Life is full of surprises. If you’ve been reading my blog from the beginning, you may remember that when we visited Nashville in July, our first stop was at the Antique Archeology store. That’s the store that’s operated by the guys who do the show “American Pickers” on the History Channel on cable TV.
If you’re not familiar with this show, these two guys, Mike and Frank, travel the country looking for treasures in the form of antiques or used or old items with some value to collectors or to decorators. They buy this stuff, and then sell it in their two stores and online. They are mostly interested in things related to cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and toys, but their tastes are pretty eclectic. They travel in a very distinctive van with the words, “Antique Archeology” and a distinctive logo on the side.
Today as we were driving along, E started sputtering about something that she had seen along the side of the road. I thought she was trying to say something about some wildlife that she had spotted. Eventually she managed to say that she had seen the Antique Archeology van! It seemed impossible, but fascinating to think that we had crossed paths with Mike and Frank. I wanted to stop and see, but we were frantically trying to beat the clock to arrive in time for a scheduled event at 10:00. We couldn’t stop.
After our scheduled event, we were driving back along the same road. When we got to the place where she had seen the van, the van was now gone. However, I noticed some equipment set up on a side road, off away from the traffic. I turned around and stopped the car. Sure enough! There was Mike with a film crew! I urged E to get out of the car and go over and see if she could have a chat with Mike. I then parked the car and followed her. She was holding back, apparently not wanting to interrupt them. I figured that he would always want to hear from a fan, so I went on right over to where they were filming. They had gotten to a stopping point, and one of the crew told me that they were filming and indicated that I should make myself scarce. But I got Mike’s attention, and I said, “Do you have a minute to get a greeting from a fan or two?” He came right over and shook my hand, and we began to talk. In another minute, E and my mom (another fan) came over and introduced themselves. I took a bunch of pictures, and then Mike asked one of the crew to take a picture of all four of us.
So what did I learn? Mike Wolfe is just as nice a guy in person as he is on his show. I’m glad I was assertive and pushed into his filming to say hello! It’s just too bad that Frank wasn’t there with them at the time.
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