Colorado is but a memory and it’s time to head north to Minnesota. Yah, sure, you betcha! If only I didn’t have to deal with flaming brakes and a 3600 mile drive in 6 days.
We closed out Colorado with record numbers. Yay us! Sharon’s boss Ruth decided that she needed her to do production in Niles so she flew to Ohio the Tuesday after Colorado closed. That left me to finish the last of the packing and make the drive to Minnesota alone. No big deal. Well at least that’s what I thought.
Flaming Brakes!
Waiting for help
So much to repack
Still repacking
Lucky dogs get to nap
Bruce and the kids
Ruth decided she could use both of us doing production in Ohio but I still had stuff to drop off. What that meant was that I was going to have to drive to Minneapolis and drop off cargo, drive to the Bristol site, drop off cargo, then drive to Niles, Ohio and do production. I said yes since I could use the paycheck and Sharon could drive back with me. But, this is only the beginning.
Let’s start with the trip to the airport. On my way to the airport the rear right brake on the 6X12 cargo trailer seized up. Since I was traveling at over 60MPH it just kept spinning, generating more and more heat until the wheel was so hot the tire exploded. I pulled to the side of the road which was about one mile from the airport terminal. There were actually flames coming off the wheel and mangled tire. Thankfully they went out quickly. I put Sharon and her luggage in a taxi so she wouldn’t miss her flight and sat for 3 hours for someone to repair the tire. I went back to our apartment (via a local bar) and finished packing.
The next morning I went back to U-Haul and dropped the molten brake shoes on their desk, asking WTF? They were very apologetic and understanding. The general manager even helped me unpack the stuffed cargo trailer and repackage it into a new one. He then gave me a nice discount on the new unit. It may have cost me a day but at least no-one or no-thing was damaged.
It was about 3PM when I finally hit the road. I drove through the night to arrive in Minneapolis at about 9:30am. I called our friends that we are gonna stay with, Bob and Jan, but neither were home, so I headed towards site to unload the three booths worth of merchandise. It was a lot to unpack but I managed to get it done a little after 1PM. I went back to Jan and Bob’s to unload our personal stuff so I could ditch the U-Haul and start saving gas. After I got rid of the trailer I heard from Ruth and there was something on site she still needed so I went back to site again to get it. By now it was about 5PM, so I called another friend Bruce. He’s one of the old “Ten Seconds of Harmony” members. You might know them as a comedy singing group out of MRF. He invited me for dinner and some whiskey. Sign me up!
After dinner and drinks, I was too tired to drive so I crashed at Bruce’s. The next morning I got up at like 6AM and headed out towards Chicago to zip by the Bristol Ren Fair site. Again, the drive was fairly easy but boring. I got to the Bristol site about lunch time. I was starving so I grabbed something to eat before actually entering the site. I found the Excalibur booth and said hi to Ken as well as dropping off the coats I was to deliver. Then I went to Joust camp to find Steve Cowan the director of the joust for the Hanlon-Lees at the Bristol fair. He’s the same director that does Arizona, Georgia and Carolina and is a very good friend of mine. Anyway, after checking out the site and visiting some friends I went to dinner with Ken. Ken said I could crash on his couch and get an early start the next day for the next leg of my trip. I agreed.
Arriving at Bristol
Sleeping again (at least my crotch is warm)
Back at Grand River Manor in Ohio
The Harpersfield Covered Bridge
Jenna and her brood
South river is expanding again!
Once again I started day 3 of my journey at 6AM. I quietly crept out of Ken’s trailer and into the car. I got some gas as I approached Chicago. Thank god it was Saturday! Traffic around the windy city SUCKS!
I left Illinois behind me and then Indiana, finally entering Ohio. Just a couple hours left! I finally arrived around 3 PM. I had completed almost 2000 miles so far. My brain hurt and I couldn’t see straight. I was also starving. So, Sharon and I went to dinner and then back to Ruth’s for some much needed sleep.
