After nearly two months of attending to family matters in Arizona and Colorado, we are finally heading back out to do what we do best: show off our cool products to nice people at shows around the country. We're heading into Southern California for the beginning of April and will do several shows in and around the San Diego area as we evaluate the markets and determine which locations will be best for the remainder of our Spring road trip.
With lots of friends in the state we should have buckets of fun seeing and catching up of everyone's lives since our last visit. We especially hope to reconnect with our great friends Joe and Mary Kay Ghiglia in the San Luis Obispo area. There is a tremendous street market there which we'd truly love to get in. Anyone from there knows about this market and will understand our interest in being a vendor. Even if we don't get to display, we know we'll have a fun time with our friends, exploring the many and varied booths at that fair.
Once the weather turns warmer in Colorado, we'll be moving back to our home state to engage ourselves with several markets around the state. In June, we'll be doing one of our favorite shows in Salida, Colorado. It's a four day river festival, FIBARK. This remarkable weekend celebrates everything river sports related. It is the oldest river festival in the country and is a huge, fun time for a ll whom attend. We we there last year and really had a ball. Check out fibark.net for detailed information about this festival and come on down to beautiful Salida for four fun-filled days in the sun. Hope to see you there.
We've also been looking into shows in Buena Vista, Colorado and some select shows in the Denver area. We'll keep you posted on our plans as they solidify. Our Saturday morning farmer's market in Steamboat Springs will be our most regular venue and we hope many of you can join us in the high country for a get-a-way weekend on the continental divide.
Our summer looks like a busy one with our first two grand-babies due and all the activities that go along with that. We're really looking forward to that as well as to getting back to Colorado. During this winter, we will have pulled our travel trailer over 7,000 miles and visited 13 states, from Colorado to Key West, Florida, then all the way to San Diego California and back to Colorado! Our truck has pulled our load without a hick up so far and hopefully will continue its stellar performance.
We'll try to be more frequent with our posting now that we're back on the road, We appreciate all the kind words during these past two months while we dealt with our family matters and feel good that we have such great family and friends to support us. My Pop is in a "better place" now, as they say, and we feel lucky to have been able to share his last days together as a family. They were special and will never be forgotten.
So, until we meet out there on the road, get some time to enjoy your lives with those that mean something special to you. We have recently been reminded that life is short and second chances are rare. Remember, life is not a rehearsal. ENJOY IT THIS GO 'ROUND and above all.... Get OUT THERE! We'll see you soon.
3/27/10:
2/3/10:
More Record-breaking events!
Well, it seems our record-breaking abilities are not finished yet. The Key Largo Stone Crab and Seafood Festival was a huge success for us as well at the show's promoter. Overall, the show crew was understaffed, overwhelmed and just about crazy by the end of the two day event. But.. the crowds provided a record-breaking sales event for our Florida trip to date. The festival was fun, even if a bit too crowded. Being that this was the first annual, next year the bugs should be worked out and the show will go much more smoothly. The crowds on this side of the state seemed readier for our products and were willing to spend some money and we were all too happy to help them do just that. We also met some really nice people and enjoyed our visit to Key Largo immensely! Following this weekend event, we decided to head on down the Keys to the bottom to check out all the buzz about Key West.
We left Key Largo on an overcast Monday and headed down Highway 1 toward the Conch Republic. It should have been 2 to 2 1/2 hours but about an hour into the trip the rain began. For the rest of our 3 hour drive, it rained so hard that visibility was extremely limited and our views of the beautiful islands along the way were mostly obscured by "the windshield wipers tapping out the rhythm on the radio" as we averaged about 30 mph. Needless to say, we were under-whelmed so far.
Upon arrival, we treated ourselves to a reduced-rate room at the Sheraton (thanks to family connections!). The rain was intermittent but we decided to persevere and headed downtown to explore the famous bars and nightspots of Duval Street. We did a bit of pub-crawling, including Earnest Hemingway's favorite pub: Sloppy Joes, Capt'n Tonys Bar from Jimmy Buffett's song "The Captain and the Kid", and the Hog's Breath Saloon ("Hog's Breath is better than no breath at all!"). We heard some fine live music and enjoyed some tasty eats along the way.
