Friday, July 30 - Nashville, TN
Having completed our service work at Tiffin Motorhomes in Red Bay, AL, at about 2PM Central time, we decided to head out for Nashville, TN for a day or two. We traveled along the Natchez Trace Parkway, which we entered in Mississippi, and followed for approximately 150 miles into Tennessee, just south of Nashville.
If you have never traveled this parkway, you have to put it on your "bucket list". The scenery is gorgeous every inch of the way. In addition, there are NO TRUCKS on this roadway, so it is very smooth and relaxing to drive. We did take a few photos along the way, which you can view after reading this post. However, for the history and more photos of places to visit along the parkway, click on the highlighted link, above. There, you will find lots of information about the Trace, much more than I can give you here.
We are currently staying in a campground just north of Nashville, TN, on Highway I-65. We arrived here late this afternoon from Alabama, as I mentioned above. Tomorrow, we will take some time to visit some of the local attractions in Nashville, such as the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Grand Ole Opry, the Ryman Auditorium, whatever we can find the time to visit. Who knows, maybe we'll even bump into someone "famous"!
On Sunday, we will head north to Louisville, again, to do the sightseeing we didn't get to do last week when we were there. Hopefully, this time we will not encounter the violent storms we had here last year at this time. We'll keep our fingers crossed!
Be sure to return to this blog for updates on our visit to Nashville and Louisville.
Here is the link to the web album with pictures Kathy took along the Natchez Trace Parkway: http://picasaweb.google.com/cbenoitiii/TravelingAlongTheNatchezTraceParkway?feat=directlink
Friday, July 30, 2010
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
A Bit of Americana in Alabama
Wednesday, July 28th - Red Bay, Alabama
We arrived in Red Bay on Monday afternoon about 5PM Central time, having driven down from Louisville, KY after "The Rally". We are here to have the motorhome serviced before we head back up to Massachusetts.
Shortly after we arrived a thunderstorm moved in from the south. During the height of the storm we noticed that the motorhome was engulfed in the heavy rain, but the sun was shining through the windows on the north side, which seemed strange because lightning and thunder was all around us, as well. The storm passed before the sun set, but we had heavy rain showers the rest of the night. By morning, the campground was all mud and deep puddles. The good news is that the leak we had repaired last month is holding.
Yesterday, Tuesday, we traveled into Mississippi for lunch (about 5.5 miles west). We ate at a little cafe in Belmont, MS. The food and the prices were great! We had time to do this because the way the service works here, if they do not call you by 11:30AM, you are not on the list that day. We came in here with no appointment, so we have to wait for what they refer to as "Express Service", where they assign two technicians to work on your problems for three hours. Whatever they can get repaired in the three hours from your "list" is what gets done. Fortunately, we do not have many things on our "list". The main problem we have is no dash A/C. If they can resolve that problem within the three hours, we will leave happy!
This morning, they came to our coach to let us know that we will most likely get into the Express Service bay tomorrow noon. Knowing that we would not have to move the coach today, we used the time to do some exploring in the area. Last night we met a couple from Kansas, who are also vendors at shows. They were also up in Louisville at "The Rally", but we did not get to meet them there. Anyway, I spent most of last night sitting outside talking with Gene, while Kathy spent the time in our coach with Sheila. Sheila wanted to purchase some of our dip mixes, since she never got a chance to visit our booth at the show. While talking to them, we found out about a couple of places which should be on our "must visit" list while here in Red Bay. One place is called "Swamp John's Restaurant", which we did go to for lunch this afternoon.
The restaurant is located in an old gas station which has been converted into a restaurant (the pumps are still standing in front of the place). The food was excellent, and very affordable! The menu consists of sandwiches of all types, from BLTs to 'burgers and pulled pork, etc.; and plates of BBQ Pork, Chicken and catfish. If you "google" "swamp johns restaurant", you will be able to read a review of this restaurant, which has 2 other locations. The other place of interest we visited was the "Coon Dog Cemetery", which is located in Colbert County in Alabama. 
If you click the link, you will be directed to the home page for this tourist attraction. This is the only cemetery of its kind in the world, and ONLY Coon Dogs can be interred here. We looked at some of the 185 or so grave markers and found that lots of dogs came from other states and other parts of Alabama. Be sure to check the link to this unique attraction. It has a very interesting history.
That's it for this edition of the Chuckwagon Journal. If we get our repairs done tomorrow, we will be heading home either late tomorrow afternoon, or on Friday AM. Be sure to check back here after for updated postings.
Remember, if you would like to leave a comment, at the bottom of the post, simply click on the word "comments" and type your comments in the box at the top right of the screen. Click on the "Anonymous" radio button under the "comments" window then click the "Publish" button. Voila! Your comments will magically appear on the left side of the screen. All I ask is that you sign your comments in some way that I can identify you. That's all there is to it!
Remember, if you can't fix it with a hammer, it's probably an electrical problem!
