Bill Noble wrote:

Stuart, this is very much on the mark. Thanks. Tomorrow me and my
whole family are going on an Amtrak trip to California,

How long you going to be here and where are you going? Im sure a bunch
of us would love to meet you.

I am going to San Jose, CA.
I

When in San Jose, visit Weird Stuff Warehouse.
There used to be a whole BUNCH of interesting
places in the south bay area. I think Halted
Specialties is still around at 3500 Ryder St. in
Santa Clara.

Mike Quinn is at 401 Mccormick St in San Leandro.
They used to be on the Oakland Airport, then
moved a couple blocks away.

Triangle Machine has apparently closed. It was a
totally awesome place, with tables of ballscrews,
servo motors, etc. just filling the place!

Those are the only ones I knew of in recent
history. Some years ago I used to make almost
yearly trips to Berkeley, and would rent a car and
take a whole day to tour all the cool places. If
you are interested in old computers, the Computer
History Museum is a total blast. They have all
the computers I learned on, including some quite
unusual machines from the 60's.

Jon