Trails - Selling

There were several garments in the competition that were woven with RedFish Yarn. This Scarf won the Complex Weaver Award. Some of the classes for this Conference started Friday, the main Conference started today and some are next week. Very strange. There were a lot of shoppers out today. The banquet and Keynote Speaker were tonight from 6 to 9, so all the vendors decided to leave at 7.  We walked the Riverwalk to Downtown to have dinner. Spokane is a very beautiful city with parks and lots of art along the river. I especially like this Metal Sculpture.

The Spokane River goes right through the middle of downtown Spokane and there are 2 waterfalls. One is natural and one is man made, it's a serious river. At this time of the year it is very swollen with melt off and moving very fast. The amount of water is unbelievable.  

Trails - Selling

Things you don't notice when you pull into your motel dead tired and just want to sleep.

The Hell's Angel's Spokane Headquarters are across the street.

Next to them is the Crisis Center for Women and Children.

On the other side is a small park for children.

Our Motel has an Espresso Shop called Busty's Bikini Espresso where the girls running it wear bikinis. 

Evidently the bikers help keep the husbands away from the Crisis Center and keep the park safe for the kids.

The bikini girls are very friendly and cute. They are making a mint from the guys in trucks. 

The area is very quite and the beds are good. A fun neighborhood.

We set up today and started selling tonight. Nine to nine are the hours we are working at this Conference. Forgot to take the camera, no pictures tonight.

Trails - Camping

Left Butte and stopped at the Grant-Kohrs National Monument for a stamp. This is one of the oldest cattle ranches in the west. Kohrs ran cattle over 10 million acres of land. We thought the ranch would be about cattle but the monument was about the cowboys who worked the ranch and how they lived. 

This is the Cook at his Chuck Wagon, he explained how the cowboys were fed when they were away from the ranch and gave us Cowboy Coffee. It was good! He also had a hat band that was hitched horse hair. He told us where the Montana State Prison shop was so we had to go look at the hitchings. 

Spent too much time here and had to hustle to get to Spokane before dark.

Made it with plenty of time, start work tomorrow, again.

Trails - Camping

May 26

Wyoming - Just because it's sunny doesn't mean it's warm! Yesterday we woke to ice on everything, at least it wasn't raining. No internet, no phones, lots of wildlife.

Montana - Stopped at Fort Phil Kearny, home of the Fetterman massacre. Custer should have taken note of Fetterman's actions and learned. 

Then on to Custer's last stand. There is an Indian Monument there that I don't remember from the last time I was here. On to Butte for the night.

Trails - Camping

We had a wonderful visit at Kelly's. Went to dinner at the Sunflower in Boulder for a steamer full of fresh vegetables and brown rice, with some spicy sauce. We stayed up way too late and by the time we had breakfast it was 10:00 before we got on the road. It stayed clear for about an hour, then started raining again. The rain wasn't hard and the mountains and plains of Wyoming are unbelievably beautiful. 

We have seen hundreds of Proghorn Antelope today. Half of the world's population of Proghorn live in Wyoming. They are spectacular, too bad the Wyomingians think they are only good to eat.

 

The camp ground in Buffalo is very nice. It stopped raining about an hour out and the ground was dry in the campground. Got the tarp set up and it started raining but only for a few minutes, now the sun is out.

Heading out for Butte Montana tomorrow morning - bright and early!

Trails - Camping

This is the storm we were in and out of all day today. It was raining when we left Albuquerque and rained all the way to Denver, stopping shortly after we arrived at Kelly's. We saw a lot of bikers stopped under overpasses, waiting for the rain to let up, then they would fly up the highway until it started raining again and we would pass them waiting under an overpass again.

The 2 darker areas on the horizon are where it is raining. 

We would drive in and out of these rain pockets. It would go from no rain to sprinkles to down pours all within 15/20 minutes. 

Saw several herds of Prong Horn Antelope, in the fields.

