First 2026 Roadie in the books...

I got back from the cool little Cowboy and Indian show in Prescott, Arizona the day before yesterday. 

Stopped off and spent the first night in Palm Springs to pick up a big red yei blanket and a rare wild west poster.

Well, actually little isn't the right word, there were over 250 dealers there. 

The right word was inexpensive, even spartan. 

But warm and cozy too and filled with good friends and comrades.

While I have done several shows in the past that have cost me upwards of 14k for a booth plus expenses, this one cost one hundred sixty dollars a table. 

I took two and they were at a premium. 

Stayed with great friends in a beautiful home up on the rocks for free.

The event was held at the Findley Toyota Center.

I split my space with my pal Barry so we could pal around, set up and shop. 

My goal was to sell a couple things and buy baskets, which I did. 

Really exceeded all expectations.

This was old school. No walls, no cases. Throw it out there and have a good time.

I put my better baskets behind me on the bleachers so that nobody could get their mitts on them.

For some reason, a few people think it is okay to grab baskets and handle them without permission and it makes me rather nervous. 

They can be very easily hurt if you happen to be an idiot.

I was fortunate to have a really good space. 

A woman had obligations and couldn't make it so I was able to get the second table, would have been tight with just one.

The people in the hallway bombed, as usual. With the absence of Mesa and the Las Vegas Show turning so many dealers and clients off, dealers need shows like this to survive.

I didn't take many pictures but should have. 

Some real characters walking around.

An aging dealer base of course. 

Blackburn walked up to me and said, "In ten years every person in this room will be dead," a quite cheery thought.

Might not be that far off.

There were excellent dealers there, Compton, Mackley, Munns, Vandenberg, Selser, Terry de Wald, Bob Nelson and more.

Cream of the crop.

My fellow Fallbrookian Tony Zimmerman had a  great show.

Mark and Linda Winter and Terry Schurmeier stopped by en route to Las Vegas.

Terry bought a nice bracelet from me. Thank you!

My booth was between Voracek and Randy Rodriguez.

Everybody I talked to had a good show. I sold baskets, jewelry, all sorts of stuff.

I bought four nice apaches, a washoe and this sweet yokuts double rattlesnake bottleneck that had once sold at the Heard Museum for three grand.

Ate well, had a lot of laughs with Bob, Sandi, Ron and Ronnie Guy as well as the Voracek crew.

Prescott is a gorgeous town. 

I think I saw the most beautiful sunrise I have ever witnessed from my perch up top on the mountain.

Epic. 

It was cold but no snow but there was some still on the ground.

Easy pack in, easy load out, couldn't ask for more.

I left Thursday morning and was engrossed in conversation with Barry when I turned off on the freeway.

About an hour in I started noticing plant forms I have never seen before. Then a rock spire on my left that resembled something from Monument Valley. Just where in the hell was I?

I looked down at my screen and saw that I was actually headed to Las Vegas. Wrong road. I took about ten more miles before I could find a place to u-turn on the mountain grade.

Bob called and asked where I was?

Quartzite.

It took five hours?

Don't ask...

Having righted my ship I made my way through the desert. And then the yellow oil light came on. I stopped and checked and I was real low but was in bumfrick egypt and no where to stop. Nursed it to a oil change place in Temecula. They said no oil whatsoever which is weird because I am on a 4k schedule. No leak either but the plug smelled burnt. 

Not sure what is up, going to change the plugs but the engine might be burning oil at 90 k which should not be happening.  Will keep a better eye on things. Can't afford a new car right now.

Anyway, life is what it is. Good to be home with my sweetheart, going to rotisserie a duck tomorrow on the Weber, with an apricot glaze on my half of it.

Take care, all.