The next morning was Sunday. We weren’t starting in the office/studio until Monday so this gave us a chance to visit with friends at some of our favorite wineries. So, we drove up to Harpersfield in the Grand River valley. There we met Jenna. She’s married to Jeff, an old festival friend of mine from the early days of BARF. It’s the first fair I ever did. I’ve known him since we were teenagers. He now owns a joust troupe of his own. Anyway, his wife Jenna had twins and we haven’t seen them yet so it was a much needed visit. We hit the Chalet Debone’ and the South River wineries. It was great to see them all and great to have some of our favorite wines again. After Jenna and the kids left, we headed over to the Laurello Winery. We met Larry, the owner, who is a friend of ours. He let us sample all the new wines and then we all went to the Harpersfield winery for a bit. After hitting the wineries we headed home. We did have to work in the morning after all.
The week moved along well enough. Ruth decided she wanted me to help her set up GenCon. It’s the next convention she sets up at. It’s in Indianapolis. Indianapolis??? Great! I get to drive some more. Tuesday afternoon I left with Allen, Ruth’s brother in law and an amazing artist in his own right. We had a great drive and got to talk about just about everything. We crashed in a hotel and started setting up the next morning.
Set up went smoothly. It was funny to watch Ruth and Alwyn (Not Allen) bicker over how to set things up. It’s funny ‘cause Sharon and I do the same thing. While there I got to visit with Monte Moore. He’s another artist friend of mine. He lives in Colorado and we actually had dinner at his place just before we left the Colorado show. Anyway, it’s always nice to catch up with friends. Alwyn and I left that evening and arrived in Niles around 11PM on Wednesday night. My crazy driving adventure was finally winding down. Now all that was left to do was bring Ruth’s truck and trailer back to Indy as we pass by on the way back to Minneapolis.
So let’s recap…
- Colorado Springs to Minneapolis
- Minneapolis to Chicago
- Chicago to Niles
- Niles to Indianapolis
- Indianapolis to Niles
- Niles to Indianapolis
- And finally Indianapolis to Minneapolis
WOW!
Now our last day in Niles we went back to the vineyard area to visit with our Friends Brooke and Daisy Hall. (No relation) Also joining us was Jeff Horrick, the father of the twins of Jenna. We went to Grand River Cellars. One of the owners, Cindy, is a good friend of ours. You may have heard about the Winery shows we did during the run of the Great Lakes shows a couple of years ago. Well, that’s where they were. It’s always nice to catch up with old friends. Hopefully it won’t be another two years till we see them again.
The next morning we loaded up the pups and headed toward Minneapolis via Indianapolis. I was driving Ruth’s truck and Sharon was following in the Durango. We made it in about 6 hours. I managed to get Sharon into the convention for a little while to say a few hello’s to friends. You see, she’s not a big fan of gaming or any real geeky stuff and that’s the kind of convention it was after all.
We left in the late afternoon bound for Minnesota. No more stops! Ok, I lied. We did stop for the night just outside Chicago to rest for the night. We had put in quite a trek after all. Sunday morning we left for Minnesota and got in by lunchtime on Sunday. We arrived a day ahead of schedule!
Sharon at the Harpersfield Winery
Jef at the Harpersfield Winery
Just a geek at GenCon
Alwyn sets up the booth at GenCon
Ruth at her GenCon booth
Monte Moore and his sexy art
Final GenCon setup
The families Hall
Sharon between and Jef and a Jeff
The gang with Cindy at Grand River Cellars
Passing Chicago for a second time
Sharon and Amanda think I'm number 1!'
Sharon, amanda and our favorite BWW bartender Lana
Amanda loves the Mall of America
Sponge Bob's home at the Nickelodeon Universe park in MOA
I’d now traveled 3600 miles in 7 days, been in 8 different states, passed four different renaissance festivals and visited one convention. Can I sleep now?? No, you must perform now! Arghhh!!
Let’s hope for a successful opening to MRF! See ya there!
Sunset over Minnesota
Sunset over Minnesota continued