Rising bright and shiny then next morning we learned on the local radio station that we had just missed breaking a one day rain total by millimeters. The record had been set in 1919! I think the weatherman is playing with our minds pretty well so far. The weather cleared for our second and final day in Key West so we played tourist and took the local tourist-trolley around the island getting the "inside skinny" on the southernmost part of the continental US. We learned some fascinating stuff about the island, some of its former and present-day inhabitants, and thoroughly enjoyed our final day.
Some family health issues popped up that night and we decided to cut our Florida visit short and head west to assist in Arizona as best we can. We are currently on the road again, heading up the entire state of Florida where we'll connect with US 10 and continue west for about 2000 miles. Dear ol' Dad and Mom are at the other end and although it'll take us the better part of a week to get there, we know the trip will be well worth our travel time.
So, it may be a bit before I revisit y'all. Hang on though, We'll be back with more tales of the road ahead. "Til then, we'll see you somewhere out there.
.
We left Key Largo on an overcast Monday and headed down Highway 1 toward the Conch Republic. It should have been 2 to 2 1/2 hours but about an hour into the trip the rain began. For the rest of our 3 hour drive, it rained so hard that visibility was extremely limited and our views of the beautiful islands along the way were mostly obscured by "the windshield wipers tapping out the rhythm on the radio" as we averaged about 30 mph. Needless to say, we were under-whelmed so far.
Upon arrival, we treated ourselves to a reduced-rate room at the Sheraton (thanks to family connections!). The rain was intermittent but we decided to persevere and headed downtown to explore the famous bars and nightspots of Duval Street. We did a bit of pub-crawling, including Earnest Hemingway's favorite pub: Sloppy Joes, Capt'n Tonys Bar from Jimmy Buffett's song "The Captain and the Kid", and the Hog's Breath Saloon ("Hog's Breath is better than no breath at all!"). We heard some fine live music and enjoyed some tasty eats along the way.
Rising bright and shiny then next morning we learned on the local radio station that we had just missed breaking a one day rain total by millimeters. The record had been set in 1919! I think the weatherman is playing with our minds pretty well so far. The weather cleared for our second and final day in Key West so we played tourist and took the local tourist-trolley around the island getting the "inside skinny" on the southernmost part of the continental US. We learned some fascinating stuff about the island, some of its former and present-day inhabitants, and thoroughly enjoyed our final day.
Some family health issues popped up that night and we decided to cut our Florida visit short and head west to assist in Arizona as best we can. We are currently on the road again, heading up the entire state of Florida where we'll connect with US 10 and continue west for about 2000 miles. Dear ol' Dad and Mom are at the other end and although it'll take us the better part of a week to get there, we know the trip will be well worth our travel time.
So, it may be a bit before I revisit y'all. Hang on though, We'll be back with more tales of the road ahead. "Til then, we'll see you somewhere out there.
.
1/29/10:
Finally surfacing...
Hello faithful readers!
Seems the summer and much of the winter has gotten away from us as we have been busy doing life. I will attempt to update all on the past several months of our activities in this post and hopefully will do a better job at being current!
Our summer was spent housed in our beautiful hometown of Steamboat Springs, Colorado as we pursued livelihoods and attempted to keep current with friends and families nearby. Since our home was still under a lease, we were fortunate to secure a neat place up near the ski area for the summer. Part of the agreement included me doing some remodel work for the properties owner. That work included replacing the walkway and deck floorings with TREX, working to update his kitchen with new cabinet doors and drawer fronts, tiling two bathrooms, wainscotting a guest bathroom and refinishing several interior doors which had been damaged by dog scratching. As expected, this kept me quite busy during the work week and I enjoyed seeing the remodel take shape and how nice it all looked when completed. Suz went back to running her housekeeping business and it didn't take too long before we felt like we were "back amonst 'em".
