Harlem, Georgia, USA
Wednesday, December 13th, 2006
One of the reasons I voted in 2004 to have the convention in Harlem was because it gave me the opportunity to visit Oliver Hardy’s birthplace. Often I had considered making the trek to attend the annual Oliver Hardy festival in October but it never panned out. Since the town is somewhat off the beaten path, I knew it would be difficult to swing into Harlem during any of our frequent trips through Georgia to Florida. Read the rest of this entry »
The writing bug bit me early, so to speak. As you may have read in my 1980 
Following the great Pee-Wee victory and day in the sweltering Georgia heat at the Golf Hall of Fame, we were all ready for some indoor activity. That afternoon saw the Grand Council meeting, a gathering of Sons to discuss ‘business’ matters at hand. For the second year in a row, there was no business – as most of the Sons are too bored, complacent, or old to care about much any more. So we voted on the next convention. Our choices were Sacramento, Detroit, and Amsterdam. Since Amsterdam promised to be an extremely costly trip, I voted for Sacramento. 
On Thursday morning, July 13, the convention activities convened at the nearby Georgia Golf Hall of Fame and Botanical Gardens, which was a short walk across the street from our Mariott hotel in Augusta. The area was beautiful with appropriate decor including a classic car display and wood crafted signs with the names of Laurel and Hardy films on them placed around the gardens. Also on display was a giant reproduction of a mousetrap that all conventioneers were asked to sign. Of course, after everyone signed it, the hosts realize that the marker they supplied was not permanent and we all had to sign it again (see picture at bottom of page). 
The 15th International Sons of the Desert Convention kicked off officially on Wednesday night, July 12, 2006. Bob, Ashleigh, and I had made our own excursions to Atlanta, Americus, Plains, and Warm Springs before our initial arrival in Augusta. Then travelled along with some Sons on the two pre-convention trips back to Americus and Plains and then to Savannah to see the area. Now we were back at home base in and Augusta ready to dive into the convention activities.