HeroesCon 2009 – Father and Son Road Trip – Day 1

If you’ve never been to HeroesCon in Charlotte North Carolina, you’ve got plenty of time to plan your first trip for 2010. HeroesCon is a family friendly and creator friendly show with a laid back atmosphere. That made it a perfect choice for Carter’s first convention.

Near the end of 2008, I mentioned to Carter (my oldest son—almost 6 now) and my wife, that he and I should go to HeroesCon 2009.  Carter was ambivalent to the decision, not really know what a convention was. I told him we would get to meet the people who make the comics (he likes reading/looking at them) and that we could shop for older comics and maybe find him some more Tiny Titans.

With the plan made, we began saving… and saving… and saving.

Sometime in April, I called the Charlotte Westin hotel (the official con hotel) and inquired about the con rate. It’s was a sizeable discount and well worth it to be that close to the con. I knew the Carter would need a few trips back to the hotel to rest, so being within walking distance was a necessity. The lady on the phone took our reservation and informed me to call back if I thought we wouldn’t arrive by 3 p.m. We would need to add a credit card to our account to hold the room past 3 – not a problem.

At the beginning of June, I contacted Dustin Harbin about a press pass. Along with convention founder Shelton Drum, he’s the organizational and PR mastermind behind the con. He agreed to put us on the press list. With hotel, con access and trip money put away—all we had to do was wait.

A few days before we left, I dropped by the local Hobby Lobby store (arts and crafts) and picked up Carter a nice 5” x 8” hardcover sketchbook for the show.

The day before the show, I decided to call and add a credit card to our hotel reservation, just in case we weren’t there by the 3 p.m. check in cutoff. I’m glad I did. My original plan was to call from the road and add it if we were running late. However, the hotel informed me they couldn’t take CC info over the phone, it had to be faxed. I managed to get the fax in with minutes to spare.

Thursday morning, June 18, Carter and I loaded up and left Tennessee, bound for Charlotte, North Carolina. The drive wasn’t bad at all. We made one stop for lunch and gas. We arrived at the hotel by 4 p.m. Just enough time to pick our pass for the con and then meet a few members of the Comic Geek Speak podcast (and listeners) for a trip to the local Golden Corral.

Afterwards, we (along with our card mates Jason and Hillary) trekked across the street to the local Target. As with any trip out of town, a visit to the toy aisle is required. It was no surprise to find a few CGS listeners, along with Murd and Pants from Comic Geek Speak perusing the toys as well. Carter picked out a few Ben 10 aliens we had never seen locally (Alien X, Highbreed, and Brain Storm) and we made our way to the checkout.

We made a quick trip to Michael’s so Jason could grab a skecth book and then it was back to the hotel for some much needed rest. We had a big day tomorrow.

Stay tuned for Part 2 and Part 3.