It's been a crazy few months!
Scarborough faire was fun and fantastic juggling and making new friends as well as catching up with old friends. Weather was decent about half the time on the weekends. Overall life was pretty good. While at Scarby I picked up a travelling/camping companion. Our departure started off with a few hiccups, but once we got rolling things went pretty well.
Then....Kansas happened.
About halfway through Kansas the trailer lost a tire. Lugs sheared right off. Luckily there was no major damage as in the trailer flipping or rolling into a ditch. Over the course of three days, my friend Bailey got to visit with a friend that lived 10 minutes from our breakdown. Thankfully small town locals are friendly and helpful to people in need of obvious help. Once the trailer was mobile again, we were happily continuing through Kansas on our way to Colorado. Can't say much about Kansas except it's full of wide open plains.
About an hour after crossing the Colorado border we finally saw what we'd been waiting for after all the flatness of Kansas plains.....we saw.....MOUNTAINS! And then it was evening, night fell, and all we saw were road and headlights. As we pulled into a parking lot to meet a friend of ours, I hear a not-so-good squealing behind me coming from the trailer wheel. Looking at it in the morning, the hub's bearings are greaseless and no good. Thinking this issue, in addition to the ungainliness of the trailer, I decided not to take the trailer further along the journey. Good idea in theory, but in practice it didn't work out so well for me.
Colorado was (and I guess still is) beautiful. The weather was fun though...almost everyday there was rain around 2pm, anywhere from storm to sprinkles. It really made planning any outdoor activity a hoot. Really. (not really.) The faire site was small but nice, and the crowds couldn't compare to Scarborough or TRF... Lots smaller, even on our crowded days. Got out a little to see Boulder, Colorado Springs, and explored a couple of small hills and such during the weekdays.
Between Colorado and NY's Tuxedo ren faire, we had less than 5 days to travel more than halfway across the country. The trip started off well enough, but then we approached the border back to Kansas. And apparently Kansas hates us. Not 10 mile from the border our tire blew out at 9pm and no spare in good shape with us. Towed back to a tire shop, we slept in the cab of the truck until the shop opened, and then boogied on across the states up to NY without further incident.
Although small, Tuxedo was a very busy faire, especially at the jewelry booth I was working for. Once again new friends made and areas explored. One of the coolest experiences was filling up from a flow of fresh mountain spring water for drinking. Very tasty because there was no taste. Yes, lovely. Slightly inconvenienced due to Tmobile's lack of coverage up on the mountain we were on. The local libraries were very close and very quaint and full of plenty of wifi.
After two months of NY though, we had to pack up and say goodbye. Fantastically the drive home was much smoother that any of the other legs of the journey. Taking out time we rolled into Dallas just recently and are spending a few days visiting and relaxing before heading down to Houston for TRF, final big faire of the year.
I am eager to see how next year pans out. Already I most of my employment planned out, rather that this past year as I was spending time during each fair seeking employment for the upcoming one. I've even had to turn down a job offer or two so far.
Looking forward to life. So far it's been good. I think I'll keep at it some more.
Love, hugs, and smiles,
Chris
