Model 01 Kickstarter Day 6: LVL1 in Louisville, including Cheetos with Chopsticks and what was once a fire-breathing animatronic pony.

Hello from somewhere outside Cincinnati,

This morning, we set out from a roadside motel Wyethville, Virginia en route to LVL1 in Louisville, Kentucky. We ended up getting to LVL1 about half an hour late thanks to an impressive storm system that made the highway pretty treacherous.

We were prepared for the LVL1 meetup to be a fairly small affair, since we only saw four RSVPs on the Eventbrite page. About an hour out of Louisville, we were rather pleasantly surprised to find that there were actually 24 people signed up on the Louisville Keyboard Club's parallel Meetup event page.

Upon arrival, we found a few folks demonstrating... how to eat Cheetos with chopsticks to better protect your keyboard from crumbs. We wouldn't have believed it either, but we have photographic proof.

Cheetos and chopsticks, the Iso keyboard, checking out the array of keyboards
Cheetos and chopsticks, the Iso keyboard, checking out the array of keyboards

Today's event had, by far, the most other keyboards of any Keyboardio event to date. Other folks brought a variety of old IBM Model Ms, Cherry MX mechanical keyboards, an Atreus, a few ErgoDoxes, a Truly Ergonomic and an amazing homebrew isomorphic musical keyboard with heavily modified Cherry MX mechanical keyswitches.

We did the standard dog and pony show, though today we spent a lot more time talking about the ins and outs of getting vendors to quote out pricing for your manufacturing project...or just return your calls.

LVL1 was, by far, the hardest to find hackerspace so far, but once inside, everything was astonishingly well signed and documented. Particular highlights of the tour include the couch suspended from the rafters, the gigantic laser cutter, the really well provisioned metal shop, and the "boneyard" of project supplies for members to have their way with.

Clockwise from upper right: The Boneyard; Accurate safety signage; Buttercup, may she someday ride again; “World’s Largest 3D Printed Trash Can Filled With Failed 3D Prints” (see yesterday's update)
Clockwise from upper right: The Boneyard; Accurate safety signage; Buttercup, may she someday ride again; “World’s Largest 3D Printed Trash Can Filled With Failed 3D Prints” (see yesterday's update)

The speech-detecting fire breathing animatronic pony also looked like it was amazing before it met its unfortunate end.

Afterword, we went out for fantastic Kentucky barbecue with a few folks before setting off to try to get at least part of the way to tomorrow's show and tell in Akron before bedtime.

If you're in Akron tomorrow afternoon, come down to synHAK and say hi: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/meet-the-keyboardio-model-01-akron-at-synhak-tickets-17315507148

TODAY: 474 miles 

TOTAL: 1435 miles

So far, we've raised $295,824 from 955 of you. Thank you so much!

PSA: Tomorrow is Father's Day in the US. 

Rob & Grant: We love you and will call you tomorrow.

<3 j+k

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