Seventh Week on the Road

Week Seven on the Road

We blink and we realize that we spend a great deal of time on the road. We survive desert dust storms, we dodge blown out tires on the interstate, we negotiate towing fees when something goes bad.

An epic 3,200 mile stretch has found us headed to Scottsdale to the famed Juried Art Fair.

It is one of the three most prestigious and sought after art fairs in the South West U.S.A.
We are fortunate to have juried into all of them. (Be careful what you wish for!). They are expensive but the rewards can help pay the bills.

Sometimes we feel that we are essentially chasing our mid western customers to the South West.

It can be rewarding to make connections with new customers and repeat customers while on the road.

In the past 72 hours we have traveled through six or seven time zones and have found ourselves getting haircuts and beauty work at the TTT truck stop in Tucson,Arizona.

Yes, it is a full fledged, honest to goodness truck stop. We have used this place for nearly 23 years. We use their showers, restaurant, and salon services along with every trucker in the U.S.A.
They have been in business for many, many decades.

We have grown comfortable in these surroundings. It is not an erudite environment and they listen to meaningless TV networks that profess “News” ,it is anything but “news”,

but we fancy ourselves as cultural anthropologists , so it’s always an adventure and we appreciate their services.

Here is a beautician that we have known and enjoyed her services for over a decade. Meet “Goldie”! She knows how to cut hair!
Consider her patrons and the miles they have logged across this continent?

We are always beholden to the people that we meet on the road, they offer us solace and comfort as we get farther and farther from home.
Goldie, gets out her hand massage machine and gives me a back rub and massage before I leave her chair, it is crazy good!

My day has become just a little bit better and less weary because of her.

In the coming weeks we will exhibit at the most prestigious art fair the South West U.S. has to offer. That being said, we also have to find a place to sleep for the night.

This leads to some rather curious circumstances and we have found ourselves in crazy wild places. At three o’clock in the morning….do you know where your daughter is? We do! And she might not be going to Sunday school in the A.M.

When the bars close, when the shoppers go back to their condo’s, when the police lessen their presence. This is where we find ourselves, in inner city “polite” suburbia. We are a small island of campers fending off the outside world as the sun goes down.
It is part of the roadwork we endure. It is part of the street package that comes with the territory.

Our overriding concern during the late, crazy, wild hours is that no one gets hurt.

“Was that gun fire in the distance?”

It is part of a travelers life on the road, it is part of modern day , small time, successful craftsman making a living throughout the nation.

Tonight a full moon illuminates the landscape and city scape. It might be romantic but it also allows us to see a bit farther into the darkness.
We sleep easier tonight because of it.

Never forget that the world is an exceedingly good place and the people you meet most often will treat you with kindness and respect.

Buffalo Billfold Company
Sincerely,
www.billkeitel.com