Barn Full of Burning Hay

Every long-timer boat rep I have spoken to says at some point, "I have so much (insert expletive) stuff!". It just accumulates. Reps are outfitters (demo days), salespersons and truck drivers all at once.

Our job is to show and sell the new gear. But, you have to store and transport it. Thus...

4 trucks, 5 trailers, 2 Eddyline fleets, 150 emotion kayaks, 3 warehouses, 1 giant shed, countless sales/demo samples, catalogs, banners, 7 pop up tents...and TIRES!!!

Truck/Van tires in active duty: 18
Snow Tires for these trucks 12
Spare vehicle tires: 4
Trailer tires in active duty: 12
Spare Trailer Tires in motion: 5

I have 51 tires mounted, being mounted or ready to replace a blow-out. All in motion every year.

Remember the tire changing skills of Bo and Luke Duke from the tv show "Dukes of Hazard"? Under 60 seconds. That is just pure pro status. Then back in the General Lee and down the road. The cb radio crackles, "Ya got yur ears on?" People should say that kind of stuff more.

I loved the narrator of that show that would lead them into a commercial break... "The boys found themselves in a hot kettle and the dinner bell is ringin'..."

He pops into my head sometimes when one of my metaphorical "Boss Hogs" has me backed into a burning barn full of hay...

"The picnic is set, but their ain't no bread in the basket" (Demo day with no inventory at the shop)

"There are a few too many cattle around the feeding trough and someones gonna get kicked" (shop with too many lines)

"I reckon this well has run dry but the folks are still thirsty" (this one is for my lovely AP folks)

"Looks like the porch light is on but no-one is in the kitchen" (product clinic...eyes open but brain on stand by)

"This bootleg ain't gonna make it 'fore sundown" (no chance the vendor will send product on time)

"Looks like thIs horse is gonna have to plow the field all by itself" (no help unloading/loading at a demo day)

"Didn't your momma tell you not to call the kettle black" (cause I mess up too)

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Only 1.5 hrs left on this plane ride to Philadelphia. My hotel last night was the backseat of my truck in a hotel parking lot, up at 4am, drive through San Fran nice and early. Plane. Philly. Drive. Crap hotel. Ruby Tuesday. Ying ling beer. Sleep.

Too much stuff...

The Hotel

this year, I'm flying around the country a bunch and also hitting areas in the cold part of the season. Hotel jam in Kalispell.

 Rihanna sings this tune  this  that was written by this guy. Maybe in a hotel

maybe  we could speed up with 

The Pitchfork Revolution

 Justin Parker, Song writer of Rihanna's "Stay" below. The video with Rihanna in a bath tub probably sold better than if this dude was in his bathtub in hist hotel

Nemesis

I've been traveling Montana for 15 years and it seems that the Big Sky country has a little adventure in store for me every spring. There was the time I had a 102 degree fever for multiple days in Missoula MT. Too broke to spring for a hotel so I shivered in the back of my pick up truck for several nights. The fever, and the shop I stayed at both were defeated. I would take that fever back in a second if it would bring back The Canoe Rack.

There was the time I worked a demo day and then had planned to haul  550 miles all the way to Bellingham WA right afterward For anoyhe demo yhe next day. Unfortunately, the bbq elk meat I ate after the demo had different plans for me. I became well acquainted with the road side ditches of I90 in Washington in the wee hours of the morning.

The time that a shop owner promised 20 friends from his event a night on the town. Free burgers and beers. I happened to be standing next to him when the bartender said "cash only". Guess who had the cash and who had the credit card? I had to respect that hustle! A $300 lesson that you should never be standing near someone who says they will pay the bill.

Snow storms in March and April. A layer of dirt that digs right into your vehicles and fingernails. Long and mountainous drives that eat up the life of your vehicle. Strong winds that rip across the plains and suck the spirit right out of you.

This year's trip features some snowy weather and a dislocated/broken/totally f'd rib cage. A hard fall on the ski hill back home started the injury and then I was loading for this trip the next day when my rib popped out of its place and sent me to my knees. I'll nurse this wound all season I'm sure. Some planned events will now be impossible.

Funny enough...it sometimes takes an injury to remind myself how tight of a community I've come to know out here. Several of the shops I have visited have taken a very sympathetic and helpful attitude when I showed up injured. Unloading the samples and sharing their own remedies to a common boater injury. All too often, the repping biz can come down to shop vs manufacturer. I'm honored to have personally witnessed that several of the people I have visited on this trip are not only business partners but also my friends. It is cold out here so we can just focus on our relationship and how we can help eachother long term.

I wonder how I must appear to them? Every few months breezing through town with my wares, staying briefly and then moving on. For these folks to be so kind to a quarterly (at best) visitor is a big reminder that the Paddlesports community is still core. Still cool and still a family. Thanks friends.