Along with these "day jobs" we spend considerable time and effort marketing our Allergic to Cities products at several Colorado-based farmers markets and crafts shows. We especially found great success with the Steamboat Springs Farmer's Market (Saturday mornings) and the Town of Dillon Farmer's Market (Friday mornings). Although it put quite a bump in our schedules, we were very pleased to see the continuing progress and acceptance of our shirts and hats. As the sales receipts were good, the connections we made were even better. Meeting new friends and rekindling old relationships seemed to be the name of the game and we relished these personal interactions. From all of this, we decided to officially take the show "on the road" this winter.
So in September, we purchased a used 28' travel trailer, had our friend Matt Scharf put some great graphics together for wrapping it, and prepared to head to Florida for the Arts and Craft show circuit. We pulled out of Colorado righ after Thanksgiving, just ahead of an approaching snow storm, and headed to Texas to try a couple of shows there, along the way.
We arrived in Amarillo our first night out, to awake the next morn to about 6" of snow all over everything. The roads were icy and cars and trucks were skidding off the road everywhere. After checking the weather map, we carefully headed our rig south toward San Antonio for our next layover. We left the snow behind about 30 miles down the road and were glad to had dry pavement to pull our trailer. Arriving in San Antonio that night, we found the temps still VERY cold and were disappointed that our "warmer climate getaway" seemed clouded by cold weather, even as as we traveled south.
While in San Antonio, we braved the cold enough to do a couple of touristy things, like visit the Alamo, but were not happy to have to continue wearing out cold weather gear. Continuing south, we stopped over at some sailing friends home in Beeville, Texas for an evening. It was great reconnecting with them and although Karl was fighting a nasty cold, we all shared some fun remembrances of our time in the Bahamas together. The next morning, we headed off to Corpus Christi for our first scheduled show of the season. Upon arrival, we put up our tent and display and waited for customers. And waited. The weather was STILL very cold (spelled R-E-C-O-R-D C-O-L-D S-P-E-L-L) and attendance was dismal. We made a few sales to the brave souls who did appear, but soon decided to break camp, lick our wounds, and head off to a local seafood restaurant to enjoy some fine cuisine. Suz enjoyed some fabulous fresh oysters on the half-shell, while I gorged on peel-and-eat shrimp. Felt somewhat satisfied with our day, after all.
Next day we moved our rig toward Houston area where more great sailing friends lived. David and Vicky welcomed us into their beautiful new home and we enjoyed several nights of revelry with them. Leaving, we headed off toward a small town outside of Houston where our next show was to be held. Since the rain and cold continued to plauge us, we wound up canceling that show before we even put up our tent!
Did I mention the cold yet? Oh yes, it continued. Record breaking cold spells followed us all the way across the US as we moved east. Everywhere we went, people let us know "we've never seen anything like this" over and over! We headed to Savannah to see Suz' Pop for a short layover before our scheduled arrival in Florida just before Christmas. HAd a super time in Georgia with him and then begrudgingly headed off toward our rented house in Port Charlotte, Florida, just north of Punta Gorda. We arrived on Christmas Eve and, yes, it was RECORD BREAKING COLD SPELLS all over again. We were starting to feel like we were living in the movie Groundhog Day. Florida houses are not equipped for cold and are not insulated, the heaters don't work well and our patience was just about used up. For one entire month, we tried to stay warm while doing our scheduled shows during the month of January along the Gulf Coast of Florida. Some days were better than others, but mostly it was just lousy weather all along the way. We did 16 shows during the month, some better than others. Although the gulf coast show circuit proved somewhat successful, but not as good as we'd hoped for, so we decided to head across the state to the Atlantic side and try that coast next.
So we have now arrived in Key Largo, Florida, the northernmost of the Florida Keys, to do our first show on this side of the state this weekend. It is called the Key LArgo Stone Crab and Seafood Festival. The weather has finally cooperated with bring in higher temps and sunny skies but this weekend calls for 40% chance of rain. Sound familiar? We're troopers, though and the show will go on! We'll let all know how it went in our next blog.
Hope to be able to see some of you out there along our travels.
Seems the summer and much of the winter has gotten away from us as we have been busy doing life. I will attempt to update all on the past several months of our activities in this post and hopefully will do a better job at being current!