We arrived in Red Bay on Monday afternoon about 5PM Central time, having driven down from Louisville, KY after "The Rally". We are here to have the motorhome serviced before we head back up to Massachusetts.
Shortly after we arrived a thunderstorm moved in from the south. During the height of the storm we noticed that the motorhome was engulfed in the heavy rain, but the sun was shining through the windows on the north side, which seemed strange because lightning and thunder was all around us, as well. The storm passed before the sun set, but we had heavy rain showers the rest of the night. By morning, the campground was all mud and deep puddles. The good news is that the leak we had repaired last month is holding.
Yesterday, Tuesday, we traveled into Mississippi for lunch (about 5.5 miles west). We ate at a little cafe in Belmont, MS. The food and the prices were great! We had time to do this because the way the service works here, if they do not call you by 11:30AM, you are not on the list that day. We came in here with no appointment, so we have to wait for what they refer to as "Express Service", where they assign two technicians to work on your problems for three hours. Whatever they can get repaired in the three hours from your "list" is what gets done. Fortunately, we do not have many things on our "list". The main problem we have is no dash A/C. If they can resolve that problem within the three hours, we will leave happy!
This morning, they came to our coach to let us know that we will most likely get into the Express Service bay tomorrow noon. Knowing that we would not have to move the coach today, we used the time to do some exploring in the area. Last night we met a couple from Kansas, who are also vendors at shows. They were also up in Louisville at "The Rally", but we did not get to meet them there. Anyway, I spent most of last night sitting outside talking with Gene, while Kathy spent the time in our coach with Sheila. Sheila wanted to purchase some of our dip mixes, since she never got a chance to visit our booth at the show. While talking to them, we found out about a couple of places which should be on our "must visit" list while here in Red Bay. One place is called "Swamp John's Restaurant", which we did go to for lunch this afternoon.
The restaurant is located in an old gas station which has been converted into a restaurant (the pumps are still standing in front of the place). The food was excellent, and very affordable! The menu consists of sandwiches of all types, from BLTs to 'burgers and pulled pork, etc.; and plates of BBQ Pork, Chicken and catfish. If you "google" "swamp johns restaurant", you will be able to read a review of this restaurant, which has 2 other locations. The other place of interest we visited was the "Coon Dog Cemetery", which is located in Colbert County in Alabama. 
If you click the link, you will be directed to the home page for this tourist attraction. This is the only cemetery of its kind in the world, and ONLY Coon Dogs can be interred here. We looked at some of the 185 or so grave markers and found that lots of dogs came from other states and other parts of Alabama. Be sure to check the link to this unique attraction. It has a very interesting history.That's it for this edition of the Chuckwagon Journal. If we get our repairs done tomorrow, we will be heading home either late tomorrow afternoon, or on Friday AM. Be sure to check back here after for updated postings.
Remember, if you would like to leave a comment, at the bottom of the post, simply click on the word "comments" and type your comments in the box at the top right of the screen. Click on the "Anonymous" radio button under the "comments" window then click the "Publish" button. Voila! Your comments will magically appear on the left side of the screen. All I ask is that you sign your comments in some way that I can identify you. That's all there is to it!
Remember, if you can't fix it with a hammer, it's probably an electrical problem!
Thursday, July 22, 2010
The Rally, Louisville - July 22
Louisville, KY - Thursday, July 22; DAY 1
Today was the first official day of The Rally here in Louisville. We arrived in the Louisville area on Sunday afternoon and checked into a campground about 20 miles south of the city proper. After getting settled at the campground, we drove into the city to check out the show venue and get the "lay of the land". This area of the country is in the same HEAT WAVE pattern as most of the rest of the country is experiencing. It is in the mid-nineties and very humid every day/night. The parking lot where we are located at The Rally is directly in the landing path of the nearby Louisville Airport, and the flights come in about every 2-3 minutes from about 6AM until past 2AM every single day! Add to that the fact that the A/C in the coach can't keep up with the temperature outside, and you get the some idea of our living conditions here. Oh, yeah, we are also parked on a paved lot, so the heat rises from beneath the motor home to add to the misery.
Anyway, as I mentioned, today was the first day of the show and the crowds were huge! Kathy had to run back to the motor home twice to get more DIP, and we still had 3 or 4 empty containers by 4:30PM, and the show closed at 5PM. Today's pretzel count was 10 pounds, and about 1/2 pound ended up on the floor, crushed into the carpeting! This was a "feeding frenzy" today. Lots of "grazers", and maybe half of them actually bought something! Not complaining, just stating facts. At times, watching the "grazers", it seemed to me that they were competing with each other to see who could get the most dip on a pretzel (or pretzels). One young lady, who was there with another vendor, stood in one spot dipping into the Shrimp Dip until it was almost gone. She returned later, after we had put a new container out, armed with a hand-full of Cheez-Its, and went right into the Shrimp again! She saw me looking at her, so she left. However, she was nervy enough to return as we were closing up to see if she could get any "left-overs"! Twit!! At shows like this, I guess we just have to bite our tongues, grin and bear it. Ya can't teach people manners if they don't learn at home, eh?
