The Way Back Home

I get tired of driving towards the end of each year after the shows and it's so especially this year.  Two trips back and forth from Florida to Michigan; two trips driving from Florida to Washington; and numerous trips from Washington to California.  Part of the exciting life of being an artist.  Along with all the driving comes the fuel bills, vehicle maintenance, and the unexpected things that can happen on the road.  And, so it went with last Monday.

Around midnight I stopped in Willows, California to catch a few z's before completing my return trip home.  After a few hours, I woke and headed north excited to make it home sometime around noon.  I stopped at the McDonald's just outside of Shasta, California (I actually like their coffee) for a brief rest-over and headed back north.  The weather was starting to turn nasty as I turned north onto Interstate 5.  Everything was going great until about 20 minutes north of Grants Pass, Oregon when a guy pulled up beside me and started waving at me.

It seemed that I lost a wheel about a mile back and never felt a thing.  The other tire blew as the guy was signaling me that I had a challenge.  This is the look beside the tow truck after the driver and I got the trailer loaded.  A few words of advice.  AAA RV Plus.  These guys are terrific and this membership will get your vehicle and trailer towed up to 100 miles for no cost to you other than your annual membership fee.  This has saved my back a few times over the last 20 years.

We headed back south down the freeway towards Les Schwab tires where I had already given them a head's up that we'd be coming in.  It was close to noon when I arrived and about five o'clock when they had me back on the road.  And, it was around 10 PM when I returned home.

The moral of this story is to be prepared and keep a positive attitude.  This is such a small event in the grand scheme of life.

Sunday Morning in San Carlos

San Carlos is our last California show for 2011, and I'm sitting here at 6:00AM with a fresh Starbucks Americano (no run for cream please).  It's kind of like a strong black coffee ( and again, no run for cream please)!  I could write a whole blog post on the number of times I ordered black coffee, and the clerk, barista, whoever was behind the counter asked me that question.

San Carlos is a nice town just south of San Francisco right off highway 101 and slightly below California state highway 92.  This week the show is on Laurel Avenue and runs approximately five blocks south, and then there are two blocks at San Carlos Avenue which intersects Laurel.  It's another town that seems to buck national trends where the downtown section is mostly intact with businesses, and even a large vacant building has a sold sign on it.

The weather is picture perfect California - sunny and low to mid seventies yesterday, and it's supposed to be mostly the same today.  "What's that in my picture"?  Dang aeroplane pulling the Geico gecko sign.  Only at an art faire in California would one see this. 

Yesterday morning started off with a bang with my latest fish going to this fine gentleman.  No, not the good looking guy in the Hawaiian shirt (that's me), it's the happy guy on the right.  As I always tell everyone I wake up better than average, and I'm happy to go to bed in an even better mood.  It's contagious and people really are happy to be around you!

 The sun is still low and I'm going to do some reading for now.  There's still a number of shows to think about over the next few months, and we have to get serious about planning shows for next year.  People are always amazed when they discover the whole process and logistics we artists go about to do the shows.  Most are thankful and often comment that maybe their job isn't so bad.  It takes a certain person to do these  shows and be successful at them.  A lot of persistence and self motivation are the key, but I really believe that anyone can do this.  I've been approached several times to teach a course, but I'm always so busy that it's hard to fit it in my current schedule.