Our summer was spent housed in our beautiful hometown of Steamboat Springs, Colorado as we pursued livelihoods and attempted to keep current with friends and families nearby. Since our home was still under a lease, we were fortunate to secure a neat place up near the ski area for the summer. Part of the agreement included me doing some remodel work for the properties owner. That work included replacing the walkway and deck floorings with TREX, working to update his kitchen with new cabinet doors and drawer fronts, tiling two bathrooms, wainscotting a guest bathroom and refinishing several interior doors which had been damaged by dog scratching. As expected, this kept me quite busy during the work week and I enjoyed seeing the remodel take shape and how nice it all looked when completed. Suz went back to running her housekeeping business and it didn't take too long before we felt like we were "back amonst 'em".
Along with these "day jobs" we spend considerable time and effort marketing our Allergic to Cities products at several Colorado-based farmers markets and crafts shows. We especially found great success with the Steamboat Springs Farmer's Market (Saturday mornings) and the Town of Dillon Farmer's Market (Friday mornings). Although it put quite a bump in our schedules, we were very pleased to see the continuing progress and acceptance of our shirts and hats. As the sales receipts were good, the connections we made were even better. Meeting new friends and rekindling old relationships seemed to be the name of the game and we relished these personal interactions. From all of this, we decided to officially take the show "on the road" this winter.
So in September, we purchased a used 28' travel trailer, had our friend Matt Scharf put some great graphics together for wrapping it, and prepared to head to Florida for the Arts and Craft show circuit. We pulled out of Colorado righ after Thanksgiving, just ahead of an approaching snow storm, and headed to Texas to try a couple of shows there, along the way.
We arrived in Amarillo our first night out, to awake the next morn to about 6" of snow all over everything. The roads were icy and cars and trucks were skidding off the road everywhere. After checking the weather map, we carefully headed our rig south toward San Antonio for our next layover. We left the snow behind about 30 miles down the road and were glad to had dry pavement to pull our trailer. Arriving in San Antonio that night, we found the temps still VERY cold and were disappointed that our "warmer climate getaway" seemed clouded by cold weather, even as as we traveled south.
While in San Antonio, we braved the cold enough to do a couple of touristy things, like visit the Alamo, but were not happy to have to continue wearing out cold weather gear. Continuing south, we stopped over at some sailing friends home in Beeville, Texas for an evening. It was great reconnecting with them and although Karl was fighting a nasty cold, we all shared some fun remembrances of our time in the Bahamas together. The next morning, we headed off to Corpus Christi for our first scheduled show of the season. Upon arrival, we put up our tent and display and waited for customers. And waited. The weather was STILL very cold (spelled R-E-C-O-R-D C-O-L-D S-P-E-L-L) and attendance was dismal. We made a few sales to the brave souls who did appear, but soon decided to break camp, lick our wounds, and head off to a local seafood restaurant to enjoy some fine cuisine. Suz enjoyed some fabulous fresh oysters on the half-shell, while I gorged on peel-and-eat shrimp. Felt somewhat satisfied with our day, after all.
Next day we moved our rig toward Houston area where more great sailing friends lived. David and Vicky welcomed us into their beautiful new home and we enjoyed several nights of revelry with them. Leaving, we headed off toward a small town outside of Houston where our next show was to be held. Since the rain and cold continued to plauge us, we wound up canceling that show before we even put up our tent!
Did I mention the cold yet? Oh yes, it continued. Record breaking cold spells followed us all the way across the US as we moved east. Everywhere we went, people let us know "we've never seen anything like this" over and over! We headed to Savannah to see Suz' Pop for a short layover before our scheduled arrival in Florida just before Christmas. HAd a super time in Georgia with him and then begrudgingly headed off toward our rented house in Port Charlotte, Florida, just north of Punta Gorda. We arrived on Christmas Eve and, yes, it was RECORD BREAKING COLD SPELLS all over again. We were starting to feel like we were living in the movie Groundhog Day. Florida houses are not equipped for cold and are not insulated, the heaters don't work well and our patience was just about used up. For one entire month, we tried to stay warm while doing our scheduled shows during the month of January along the Gulf Coast of Florida. Some days were better than others, but mostly it was just lousy weather all along the way. We did 16 shows during the month, some better than others. Although the gulf coast show circuit proved somewhat successful, but not as good as we'd hoped for, so we decided to head across the state to the Atlantic side and try that coast next.
