Back in the West

Dear Friends,

Can you believe this is our 87th How We Be letter? Our fifth year on the road!

We left Havelock, North Carolina on April 2lst, after a great visit. Its always hard. We had a few days alone when Jason was in Waco, Texas on his job and I got to sleep with Roxy dog and feed Katie’s astonishing collection of lizards. Dave was in charge of Jasons 150 gallon, newly established (Its apparently never finished) salt water aquarium. His collection of beautiful fish is second only to the strange and exotic landscape of living corals and eatibus stuffi you dont want in your tank. Jason came home a little ahead of Jamie and the kids who were visiting family in Utah. In the following ten days I got to cook to my hearts content, and we caught up with each kids current interests and wishes. (Uncommon restraint prevents me from listing these interests and wishes in detail.)

We took I-40 all the way west. Overall, it is the best transcontinental highway we have driven. It takes us almost a full week, as we do nearly 300 miles a day but take a day off somewhere in Arkansas or Oklahoma. We had a crosswind nearly every day and driving is tiring for both of us. Spring weather is always volatile in this part of the country and this year was no exception, although we did get through Arkansas without a tornado warning for the first time.

Were in Amarillo, Texas; quite an adjustment from Georgia and North Carolina. We are finding sales to be very tough with advertisers waiting to see what is going to happen. Amarillo is the first major town we’ve been in where we could really SEE a recession. There is a real shortage of trucks on the road and a lot of shopping lots are far from full. From Amarillo we go to Santa Fe to work a park and Pojuace, a little town between Santa Fe and Taos. These two parks are new to us; we picked them up when our managers left the company last month. We really miss them, but they got a job offer they just couldnt refuse. We now report to the national sales managers and we know and like them.

I’ve always said one of the things we like about this lifestyle is the simplicity. We celebrate the little things. Dave is still kind of high over how good the large rear mudflaps look after he painted them. I have discovered a hand soap that smells like bourbon. Reminds me of my Dad, not to mention a couple of decades of my own life. I love it. Simple just about covers it, I know…

Love to all,