...almost an entire year has gone by since I first considered traveling south to Florida and escaping some of the cold and grey that the year-round residents of eastern South Dakota must endure. That initial 2009 maiden voyage was a success in many ways. Enough of a success that I have signed up and been accepted to 6 shows in 2010...count'm six shows! The effort of throwing, firing, glazing and painting pots for six consecutive shows is more than a little daunting. Hell, it is down right scary. I am so excited to get on the road I can hardly stand it. I still have a month and a half of shows here in South Dakota and Wyoming to do, so the task of making those many hundreds of pots will have to wait and my excitement contained.
My 2009 summer shows went well, I sold pots, I met new people and I experienced new things. I also experience some old things in new ways. I rediscovered tent camping, I rediscovered parts of the Black Hills and I discovered camping in a camper...way cool! I drove to eastern Indiana in mid-September and picked up my new Bachelor-Pad-On-Wheels. It was an 800 mile trip one way. On the return trip I got to know my new camper trailer by staying in it for 2 nights. I instantly loved the whole experience. After I got the little 17 foot camper home, I lived in it for the remainder of September. At the end of the month I pulled it out to the Black Hills of South Dakota and did my first show with it. For the next 10 days I was independent, self reliant...an explorer with my own microwave and refrigerator. Unfortunately I lacked the four-wheeled drive vehicle to pull me up and down the predicted snow and ice covered roads, so I made a hasty retreat back to Bushnell.
My new camper now sits lonely and winterized beside my garage, waiting for it's chance to discover the blue skies, bright sun and glorious warmth of Florida this February. I hope to pack up my van with pots, my camper with supplies, my GPS with a very southernly address and escape the grey and glum of eastern South Dakota by mid-February. My first Florida shows will start the 20th and 21st of February and run for consecutive weekends through March. If I get organized and my act together, the new Florida Show Schedule should be up soon on the website. I have a very patient friend that is doing all this linking-website-magic for me. She tells me that any interested party can "subscribe" to this blog and get email reminders when I write something of importance...how cool is that! Until then, stay warm and happy!
