2010 RMCA Expo update

Friday night dinner: Dallas RMCA Meet—September 17-18 Speaker Update

We are honored for the Friday night’s dinner speakers as we will have two great historians and researchers of the old Bankhead Highway.

Dan Smith is a native from Florida with an extensive meteorological background, having retired from the U.S. Weather Bureau/National Weather Service. Dan spent most of his career at the Southern Region Headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas. He has devoted considerable time to historical topics since retirement. In Florida, the focus of his work has been the state’s maritime heritage, with particular emphasis on steamboats of the Ocklawaha River. A gifted speaker, he has made presentations to the Florida Historical Society. Some of his documentation is maintained by the National Park Service, and he serves as a contributing editor to professional journals.
Closer to home in Texas, Dan has done extensive research on the Bankhead Highway - the nation's first all-weather, cross-country highway - which dates to around 1920. He has documented much of his research in photos which he will share with us at the Friday dinner.

Jerry Flook is a native of Garland, a suburb NE of Dallas, and graduate of Southern Methodist University. He is extensively known for his authorship of local historical books and for his genealogy work. Key to the interest of map collectors, he has also written historical narratives for several successful applications for Official Texas Historical Markers and Texas Recorded Landmark designations, the most recent being for a Texas Historical Marker for the history of the Bankhead Highway in Garland. He also obtained for the City of Forney, a Texas Historical Marker for the history of the Dixie Overland Highway/U.S. Highway 80. Most recently, in 2009, he was recognized by the Texas House of Representatives for his commitment to the preservation of the history of the Bankhead Highway.

You will not want to miss this rare opportunity to get a unique insight into one of our famous lost highways, in what will sure to be a very enlightening evening with your fellow map enthusiasts. Register online, or contact 972-989-8843 for dinner reservations. Make hotel reservations by calling 800-445-8667 and mention RMCA or Road Map Group. Saturday’s admission is $7 (under 12 free) and is open from 9 am to 1pm. Attendees will be able to view thousands of interesting maps from collectors and even be able to buy or sell their maps.

Terry Palmer

If you are driving in, you may want to check out this web site of some great old stations in Texas. Also, it has other states as well.

RMCA Map Expo and Annual Meeting
Friday and Saturday, September 17 and 18, 2010 in Dallas, Texas.

Address:

Hilton Garden Inn - DFW Airport South,
2001 Valley View Lane
Irving, TX 75061

1-972-313-2800 (phone) or
1-972-313-2885 (fax)

Friday, September 17

Location: Hilton Garden Inn, DFW Airport South
Room-to-room trading starts after check-in, 2 p.m.
We break for dinner (6:30 p.m.) at the hotel. Speaker: Jerry Flook. You can register for this event only.

Saturday, September 18

Location: Hilton Garden Inn, DFW Airport South
Set-up begins at 8 a.m.
Swap meet and sales to the paid admittants from 9 a.m. to noon. (box lunch at noon.)
Annual meeting starts about 1 p.m. and usually finishes by 2 p.m.
Special events, your choice:
Pate Swap Meet, Southwest Swap Meet, Dallas Cowboys Stadium tour, Bankhead Highway.
Details below.

Dinner at Peggy Sue's 50s diner next to a restored Skelly station.

Contact the hotel directly to make your room reservations. Be sure to mention your affiliation with the RMCA to get the group room rate of $79.

Online registration is now live!

Many options for Saturday after the meet:

The Southwest Swap Meet goes back to 1968 and will have many old cars on display. This is pretty big, as well, and held from Sept 16-18. Location is a short distance from the hotel.

The Dallas Cowboys play a home game on Sunday, Sept 19 against Chicago if you want to go to a game. Also, on Saturday after the meet if you want to go on a tour of the stadium, tickets, times and information can be found at http://stadium.dallascowboys.com/tours/tourInfo.cfm. The tour is about an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes and is fantastic! You will see a lot. The stadium is a short distance from the hotel.

The old Bankhead highway, if you are interested, is in part of downtown Garland.
More info at:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/city/garland/stories/DN-bankhead_18met.ART0.State.Edition1.4ba2ea7.html. Not only is Main Street in Garland part of the Bankhead, so is Main Street in Grand Prairie, Lancaster Avenue in Fort Worth, Davis Street in Oak Cliff and hundreds of other streets like them across 13 states.

Depending on who wants to go where, hopefully we can have some car pooling and get everyone that desires to attend to the event. Then we will all meet in Denton, about 40 minutes north of Arlington, for dinner. It's a unique opportunity to eat in a restored Skelly station operated by the Nelsons with lots of Petroliana, but also as Peggy Sue’s 50’s Diner and Ice Cream Parlor. The time for dinner will be established Friday night once we get a feel for how many are attending.