WHAT NOW COACH?

What the heck? only the floor of the trailer was done in 2 weeks. To say the least I was a tad upset. I went over and knocked on Winnie's door but no answer.

Being very careful to bypass Fire Ant Mounds on the way back to Jeanie's Bottle, I was probably very quiet. Thoughts were spinning through my head like race cars. It took a few minutes to get a grip on the situation and realize the first thing is nothing could be done about anything tonight. 

We didn't discuss it and wonder about what if or why, we ate supper and got a good nights sleep. I must admit that several time thoughts of " what the heck" did try to invade my serenity. Each time I turned my mind to something positive and I did sleep good.

The next morning after breakfast, I went over to the Winnie again. Still no Junior. This was a tad disturbing but right about then I decided we were  going to have a great day no matter what. 

I asked Jeanie if she would like to make a day of it doing a little sight seeing. She was all for that, after all we had just completed  a pretty full schedule.

Bluebonnets everywhere.

We drove around the back roads looking at all the wild flowers, checked out the Lake Waco C.O.E camping and ended up back in West,TX... No not West TX but the City of West on Infernal State 35.  Some say it is best known for the Great train wreck stunt but for me, it is the Little Czeck Bakery Kolache. OMG they are so good. Jeanie had never had a Kolache, so we bought a couple of smoked sausage Kolache for a snack and a bag full of mixed to go.

I  had in mind an early supper at Ed's truck stop at Elm Mott. They serve a platter size chicken fried steak with white gravy and fried okra. This was another first for Jeanie, she had never had Fried okra and was not real sure she wanted to try it.

It was a tad to early for supper when we got to the truck stop so we just walked around the little town until we got ready to  eat.Jeanie has been a big city girl all of her life, she was amazed to see people with chickens, and goats in the back yard. She also thought it was pretty cool.

 It was a nice quiet little town even if it was on the Infernal State.

We walked back to the restaurant and I ordered the chicken fried steak and okra for both of us. I had not told Jeanie how big they were and I told her if she didn't like the fried okra we would get her something else. she tried it and love it.:-)) The quart size Texas Sweet Tea did not have to be refilled and as Grandma use to say there was"A plenty" in the to go box.

Next we were off the the H.E.B. grocery store, a big Texas chain, to stock up on their Spring Water. Jeanie and I agreed it was the best we had ever tasted.  As we walked in I saw a sign that said Yellow meat Watermelons. I put one in the shopping cart and when Jeanie got back from her run to the produce section I told her I had bought a Yellow meat watermelon and they were almost as sweet as honey. She just smiled and said " You can't pull my leg on this one" I just smiled  and left it at that.

 I told her I had one more unusual sight I wanted to show her, and with that we were off to pick up our mail from the mail forwarding service.  I needed to add her name to the box so she could get her mail on the road too.I had spent a good part of the day pulling her leg about something or the other so she didn't know what to expect at the Mail service.

 Is this a blind man's nightmare or what?

 We picked up the mail and headed back to the gun club. It had been a fun day and come tomorrow I would be able to get the story on the trailer when the club opened for the 4-H Club  kids to practice.

 Look at the hair, about the time we got back to the club a little thunderstorm was approaching and the wind started to blow.  We retreated to Jeanie's bottle  and I set Jeanie up for another surprise.

The watermelon.

The yellow meat watermelon, Jeanie couldn't believe it and she was amazed at how sweet it was. She had to call home and tell her family about it.Her family had never heard of such a thing, they thought I was corrupting her.

Sometimes if you pull a leg just right, you really dont have to pull at all. ;-)))

Tomorrow: Making new plans.

I plan to have a great day, I hope you will join me.

Rojo

A LONG HOT SUMMER

During the winter of 2001/2002  I  concentrated on ways to make my retail sales grow. It was taking me to long to set up and tear down after shoots. The business Had grown to much for me to be able to travel around the West, Mid West and South East as I had done in the past.

I decided to open permanent retail stores in gun clubs, with the gun club personal handling the sales. Initially I opened  3 stores in the Central Texas area. I knew when I did this that it meant I had to stay in Central and South Texas in the summer. My only escape would be a trip or two to Amarillo and one to the Grand American in Ohio. 

I think someone must have been slipping Magic Mushroom powder in my Mountain Dew. Whatever possessed me to think I would be able to handle that heat and humidity in Central and South Texas in the summer time day after day,I will never know.Or maybe it could have been I was thinking with the wrong head.

 

Above and below was a typical store set up

  

  

One exhausted Redhead 

I though I might get some relief from the Heat and Humidity when I left Texas  August 1 for the Grand American trap shoot in Ohio. No wayJose, it was  hotter than it had been in several years and the humidity was worse than Texas. 

On the way back from the Grand, a motor mount on ole winne gave up the ghost. I was on the outskirts of Joplin,MO. I found a shop and they were in the process of replacing the motor mount.

I checked in the Upoc groups and Jeanie had left a message in group. Her voice was not the same, I sent her a text message asking if I could have her phone number. When she sent it to me, I called her to ask what was wrong. She said it was a family problem, as we talked she told me she was divorced and that day  her husband was moving out. It had never occurred to me to ask her about her marital status because we had both married and single people in the group and I was in a relationship.I ask her for her address and she gave it to me. I walked across the street to a flower shop and sent her a Bear hug mug of flowers. She was always such a ray of sunshine in the group I thought that was the least I could do.

 

This is the pic Jeanie sent me  in  Nov 02

In the late summer or early fall of 2002 is when I decided that Texas, year around was just not going to work. The next problem was that If I went back to traveling as much as I had before then I was only going to be able to do a shoot every other week. The set up and break down time didn't give me enough time to travel between the major shoots in the summer time  or the chain shoots in the winter time. Winnie was already way past due for retirement,but still going strong.

Then I found ole Blackie, that would solve part of the problem. I thought about a new vendor trailer but I had never seen one like I would need. I decided to order one custom built to suit my needs and then do the final work myself.

  

Blackie

When I got Blackie ready to roll I gave Winnie to a Homeless guy , who helped me on occasion

Tomorrow Turkey day In California.

 I plan to have a great day I hope you will Join me.

Rojo