Spaw kept promising to make it to the Getaway in Maryland, but he never did. One year (2001, I think), I decided to make a longer-than-usual vacation after the Getaway, and I found myself in Cincinnati. It's only 142 miles from Cincinnati to Bremen, so I decided to drop in on Spaw - unannounced. I could hardly wait to see the look of surprise on his face.

Now, the journey was farther than I thought, because I had to see the Air Force Museum in Dayton and the Capitol in Columbus, and I had a flat tire along the way. So, I stayed in Columbus overnight and then headed off to Bremen, 41 miles away. As I approached Bremen, I found road kill all over the highway, so apparently Bremen has a large assortment of small mammals. I figured this would give me a lot to talk about with Spaw.

So, anyhow, I got to the house in a nice neighborhood with brick streets, and rang the doorbell. Spaw answered, and said, "Joe Offer, what the hell are you doing here?" Mind you, we had never seen each other before and I had no idea what he would look like. He acted like it was something that happened every day, having an unannounced Mudcatter show up at one's doorstep.

And we hit it off right away, and spent a delightful two hours together. I'm sure glad I got to meet him.

-Joe-