at the restaurant was taken by the waitress and unfortunately she found it difficult to get a good pic.

I have also included some pic's of these little dio's that a young bloke at the event was selling. They are brilliant and I was extremely impressed with his work. He managed to sell most of them and I thought they were very well priced.

Tom

 

[TomNT]

Here's some more pic's of the dio's made by the young bloke.

Tom

 

[TomNT]

More pic's of the young bloke's dio's, a John Wayne impersonator in front of the K&C stand (the likeness I thought was quite impressive) and the great man Andy Neilson from K&C. I know Andy from the Aussie events in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide and I managed to have a bit of a talk with him on future K&C releases. Mum's the word on what we spoke about but some nice stuff I think is planned for the future.

Tom

 

[TomNT]

Here's some pic's from the Collector Showcase stand and some pic's of blokes (and lady) dressed up in authentic World War 2 German and G.I. uniforms and the John Wayne impersonator again. Pretty cool I must say..

Tom

 

[TomNT]

More pic's of the event, these were taken on the last day.

Tom

 

[TomNT]

Some more..

 

[TomNT]

Last couple of pic's from the event and some more pic's of permanent dio displays in the KingsX store.

Tom

 

[TomNT]

Here's some pic's inside the Menger. It's an historic hotel and it's beautifully restored and decorated with antique furnishings and fittings. I had lunch in the historic Menger Bar with Marc (Beaufighter on the forum) and he is an awesome bloke. We chatted for hours about the hobby, my travels, his job and all sorts of things. He told me that the Menger Bar was one of Ted Roosevelt's haunts when he came to San Antonio.

More pic's of SA to follow later in the day..

Tom

 

[mikemiller1955]

Tom...enjoyed your thread and pictures almost as much as I did meeting and hanging out with you...had a blast the time we spent together and my only regret is the refusal to let your foliage enter Australia...that was a bummer...but I bet if you get on your computer...you can find the same stuff in Australia...you're enjoyed hanging with you...you're a cool guy!