We arrived at Kelly's about 5:30. We gave her the Superhero goggles and told her we wanted a picture for our web site. She of course had a cape, she is after all "Super Cat". I told her she had to put tights on, so she redressed and brought out some back-drops she had painted for another project. It's always fun having Kelly around. 

 We were going to leave early in the morning but have stayed up too long tonight, but I had planned a short driving day tomorrow.

Trails - Selling

Last day at Albuquerque was great. The good thing about selling a bunch is you don't have to pack as much.

 The photo is a shawl made from RedFish 20/2 silk, taking the blue in the Knitting Division, Lace Knitting.

We had fish and chips at the Pelican Restaurant for dinner. This restaurant was recommended by a lady who moved to Albuquerque from London. We figured we couldn't go wrong. They were excellent served with sweet potato chips instead of potatoes.

We leave in the morning for Spokane, first stop Denver for an overnight visit with Kelly.

Trails - Selling

The whistle blew at 10:am and the shoppers came and came. This is the biggest textile event in New Mexico and draws people from Colorado, Texas, Utah, Nevada and Arizona. The show started out mainly as a quilt show but has expanded to every type of textile art. Each genre has it's own section with demonstrations, events to enter and hands on make and takes. It's a great event and everyone is so excited and happy to be here.

Trails - Camping

Staying at Arches National Park in Moab, Utah was a really big mistake, I wanted to stay awhile and hike. I only had time to snap a couple of pictures before it got dark, sleep and leave at 4:am to get to Albuquerque before noon today. I didn't quite make it, only an hour late but got the booth set up in time. Fiber Fiesta starts at 10:am tomorrow.

Trails - Camping

Today we drove 150 miles along the Columbia River before heading South into Idaho. The river is so large it's hard to fathom.  We entered Idaho about half way down the state and I was surprised at how semi-arid it is. It seems strange as there is a river around every bend. Temperature is in the upper 90s. Picture on the left is the Village of the Trees, where we are camping tonight. Camp site has changed slightly as it started raining and we put the tarp up.

Trails - Selling

Another day of selling finished!

We walked to Powell's Book Store when the show closed. It was about a mile from our motel so it didn't take long. On the way back, all the "clubs" were open and long lines were on the sidewalk waiting to get in. What a treat! We saw the Zombie Prom where the people had on zombie make-up and prom clothes. Lots of street people here but everyone is friendly.

We sell for a half day tomorrow, break down and head out for Pendleton, our first stop on the trip to Albuquerque.

Trails - Selling

The knitters are out in Portland and love our 2 and 4 ply 50/50 silk/merino. There are not many spinners at the show and they have no spinning classes. Things might change today as the Saturday crowd arrives.

We went to Stanfords last night with Morgaine from Carolina Homespun and Takako from Habu for dinner. It's a steakhouse but every one had fish. It was excellent!

The weather is holding. Sun's out, probably in the 60s. 

Trails - Camping

Oregon is very beautiful, the lupine and dogwood are blooming but it's wet, I'm a desert rat at heart.

We are off this morning to set up our booth, selling starts tonight.

Trails - Camping

The road to Oregon was long, uneventful and wet. We left late, per usual, got to our first camp site in Redding after dark. We did get an early start from Redding but the speed limit in Oregon is 65 and it was raining so driving was slow.

It cleared in time for me to take a bad picture of Mt Shasta. It was covered in clouds and snow. Very beautiful in real life.

Trails - Packing

All packed and ready to get an early start in the morning. Next stop Redlands, CA.

Trails - Packing

Today's the dread day! Packing enough yarn and stuff into the truck for 3 Conferences plus the camping gear, clothes and food. We will be on the road until June 4 or 5, first stop Portland for the Knit and Crochet Show.

Trails - Tarp Sewing

The tarp if finished! I pitched it in the back 40 to see how fast it would go up. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was even though I had to tie the guys on it as I went. I'm going to take it down and put it up again in a little while. I had to try it out with my Kindle to see how comfy it is. I think I will try it out tonight.