So we have now arrived in Key Largo, Florida, the northernmost of the Florida Keys, to do our first show on this side of the state this weekend. It is called the Key LArgo Stone Crab and Seafood Festival. The weather has finally cooperated with bring in higher temps and sunny skies but this weekend calls for 40% chance of rain. Sound familiar? We're troopers, though and the show will go on! We'll let all know how it went in our next blog.
Hope to be able to see some of you out there along our travels.
6/11/09:
Back Home Again!
We're back home again in Steamboat Springs after visiting the eastern seasboard and enjoying sights of the region. We'll now settle back into our Colorado lifestyle for the summer and enjoy these spectacular high country vistas. We have a few shows scheduled around the region this summer and hope we'll be able to meet many of our old friends and make some new along the way.
Our local Saturday market opens this weekend here in Steamboat Springs. Its a terrific event every Saturday morning featuring a nice mix of traditional Farmer's Market goods as well as some homemade arts and crafts stuff. We are pleased to be included again this year as we find this market to be one of our best countrywide! We'll be at this Saturday morning show nearly every week until fall so make plans to stop and see us if you get in our area.
One Saturday attendance exception will be over the Fther's Day weekend. We will be in Salida, Colorado for the FIBARK River Festival for a four day show attended by some of the best and most ardent river sport fans around. This is the US' oldest river festival and should be a great time. We'll be there with some new shirt designs which should prove popular among those in attendance. Hope you'll be able to take the trip to this beautiful mountain community.
Until our paths cross...
GET OUT THERE!
Our local Saturday market opens this weekend here in Steamboat Springs. Its a terrific event every Saturday morning featuring a nice mix of traditional Farmer's Market goods as well as some homemade arts and crafts stuff. We are pleased to be included again this year as we find this market to be one of our best countrywide! We'll be at this Saturday morning show nearly every week until fall so make plans to stop and see us if you get in our area.
One Saturday attendance exception will be over the Fther's Day weekend. We will be in Salida, Colorado for the FIBARK River Festival for a four day show attended by some of the best and most ardent river sport fans around. This is the US' oldest river festival and should be a great time. We'll be there with some new shirt designs which should prove popular among those in attendance. Hope you'll be able to take the trip to this beautiful mountain community.
Until our paths cross...
GET OUT THERE!
6/4/09:
Into the wild!
Currently, we're on Skidaway Island, Georgia, finishing up a week long trip here visiting the coastal region and enjoying the unbelievably beautiful squares of downtown Savannah. We've learned that the original town of Savannah was laid out by General James Oglethorpe in 1733 and the original 4 squares were designed as open space intended for the military to practice their drills. Over time, twenty more squares were added, making a gridwork of downtown beauty of lush plantings, spectacular water fountains, and outstanding Live Oak trees draping the squares with tenticle-like limbs draped with luxurious blankets of Spanish Moss. If you remember the famous Forest Gump movie scene where Tom Hanks' character delivers his "life is like a box of chocolates" line, you'll have seen one of these settings, as much of the movie was filmed in the Savannah area.
We came to the Savannah area to visit family as we were tired and had been "on the road" doing the festival circuit in Arizona and New Mexico since mid-February, when we sold our boat and became "landlubbers" again (if you have any interest in sailing the Caribbean, see our sailing blog: www.allergictocities.blogspot.com for those adventures). Then, in April and May we "set up camp" in Golden, Colorado, the home of Coors beer, for several weekend markets and shows in nearby Denver. Finishing those markets made us really feel Allergic to Cities, so we "escaped" to southern Georgia and the seclusion of this marshy island adjacent to the same stretch Intercoastal Waterway we'd traversed on our trip south two years earlier. This seems a to be working remedy for our current malady and we're feeling slightly re-fueled as we prepare to head off tomorrow for the high country of Colorado, and our home in Steamboat Springs.
