I have a question for Ed and the rest. Would you be more likely to travel if you were traveling to a known area? Would it make you more likely to attend a national if you were very familiar with the area? You know about the airport, you know where the hotels are etc. The reason I ask is because=A0the age of the exhibitor=A0is getting=A0older . The older we get the less we like change. =A0 Terry the=A0 old fart :0) ....................................... Terry is right, there are more factors to this than just the cost of airplanes. There is: Increased gas costs Decreased air connections The overall costs of showing The change in our economy of late (Do you wanna hear my story?) Our aging show club base The changes in our culture - if we still have one! The popularity of organized sports for kids and the demands it makes on families. And more... Things are changing. That is the only constant thing, we are told. But I am not ready to presume that the day of the dog show is over. It has already changed drastically, but is it really over? Will airlines no longer carry dogs? Will the price of gas really get to $12.00 per gallon? The good news is, although things are changing, the sky is not falling - well, maybe I am not right on that either. We'll have to consult with Chicken Little and Al Gore before making a definitive answer. But I think I'll wait and see. The shape of the future is always fun to explore, yet it is seldom what we propose and, thank goodness, most often the prophets of doom are wrong. If the election falls to the communists, we may have 4 years of gas lines and $25.00 gas, and... well, you don't want to know my political views. I do want to end up with a few friends! <g> In time, our economy will come back and I just learned from a friend that a couple of companies have already gobbled up the oil rights in Montana and are already drilling. Gas might just come down, airplanes just might start giving away peanuts and we just might go on showing our dogs, at least until this aging population are all gone, then we won't care anyway. We do need to be prudent and cautious and try our best to do what is right for most of the people and all of the dogs, but let's just shoot the wolf at the door and bury him for now. Life is not over and our hobby is not dead. Dave _______________________________________ No viruses found in this outgoing message Scanned by iolo AntiVirus 1.5.3.5 http://www.iolo.com ============================================================================ POST is Copyrighted 2007. All material remains the property of the original author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL BE PROSECUTED. For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxxx VISIT OUR WEBSITE - www.showgsd.org ============================================================================