At the present time, approximately 9:30PM, Kathy is making more dip samples for tomorrow's onslaught. I have already been out to buy more sour cream and pretzels. I bought 17 pounds of pretzels tonight and I hope that will get us through tomorrow. I have already cleaned out two local stores, so if we need to get more, I'll have to find other sources. This show will continue until 2:30PM on Sunday, and I hope that we have the resources to survive 'til then. Stay tuned for that report.
We do have one competitor here. A company called All Star Dips. Their pricing was very similar to ours, which we thought was very good for us, since we have a really exciting booth area, we put out the pretzels and let people help themselves, whereas, All Star hands out their pretzels, one-at-a-time, to the customers, and their dip samples, which are displayed in coolers similar to ours, are in containers with covers on them, with a small hole in the cover, about 1" in diameter, to dip the pretzel into. However, they changed their pricing after seeing our prices in an attempt to out-sell us. No Way, Jose!!! People appreciate the fact that we do not try to limit their ability to sample our dips, and our packets make more dip than All Star's.
All-in-all, today was a GOOD day for us, sales-wise! Our main concern, at this point, is that we will not have enough dip packets to get us through the show. Our wicker dip coolers are selling well, and we do have plenty of them in inventory to get us through Sunday.
LIFE IS GOOD!
Wilson and Beasley are hangin' in there. They spend their days in air-conditioned comfort, get two squares per day, and plenty of water. When we get back to the motor home at night, they are really excited to see us, but then, after eating, they retire to the bedroom and sleep!! What a life, eh?
Stay tuned for updates!
Today was the first official day of The Rally here in Louisville. We arrived in the Louisville area on Sunday afternoon and checked into a campground about 20 miles south of the city proper. After getting settled at the campground, we drove into the city to check out the show venue and get the "lay of the land". This area of the country is in the same HEAT WAVE pattern as most of the rest of the country is experiencing. It is in the mid-nineties and very humid every day/night. The parking lot where we are located at The Rally is directly in the landing path of the nearby Louisville Airport, and the flights come in about every 2-3 minutes from about 6AM until past 2AM every single day! Add to that the fact that the A/C in the coach can't keep up with the temperature outside, and you get the some idea of our living conditions here. Oh, yeah, we are also parked on a paved lot, so the heat rises from beneath the motor home to add to the misery.
Anyway, as I mentioned, today was the first day of the show and the crowds were huge! Kathy had to run back to the motor home twice to get more DIP, and we still had 3 or 4 empty containers by 4:30PM, and the show closed at 5PM. Today's pretzel count was 10 pounds, and about 1/2 pound ended up on the floor, crushed into the carpeting! This was a "feeding frenzy" today. Lots of "grazers", and maybe half of them actually bought something! Not complaining, just stating facts. At times, watching the "grazers", it seemed to me that they were competing with each other to see who could get the most dip on a pretzel (or pretzels). One young lady, who was there with another vendor, stood in one spot dipping into the Shrimp Dip until it was almost gone. She returned later, after we had put a new container out, armed with a hand-full of Cheez-Its, and went right into the Shrimp again! She saw me looking at her, so she left. However, she was nervy enough to return as we were closing up to see if she could get any "left-overs"! Twit!! At shows like this, I guess we just have to bite our tongues, grin and bear it. Ya can't teach people manners if they don't learn at home, eh?
At the present time, approximately 9:30PM, Kathy is making more dip samples for tomorrow's onslaught. I have already been out to buy more sour cream and pretzels. I bought 17 pounds of pretzels tonight and I hope that will get us through tomorrow. I have already cleaned out two local stores, so if we need to get more, I'll have to find other sources. This show will continue until 2:30PM on Sunday, and I hope that we have the resources to survive 'til then. Stay tuned for that report.
We do have one competitor here. A company called All Star Dips. Their pricing was very similar to ours, which we thought was very good for us, since we have a really exciting booth area, we put out the pretzels and let people help themselves, whereas, All Star hands out their pretzels, one-at-a-time, to the customers, and their dip samples, which are displayed in coolers similar to ours, are in containers with covers on them, with a small hole in the cover, about 1" in diameter, to dip the pretzel into. However, they changed their pricing after seeing our prices in an attempt to out-sell us. No Way, Jose!!! People appreciate the fact that we do not try to limit their ability to sample our dips, and our packets make more dip than All Star's.
All-in-all, today was a GOOD day for us, sales-wise! Our main concern, at this point, is that we will not have enough dip packets to get us through the show. Our wicker dip coolers are selling well, and we do have plenty of them in inventory to get us through Sunday.
LIFE IS GOOD!
Wilson and Beasley are hangin' in there. They spend their days in air-conditioned comfort, get two squares per day, and plenty of water. When we get back to the motor home at night, they are really excited to see us, but then, after eating, they retire to the bedroom and sleep!! What a life, eh?
Stay tuned for updates!
Thursday, July 8, 2010
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!
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!
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