Hazzard Homecoming 2012 Part 3

Time to take this one home too.  Here are my final pics and stories from this year's Hazzard Homecoming. 

 
This photo looks professional. It's one of the four of  Bo's General Lees and recently had an 05 on it until the newest owner bought it a month ago and put the correct uniform back on it.  It was a great looking replica.  The owner told me he is planning to sell it soon.

All of these cars, including the Bo's General Lee on top, were in line to be signed by Cooter.  Ben had a small parade organized so he could get each owner an autograph... another super well organized event at HH.  This is also the first time at the event I got to drive a gator/mule ATV vehicle.  Those are always fun.

I spotted this General and thought it might be a replica of the new Auto World 1/18 General Lee because it had no flag on top.  It's a "bald General Lee."  I also asked the owners if they were making a statement.  Neither was the case.  Their flag blew off during the drive to Virginia.  They were a little upset about it.

Sleepy LaBeef.  He's a big man.  Jeff loved him.

I really liked these homemade t-shirts.  Probably because I love that image of the General with the movie logo behind it.  I have it on my phone wallpaper.  They had the cast inside each star.

Waiting in the long lines was worth it for each fan.  The stars of the Dukes of Hazzard really treated the fans great.  I don't think John Schneider sat down all day.

Tom Wopat, as well as John Schneider, stood in front of the table and took pictures with everyone.  Many celebrities would be behind a table, but the Duke boys were front and center when fans got to them.

But being behind a table doesn't mean there were no pictures to be taken.  Catherine Bach, Sonny Shroyer, and Rick Hurst were so gracious to fans and didn't leave a single person who wanted an autograph without one.

 Sophia and Laura, Catherine's daughters, even took pictures with fans.  The girls really enjoyed the event.

Just like on Saturday, the lines on Sunday were long.  But I talked to several people who said they made it through each line in a single day and got everyone's autograph.  At last year's Homecoming, some people only made it through one line.  So that's another example of this being the best Dukes event ever.

The long lines gave me a great opportunity to talk to tons of fans and pass out DukesCollector cards.  Hopefully some people are reading this because I gave them a card while in line.  I happened to meet Gloria Kellogg in Tom Wopat's line.  Gloria was already a follower of this very blog.  Awesome to put a face to the  name and little blue explanation mark avatar in the top right corner of the blog page. Gloria is going to send me some pics from her experience at Homecoming.

Fellow collector Ron Coppola's sweet Dukes tattoo.

Some dude named Dave had a few Dukes trinkets in a tiny trailer.

Just kidding.  In reality Dave and Melissia DeWitt had an amazing mobile Dukes of Hazzard museum.  Dave is a serious collector.  He had things that I didn't know existed.  It was so much fun to talk to someone who really shares my passion.  Me and Dave are two of a kind.  I've got a whole blog post planned that will be dedicated to Dave and his wonderful mobile museum.

There is some serious DukesCollector discussion going on in this picture.

Will "The Voice Man" Rodgers has talent.  He can impersonate every character from the Dukes of Hazzard. I think he does Boss Hogg the best.  Cooter invited him on stage and the entire crowd loved his act.  Check him out promoting this site:



Enos sure seemed to enjoy it.  Thanks Will!  You are great.

Once the main show started, there was quite a huge crowd under the tent waiting for the Dukes to get on stage.

This was my view of the show.  It sure was awesome back stage.

After the show, the plan was to get a group shot of all the cast members.  But no one could find Sonny.

What's that Rick?  You think someone should go that way to find Sonny?

Ok, I'll go look over there for him.

We didn't find Sonny.  But this is a pretty good group shot.

Did I have fun backstage with the cast or what?

Still looking for Sonny.

On Sunday, they decided to have the stunt show after the stage show so the cast could be a part of it.  I hopped on a gator and headed to the far side with everyone.

We found Sonny, and I rode in the cart with him.  Rick rode in Cooter's.

John and Tom jumped in the General and gave the crowd a heck of a show.

Cathy teased that she would also get in the General, and her daughters had mixed reaction to it.

She decided against it and walked back with Ben.

John ripped and roared through the field and really tore it up.  He and Tom must have had so much fun reliving the good ol' days.  

He the drove up the ramp and teased the crowd that he might actually take the leap.

They did a very nice car switch behind a trailer and the stunt car made the jump.   I wasn't ready and didn't get a picture or video of the jump.  It actually caught me off guard.  I was no more than 15 feet away from the ramp when they made the jump.  If you watch the following video of the jump I found on YouTube by BradNMarty, you can see me as the last person on the right, right behind the General Lee in the white shirt.  Man! was I close to that jump.  It was AWESOME!

Bo and Luke came back out and the crowd went wild.

Another perfect part of Hazzard Homecoming 2012.

Me and Ed drove the cast members back to the stage area.  I don't think this whole thing could have gone on without Ed.  He was basically Cooter's bodyguard, assistant, and handler.  If anything needed done, you could count on Ed.  Great job my man.  Ed, you rock.

I did some rip roaring through the field in one of these carts with a couple of people who I won't name.  You know who you are.  Right foot only!!! No left foot!!!!!

Before heading out, Tom Wopat was nice enough to take a picture with me.  We joked around all weekend and Tom was a lot of fun.  He and John called me "Photobomb" the whole time.  Thanks for coming to Homecoming, Mr. Wopat.

After the show ended, Cooter signed autographs for all the fans who stuck around.

Jeff gave a poetry performance for the crowd.

This guy got his gold General Lee signed.  I don't know if that's nuts or genius.

And someone got their Lightning Strike 1/25 General Lee signed.  My mind was almost blown.

It was successfully blown when I spotted Catherine Bach signing one of my DukesCollector cards for a fan.  Much like last year when someone had Cooter sign one.  Now there are people in this world who have my DukesCollector business cards signed by both Daisy and Cooter.  And none of those people are me.

This line was long and Cooter didn't turn a single person a way.  Catherine actually helped the line go faster.  People were pretty stunned when they got to the front of the line and Daisy was taking their pictures.  Me, Ed, and Cathy made a pretty good team helping get everyone their autographs.

Gary Schneider was one of the last people in line getting an undamaged General Lee door signed.  This picture was taken earlier in the day.  Before Gary got to Cooter, I commented to him that the first time we met out roles were reversed.  Twelve years ago, Gary had his General with John and Tom at the first Dukes event I ever attended in Hershey, PA.  Great memories.

It was dark before Cooter was done.  I had to use my flash light app on my phone for him to sign the last few items.  But every last fan went home happy.  Ben and Alma put on the perfect Dukes of Hazzard event.  Great job guys.  The Hazzard community owes you so much.  From the bottom of my heart, thank you.  I had the time of my life.