I love them, I think they rock, and I think they are the bestest people in the world right now, at this moment in time. Forget about Oprah and Gandhi. I'm all about the Antique Archeology guys on the History Channel.
Not just because they're cool and kinda dangerous and seek out nifty old crap to buy and turn a profit on. Not because they like finding crazy stuff, like taxidermy animals posed in interesting ways, or an 8-foot tall cowboy boot, or giant papier mache heads which they don and dance around in. No, no, no. I love them because they "get" it. They get what history means in regard to vintage parks.
Case in point, this evening's episode, wherein the guys visit Bushkill Amusement Park, which has been closed for 4 years due to an enormous flood. They visited and bought a myriad of cool things including two side show canvas posters. Which they later found out were worth $10,000 for the pair.
They paid $200.
So what did they do? They knew the man who now owns Bushkill is trying to amass funds to start putting the park back together. And so the boys went back to the park and handed over a cool 5 grand, to the amazement and gratitude of the stunned park owner.
I've visited many a park which has fallen or is near to falling on hard times. Bushkill was originally slated to be a part of my Roadtrip, but then I learned it had been sitting dormant for years. The Pickers came upon the park and could see the history, treasured its uniqueness, it's "rough around the edges" exterior(very rough, as the park was hit by a hurricane and was basically flattened by eleven feet of water in its midway). And they saw what the park meant to the owner and they clearly valued the importance of preserving this piece of Americana.
Rock on Mike and Frank. Rock on, Picking dudes! You are most righteous.
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