Ths for the nice comments!
Here is the full story of our "private" tour as sent to the Carolwood Society.
Tom C
"I just wanted to tell you about my visit to the Barn last Sunday, March 20th, that had an incredible surprise ending.
Unfortunately due to the heavy rain on the 20th the Barn was not open for visitors. I stood out in the rain staring at the back of the Barn until Ruth called me back into the car, dripping wet. I was so disappointed after anticipating the visit for over 6 months.
I posted a comment on the Burnsland/Carolwood thread about how disappointed I was but certainly understood based upon the horrible weather.
Michael Campbell saw my post and emailed me the next day suggesting that he might be able to get us in that afternoon. Unfortunately Ruth and I were having so much fun at
Disneyland I never saw the emails until later in the day and to make it worse my new IPhones power had drained and I had left the charger in our convention room in San Diego. After the nice folks at the Grand Californian charged it for me I responded to Michael but it was too late. The next morning at around 9:30 Michael emailed me that he had not heard from anyone and was sorry that he was not able to arrange the visit for us. We were leaving for San Diego that morning.
Ruth then looked at her cell phone and Michael had called her one minute after his last email telling us that he had heard from Fred Lack and that Fred could meet us at 11:30 am. I called Michael back and said subject to the LA traffic we would be there! Ruth said to me Who are these people? and Why are they being so nice to us? I could only respond They are Disney people.
Using my Boston driving techniques we were able to get to the Griffith Park within 40 minutes and arrived at 11:15. Sure enough Fred drove up at 11:16 and we followed his Jeep through the black gate to the Barn. It was an incredible journey from rainy Sundays disappointment to Tuesday mornings wonderful tour with Fred. What a host!
We were also the first ones to see the lettering on the Combine! (No I did not touch the fresh paint as instructed.)
As I had mentioned to Sharon I was planning on video taping our visit with my HD camera, which I did. Being there with no one else around I did not have to worry about including other guests in the shots and got a lot of Freds narrations. It was also a beautiful day. I hope to have a short 10 minute YouTube clip finished soon of our visit, which I will do in similar fashion to the Sailing on Nantucket Sound one that I have currently on YouTube.
Many thanks to Michael and Fred for pulling off this amazing tour for us! We felt very honored.
We will be showing our appreciation in the form of a modest donation to the Combine restoration sometime next week. I also hope to forward pictures of my new office displaying my FWRR electric engine, Accucraft Lilly Belle and Carolwood membership certificate to you soon.
Im sure you hear this all the time but youve got a wonderful crew there. Ruth and I are still pinching ourselves about the private tour of the Barn. I do not think any other trip/tour could ever top this."
