For the fourth year in a row I attended “Boatfest”, a gathering of retrocomputing enthusiasts that takes place in Hurricane, West Virginia. The gathering was originally organized by John “BoatOfCar” Shawler, which is where Boatfest got its name. After years of confusion from people wondering where the boats were, the gathering was officially rebranded as the International Retro Computer Expo — a fancy name for Boatfest. ;)
Hurricane, West Virginia is approximately 1,000 miles away from Oklahoma City. In 2022 my wife and I drove to Hurricane in my Ford Flex as part of a larger road trip to Washington D.C. In 2023, my buddy Jeff and I rented an RV for the trip. In 2024 and again in 2025, Susan and I made the trip in BigRobsVan, my 2007 Ford E250 van I’ve (somewhat shoddily) converted into a camper van. Unfortunately between the time we planned the trip and the date of the show, Susan returned to college. This lead to a rather complicated schedule in which Susan spent two days with me driving to West Virginia only to grab a flight the following day and return to OKC. That left me on my own from Monday through Saturday, at which point Susan took a return flight to West Virginia and rejoined there just in time to start the 1,000 mile drive back to Oklahoma. What a week!
A friend of mine was gracious enough to allow me to stay in a tiny house, located right off the Elk River about an hour away from Charleston, WV. I have been enamored with the concept of tiny houses for years now and this is the first time I’ve spent more than one night in one. The house is indeed tiny — about 8′ by 24′, I’d guess. Although the house is located about 15 miles away from the nearest cellphone signal, they do have fantastic internet along with everything a person could need — we’re talking full bathroom, a kitchenette, and even a triple-level bunkbed. I had a great time there getting a lot of writing and YouTube editing done while enjoying the view of the river right off the front porch.
After several days in the tiny house it was time to head to Hurricane, WV for Boatfe– er, the IRCExpo, a gathering of about 40 fans old old computers who get together to show off old hardware, play games, share information, and mostly just hang out. When Susan dropped by the convention she said “this feels like one of your old copyfests from back in the day” and I can’t think of a better compliment. There were old Commodores, Apples, PCs, ZX Spectrums, and lots of other stuff from an original Odyssey hooked up to an old large console television to a robot that wandered the floor. If you’ve met me, it’s a room full of people just like me but with different backgrounds and experiences. It’s such fun and next year’s event is already on the calendar and booked.
If you’re wondering how the van performed on this 2,000+ mile adventure, the answer is complicated. The engine did fine with Susan keeping the pedal to the metal the entire time, maxing the van out at a (we think governed) 80mph, but there’s only so much you can do in regards to comfort in a nearly 20-year-old cargo van. Power to the dash keeps going on and off (need to fix that) and the air conditioner cuts out when driving up hills (need to fix that, too) but the highlight was when the air conditioner completely died the day before we were set to drive back home. That event deserves a post of its own and I’ll share that story later this week, but suffice it to say we made it home.
The older we get the more stops and breaks we need to make and I don’t think we made enough this time. Despite taking a break to sample some fudge from Uranus, my hip started hurting and burning on the drive home and it’s not only still hurting but has been getting worse every day. I am almost sure it has something to do with my sciatic nerve and it’s either inflamed or something got pinched. The seats in the front of a 2007 Ford E250 cargo van aren’t exactly known for their lumbar support. Last week I tried everything from Tramadol (didn’t help at all) to whiskey (helped a little) and Tylenol (helped a lot). I’ve been stretching and trying to move without hurting it further. I also had a spare steroid pack for my back which I started in hopes it would offer some relief. There was a day when Susan and I could drive from here to Chicago only stopping for gas. On this trip we stopped every 200 miles and we may have to stop even more frequently in the future, driving records be damned.
The whole trip was enjoyable. I loved spending time in the tiny house, I loved hanging out with old friends (and meeting new ones!) at the IRCExpo, and I always love road trips with my wife — who has already agreed to ride with me to next year’s convention, but only in a car that has cruise control. :)