On the White Line

When the shirt tree blooms in Ajo, Arizona, that means you’ve got a week’s worth of clean clothes

Art show vendors can be a unique breed. Many seem to trend toward the extremes… super nice, overly crabby, wildly impulsive, tremendously habitual (I’m not sure what category we fall into).

Reckless

As we were taking down our booth in Tubac, Arizona, we witnessed one pair of vendors at their worst. An RV with a man and woman inside were all packed up and driving up the street passed the rest of the vendors.

I’m not sure why, but the driver veered way to one side of the road driving over another vendor’s tent poles in the process. The poles were off the street, so I can’t lay fault on the roadside artist. For anyone who has had to put up a show tent, you know that bent poles are pretty much useless.

Complete Disregard

The vendor on the street called out to the driver, but the the RV kept rolling along. He ran up to the driver side window and rapped on the glass, but the RV rolled on. He then climbed on the running board, reached across the windshield, and started yanking on the RV windshield wiper yelling “stop!” and the RV jolted forward. The guy on the running board jumped off and the RV swiped the branches of a mesquite tree as it sped off.

We were all in shock. Driving over someone’s tent, that’s a terrible accident. Pushing your foot to the gas peddle while everyone is waving you to stop, that’s just reckless and disrespectful.

It happened too quickly for me to take down a license plate number, but I hope there is some record of who these folks were… I’d hate to think they’d be invited back after that behavior… and they owe that guy more than an apology.

Baby Ita with a twin parked behind.

While in Tubac, Arizona, Baby Ita was one of THREE RVs in the Itasca Navion/Winnebago View family… AND all three were pulling little trailers. I’d say the chances are pretty slim of that happening again.

I’ve always been interested in Quartzsite, Arizona. I’ve driven by the dusty town over a half-dozen times, and each time it piqued my curiosity, but I never took the time to stop.

The first time I passed, I was intrigued by the hundreds of RVs dry camping (no hook-ups) in random spots in the desert. The next time, I noticed the clusters of vendor tents scattered through town. The third time, I saw the signs for all the RV dealerships there.

Today, we stopped to check things out. In addition to several chain restaurants, gas stations, and RV dealers, the place is a GIANT flea market. We eased ourselves into the Quartzsite experience by visiting one of the smaller flea market areas. I’ll admit, there was a lot of crap, but I must confess, I went home with a few finds.

Next time, I’ll dig a little deeper into the Quartzsite experience.

We certainly didn’t expect to see the World’s Largest Pistachio, but there it was just outside Tularosa, New Mexico.

The enormous nut was erected in honor of Thomas Michael McGinn, the guy who started McGinn’s Pistachio Tree Ranch. I must admit, the giant structure made us stop.

After yesterday’s wind storm, we thought we’d be staying at the Walmart in Hereford, Texas, but after two hours, the skies cleared and the winds died down. We pushed onwards to Roswell, New Mexico.

Gotta give this town credit for having a sense of humor about their association with a possible alien incident.

A little video about our visit to the State Cow Chip Throw. Quite an experience.

It was the cow chip throw that did it to us.

Last weekend… after all these years… Liam and I didn’t do a show together.

Instead he was at an art fair in Nekoosa, WI, and I was at the Wisconsin State Cow Chip Throw in Prairie du Sac (cow chip throwing is serious business in these parts).

Pre-show, we thought my show might actually be the more successful one. Afterall, it was a very busy event. In the end, Liam’s art fair won out. However, there was more rain in Prairie du Sac, and we were given a lousy spot — next year could be a completely different story if we decide to do them again.

I’m laying belly-down on the floor of the RV in the dark. My laptop is in front of me, and I can feel bits of sand jabbing into my elbows. This is RV living.

You see, I’m in a resort parking lot tapping in to their free wi-fi. While the guests in the hotel are enjoying their turn down service, I’m making my RV look unoccupied. That’s why I’m on the floor… so they can’t see my face by the light of the computer.

Now, the worst they could do is ask me to move along, but I’ve got work that needs to be done, and my mobile internet isn’t quite able to get the job done.

I gotta say, reliable highspeed internet is one of the things I miss most while I travel… and when I find a source I’m willing to go through a lot to make the most of it.

This sign gets my attention every time I drive along Highway 41 in Oshkosh, WI. This time, I stopped to get a closer look.

The sign is fantastic… the campground it advertises… well… it’s a (more…)