We'll be basing from there this summer and doing shows in the greater Colorado area. We're really excited to be included in one particular festival: FIBARK, in Salida, Colorado over the long weekend of June 18-21. This is the US' oldest river festival and certainly one of the best. We'll have our Allergic to Cities tent set up and ready to go by Thursday and hope to see some of our new "allergic" friends in attendance. Stop by our booth and tell us you saw this on our blog and we'll have something special for you.
See you out there...
We came to the Savannah area to visit family as we were tired and had been "on the road" doing the festival circuit in Arizona and New Mexico since mid-February, when we sold our boat and became "landlubbers" again (if you have any interest in sailing the Caribbean, see our sailing blog: www.allergictocities.blogspot.com for those adventures). Then, in April and May we "set up camp" in Golden, Colorado, the home of Coors beer, for several weekend markets and shows in nearby Denver. Finishing those markets made us really feel Allergic to Cities, so we "escaped" to southern Georgia and the seclusion of this marshy island adjacent to the same stretch Intercoastal Waterway we'd traversed on our trip south two years earlier. This seems a to be working remedy for our current malady and we're feeling slightly re-fueled as we prepare to head off tomorrow for the high country of Colorado, and our home in Steamboat Springs.
We'll be basing from there this summer and doing shows in the greater Colorado area. We're really excited to be included in one particular festival: FIBARK, in Salida, Colorado over the long weekend of June 18-21. This is the US' oldest river festival and certainly one of the best. We'll have our Allergic to Cities tent set up and ready to go by Thursday and hope to see some of our new "allergic" friends in attendance. Stop by our booth and tell us you saw this on our blog and we'll have something special for you.
See you out there...
6/3/09:
WECOME to the new "Allergic to Cities" blog!
Well lookee here... it seems we now have a blog space where we can communicate as freely and openly as we want. This space will also allow us to keep you aware of our doings as we travel around meeting and greeting some of you out there "on the road". We'll try to mention upcoming festivals and shows you'll be able to find us at, as well as news about new products.
We look forward to receiving input from you all and welcome comments which you'd like shared and passed forward. With these words of caution, we ask you use courtesy and decency when posting, as we hope to keep this blog appropriate for any age. We encourage you to submit your writing/ramblings to us for publishing consideration and we will add those which seem appropriate. Please feel free to discuss your "allergies" with us, whether severe or humorous and hopefully, you'll find someone else who can contribute to your posting with a remedy, some empathy or maybe even some sincere sympathy. We reserve the right to publish only those we find worthy and may edit, if necessary for brevity and space concerns.
Also, we love to see you wearing our gear in cool places, so be sure to snap a photo for our blog of you wearing something from us and let us know where you were when the pic was shot, and maybe where you bought the item, too. (Our retailers love the notice that they carry the coolest wear around.) By the way, the best photos,every so often, will receive something fun from our "wear-house" in the mail for their trouble... so feel free to snap away!
We really do look forward to hearing from you so everyone, get after it. Let us know what new "allergies" you've uncovered and what remedies you might suggest as a cure. Or, just let us know how you feel about some of the known ones we've already identified in our line of apparel.
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Rick and Suz
We look forward to receiving input from you all and welcome comments which you'd like shared and passed forward. With these words of caution, we ask you use courtesy and decency when posting, as we hope to keep this blog appropriate for any age. We encourage you to submit your writing/ramblings to us for publishing consideration and we will add those which seem appropriate. Please feel free to discuss your "allergies" with us, whether severe or humorous and hopefully, you'll find someone else who can contribute to your posting with a remedy, some empathy or maybe even some sincere sympathy. We reserve the right to publish only those we find worthy and may edit, if necessary for brevity and space concerns.
Also, we love to see you wearing our gear in cool places, so be sure to snap a photo for our blog of you wearing something from us and let us know where you were when the pic was shot, and maybe where you bought the item, too. (Our retailers love the notice that they carry the coolest wear around.) By the way, the best photos,every so often, will receive something fun from our "wear-house" in the mail for their trouble... so feel free to snap away!
We really do look forward to hearing from you so everyone, get after it. Let us know what new "allergies" you've uncovered and what remedies you might suggest as a cure. Or, just let us know how you feel about some of the known ones we've already identified in our line of apparel.
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Rick and Suz
