On The Road Again

Monday, another busy week, as I am writing this we are dashing off to Las Vegas to a reining show and we are a day late for set up and had to leave another horse show in Salt Lake a day early so we would only be a day late.

Sound fun? Well if any of you have a lot of time on your hands and money to blow, I mean invest, then buy a mobile unit and take your business on the road.

Last week went something like this.

Monday: Finish Utah Paint Horse Assn. show, clean off all the merchandise that now has a large dusting of the arena floor on it. Write a weeks worth of blogs because, well you will see why in the next following days. Go out to dinner with friends, stay out longer than a 50 year old should.

Tuesday: Make several calls and answer e-mails, work with your attorney friend all day Tuesday going over a 18 page lease on the Park City project you have been working consistently on since April. All the while in a fetal position because you threw out your back because of physical and emotional stress you put on yourself to cover all the roles you choose to be in. (Notice I am lecturing myself). Go to Park City, one more time before you sign up for another role as a second store owner on a 21 year lease. No pressure.

Wednesday: Negotiate, contract, as you are selling your wares now at a Reining show, last week Paint Show, this week Reining important to be wearing the right hat and talking the right blood lines with owners. Have son Braydan, general manager for Burns Saddlery along with his grandfather Wayland head to Park City to hopefully sign a lease, give a large deposit, get keys and assess how much work needs to be done on a 110 year old building before you can open it in a month. I am anxious and on the phone all day making sure all is going well on the 5 month project I have been working on, when the contract is signed by both parties my husband and I could not stand it another minute so we closed early yes mother I closed early and we headed to Park City Stood inside the building that a half a year earlier I stood in and announced this was the perfect building and location for our Park City Cowboy Shop. Oddly enough it was not even up for sale or lease to our knowledge, and then miraculously my Real Estate Agent not even knowing I was interested in the building called me and said she had a scoop that the building was coming available in September. The Law of Attraction works!

Thursday: Go back to arena to sell product. Book airline ticket for me to fly to Denver following day to buy product for the new Park City store we just closed on yesterday. Take inventories on Lucchese boots. Research Park City housing, as well as try and line up all the infrastructure for the building. Close shop at 6 drive to Park City to pick out paint, flooring, and wood samples. Drive back to SLC to get my usual 6 hours of sleep.

Friday: Wake up at 4 AM throw myself and things together to arrive at the airport at 6AM. Fly to Denver, hale a cab and set out with a gentleman that speaks very little English and hopes he can navigate me to my destination. $60 cab fee later we say our good bye's and then its off to o what I love best design and shop. Several hundred thousand later I am headed back to the airport not with a stranger from another country but my good friend Rand from Lucchese Boots. Arrive an hour late because of hurricane Ike, and fall into bed exhausted but exhilarated at roughly 21 hours after I had left it.

Saturday: Collect our two weeks worth of laundry, check out ad receive my 4 page bill from the hotel, receive my 14th straight free hotel breakfast Head off to work at the biggest day of the show, the finals of the futurity and derby. Between customers clean and put away merchandise. 7PM show wraps up. Work begins. Haul out 1000 pairs of boots a couple hundred hats, tack, saddles, counters, grid racks, steamers, carpet, and racks of clothing. Walking it out further than anticipate because of blocked driveways. Push in the last bit of merchandise at 11PM eat an Arbys sandwich in between yawning as I turn my truck do south. Fuel up in Nephi both diesel and coffee, hit home just after 1 AM and finish my second 21 hour day in a row.

Sunday: Wake up to my husband's moans, not that kind of moan his words mumbling something like I feel like I have been hit by a truck. Eat my first breakfast not on a paper napkin in two weeks, do 5 batches of laundry repack my suitcase and spend 5 minutes with a couple of grandchildren and my daughters, my son, his wife along with the other 3 grandchildren are still in Park City painting. Go out side and talk to my dying flowers and enormous watermelons. Load up truck head to Burns Saddlery and un-load part of trailer and re-load with new merchandise. Eat lunch with youngest daughter, hand over another $100 bill for this week and head south to Las Vegas. Riding L'Natural with windows down because AC is not working. Listening to Scott talking loudly on his cell phone do to the tornado sounding truck cab. Go 20MPH up grades do to the over weight trailer and over heated engine. Oh crap we are just heading into the port, I hope it is not over weight. Should arrive in Las Vegas just after dark was hoping before dark as we are missing our right head light. Oh crap I hope the port of entry doesn't notice. Just received another foot massage from my husband, you know when he rides on the rumble strips.
Well that has been my busy week if any of you would like to buy a road show business please e-mail me, because I will now be wintering in Park City Utah.