On the Blog Again....

Thursday, July 8, South Hamilton

When last I posted, we were on our way to do a show in Georgia, then another in North Carolina on our way home from Florida. Also, we planned a stop in Rye Brook to visit with Mike & Lisa and Ava. All that took place without much incident. The best part of that trip was seeing Ava and her parents. We spent a couple of days with them and had lots of time with our darling granddaughter, Ava. She is beautiful - but how could she miss with parents like Lisa and Mike!!

We arrived in Hamilton on Thursday, May 6th to a very excited 6-year old grandson, Aaron. He had so many things to show and tell us about! Interesting how very fast these young ones grow up when we're not around. Aaron seems so much older than his six years, and he'd grown so much since we saw him last February in Florida. Since then, we have had so much fun with him that we wish we could be here more often. He loves to play games, and he is really good at it. His mind is so sharp, and he picks up the rules, etc., very easily. It's really FUN to play these games with him.

At the end of May, we had to leave, again, for a week, or so. We had a show out in Michigan, along the shores of Lake Michigan, in Berrien Springs. While there, we got a chance to go into Chicago to pick up inventory for our business. What an experience that was! The GPS was directing us to places where we felt unsure and the construction was everywhere. Needless to say, Chicago was not fun. We finally made our connection, picked up our inventory and got back on the road. Thankfully we were not in the motor home for this excursion.

After the show, we had a couple of days to kill, so we visited Shipshewanna, IN, which is an Amish settlement. The shops and stores there, along with the people, have convinced us that we MUST return and spend more time here, because one day is not nearly enough time to see everything. Also, we discovered that there are two campgrounds in town, and so we WILL DEFINITELY return to this little town next year, as we do plan to do the Michigan show again. In fact, there is so much going on out in this part of the country in the late spring that we may spend more time here next year, before we come back to Hamilton.

On June 5th we attended the Madore Family Reunion (click here for photos), which was planned and organized by Lisa Willwerth, Anne Marie's daughter. The weather was great and the location, Tuck's Point in Manchester, MA was a wonderful spot facing the harbor. We had over 100 in attendance and they came from all over including, Oregon, New York, Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Florida and of course, Massachusetts. We celebrated Anne Marie's 80th birthday (she looks awesome), and Mike's 90th birthday, he also looks great. When I grow up I want to be just like them!!! There is something about those Madore genes. We spent time catching up and reminiscing about the "old days".

More recently, we headed up to Stowe, VT with friends, Charlie and Kathy Burch, to spend a little time shopping, eating and generally having fun, before heading over to Essex Junction for our next gig. While in Stowe, we visited a winery (only I did any tasting! - hic!). We stopped at the Ben & Jerry's plant in Waterbury, the Cabot Creamery Outlet, and the Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, where we got some unbelievable deals on K-Cups for our Keurig coffee makers (boxes of 12 cups for $2.50 each, and sample packs with 2 samples of 11 varieties for $5.00). If you have a Keurig, and you happen to find yourself in the Waterbury area, you MUST stop at the Green Mountain Coffee Roasters in the village. It's not hard to find, and the stop is worth it.

Our show in Essex Junction was quite successful. We sold lots of dips and coolers! The Canadians were the biggest spenders at this show, thank you very much! This show was during the "heat wave" which struck the Northeast over the July 4th weekend, but we were in air-conditioned comfort at the show. Unfortunately, because this show was scheduled over the July 4th weekend, we once again missed the Fourth of July "Roy Family Bash" by the lake in Salem, NH hosted by Dick and Elaine who always go all out for this gathering!! We did, however, make our absence less painful by supplying the party-goers with a big pot of baked beans and a couple of containers of "Chucks Nuts"!

One sidelight I feel I must share with you with regard to the Essex Junction show is our "Sour Cream Safari"! On Saturday, during the first day of the show, we realized that we would have to make more of our dips for sampling, since what we started out with was not going to get us through two more days! So, I googled "Sam's Club", and found one over in Plattsburg, NY, which is just across Lake Champlain from Burlington. According to our GPS devices, it was a distance of only 29 miles! However, once we started out, after the show, it turned into a full-blown safari! We left the fairgrounds in Essex Junction at about 5:15PM, after feeding the dogs and taking them for a walk, and loading them into the car for the trip. It was after 7:00PM when we finally parked in the Sam's Club lot in Plattsburg, some 85 miles later!! Seems that the bridge, which crosses the lake into Plattsburg, was out, and so we had to take the long way around. We arrived back at the motorhome at 9:30PM, then had to start making the dips! It was close to mid-night by the time we crawled into bed, and we had to be up at 6:00AM to get ready for day #2. It would have been faster, and cheaper, just to have gone down to the local supermarket to buy the sour cream, but, who knew?? Hindsight, as they say, is 20-20!

While in Essex Junction, we met some wonderful people, who we will count as good friends now! That is part of the reason why we enjoy doing these show so much - the people we meet! We have met so many wonderful people doing these shows, between other vendors, and the people who run the shows we attend, and we keep in touch with most of them. The other vendors we have met have become closer friends, since we see each other at many shows. We look forward, very much, to each and every show because we know we will see friends again.

We had been scheduled to do a fair in Maine this weekend, but after arriving at the fairgrounds yesterday morning, and spending about 4 hours working with the fairgrounds staff to try and alleviate some of the problems we discovered after we arrived, we decided to opt out. The electrical hookups for the motorhome were not sufficient to provide us with uninterrupted power for the weekend, and we just couldn't take the chance that the breaker would trip. Our dogs, Wilson and Beasley, would be in the motorhome alone during the show hours, and with the heat and humidity up there, we were not confident that the A/C would keep operating while we were out. Also, our display booth would have to be set up outdoors, in the sun, so we were afraid that our dips might spoil in the heat of the direct sunlight. I must say, though, that the fairgrounds staff were very understanding, promising to refund the monies we had paid to attend.

So, now we're back in Hamilton until July 17th, when we head out, again, this time to Louisville, KY, where we will be working at the Good Sam Club International Samboree. After the Louisville show, we will have to travel further south to Red Bay, AL, to have work done on the motorhome - an on-going problem which has plagued us since we purchased the coach last September. We are hopeful that this will finally get resolved this time.

Keep checking back from time to time, as I will be blogging on a somewhat regular basis (I hope). I may not always have any pictures to post (I have none for this post), but I will be blogging, I promise!

Until next post, stay safe, cool and dry!