Cooter's Last Stand

There were a few names I wanted at the Dukes of Hazzard event and since these are all up there in age I decided to give this event priority. Luckily I did not need any of the bigger names and I heard lines at this event can be quite ginormous. I figured I would be ok with the lower names I wanted. Wow I could not have been more mistaken. The crowd was like nothing I've ever seen. Wizard World Philly has NOTHING on this event. Apparently over 15,000 people attended, and lines for even the lower names were never ending. Perhaps even worse than the long line, the life stories everyone told that kept the lines stagnant. IMO people telling life stories is super selfish especially here. Perhaps when paying $50 at Wizard World it's more justifiable. But pretty much everything here was $10 an item and the line was eternal. You are ruining other people's chances to meet the celeb. 

I arrive and close to the event traffic is backed up. Took about an hour till I finally parked (on a grass field) and walked over to the event. Admission was $35 but I managed to mooch that.

Meet up with my buddy Pornstash Dave who drove to the event. They were in line for Rick Hurst (Deputy Cletus Hogg). We agreed that while they held that line I would go in line for Don Pedro Colley (Sheriff Little), who was also in movies such as Beneath the Planet of the Apes and THX-1138. 

As I waited in that line, eventually they got close to Rick. So I dashed over there, we got photos. I complained that he pulled a Nakamura winked in my photo op so he said to take off flash. I said it won't look good without flash, he said we can go outside the tent so no need for flash. As we went outside, I kept flash on anyway and got another shot. 

We notice that Ben Jones is on stage so dash there. We also see Sonny Burgess' band the merch table (Sonny played with Elvis for like 5 years). But wait Ben is about to leave the stage. So rush to where he will exit and I call him over for a photo op which he does! Victory as that was one of my wants at this show (he had no signing tent like the others). Back to the merch area and go to Sonny's band. We see three old men and wonder which one is Sonny. Turns out none of them are Sonny as he had to have surgery and did not show up. 

Back to the Don Pedro line where I had my spot. We were close to the front. We miss country singer Marty Haggard (son of Merle) as he is done performing but no biggie as he is get if there. While they are in line I scout out to look for stuntman Corey Eubanks but couldn't find him. I did run into a police sutied comedian who was doing free combos. Not sure what I was getting but I got it anyway. Back to my spot in line, finally go up to Don Pedro and get a photo op. At this point we were there 4-5 hours and only managed to go through TWO lines of lower names! And that's with spot holding. Someone had claimed to be 8-9 hours in the John Schneider line and had still not gone through any other line! 

Back to the merch area we get photo ops with Sonny's band, but sadly I don't think any of them are even valid. Dorothy Best (wife of James Best) has a very short line so we just stand there. She is barely valid which explains why her line was so short. Got free photo ops. 

By then all celebs were on stage so we all browsed around and took pictures with General Lees, confederate flags, and other cars. I tried to go into Tom Wopat's line (which had been cut) but sadly got caught. So I had to live to fight another day. 

Celebrities came back and I figured I'd try for Tom Wopat again. After all when is the photo op going to be only $10? Since I failed to mooch to the back of line, I thought I'd try something different. I mooched to the FRONT of the line. Dave gave me 8x10s to get signed, apparently for markedout member Jason1980s. Despite causing a bit of a stir I managed to go through, get Jason's items done, and get my photo op. 

As I was leaving Dave called me over. Apparently we are waiting for Ben Jones. I figured might as well get an auto. They took us around back by his RV, lined us up, and Ben did combos. Such a nice guy. This ended my time at Cooter's Last Stand. 

Ben Jones

Rick Hurst

Don Pedro Colley

Tom Wopat

Full list of photo ops

Autographs