It was Sunday night, the SLC show was over, and I was heading east across Wyoming on I-80 towards Denver and another gun show. I was out in the rolling country past Rock Springs when I picked up a couple of truckers chatting on CB and after a while they came into sight ahead of me, westbound. They were discussing whose speedometer was accurate as they were going the same speed but getting different readings. When they came abreast of me, I butted into the conversation with a drawled "Well, boys, according to MY radar you're about ten miles an hour over the speed limit!"
After a few seconds of brake lights and fishtails they realized who had pulled their chains and I got an earful as I headed on east to Denver.
-----
Monida pass had about eight inches of fresh and unplowed snow on the road when I got onto the Idaho side but I had good tires, a downhill run, and a pretty good load in the Datsun so I was moving right along anyway. I passed a semi that was just easing along and he keyed his CB to tell me not to expect him to stop and pull me out when I slid my dumb ass off into a drift on one of the corners. I told him that was okay, if he got stuck I'd be happy to give him a ride. I got another earful from him and decided truckers had no sense of humor.
-----
I met two trucks on the four lane interstate near Flagstaff, both eastbound, both overloaded, both underpowered, crawling up the grade side by side with traffic stacking up behind them. The truckers were screaming at each other on the CB and out their windows for the other one to slow down. The guy in the left lane wanted to pass and the guy in the right lane wanted him to drop back and get behind. Neither had the power to pull ahead and neither would yield. I suspect that episode ended with a fight at the next rest stop.
-----
I was heading for Glen Canyon City in Utah, east of Kanab and heading further east on two-lane Highway 89, when I met an extended string of semis coming up a long hill toward me. Far ahead, I saw an old car pull out to pass the farthermost semi. He got by it, stayed in my lane, passed the next semi. Ditto for the next one.
I realized he wasn't trying to pull back into his lane and all of a sudden I was involved in a game of chicken. I lost the stare-down with the Indian driver and swerved off the road at the last second.
Luckily for me the ditch was wide and shallow and I got stopped without wrecking. Luckily for him, he finally got around the last semi and back in his lane. He was lucky because I'd grabbed my .243 rifle out of the back of the truck, jumped out as I jacked a shell in, and just got the crosshairs on him when he got back into his lane and out of sight. Yeah, I was peeved, and the combo of fear, anger, and adrenaline had me shaking for quite a while before I drove on.
-----
I'd stayed with some friends in Colfax, WA and then followed them over to Moscow, ID where they were going camping and I had a gun show. His old panel truck converted to a camper had to take its time on upgrades and he stacked a few cars up behind his rig on a long hill. One of the drivers was impatient and got on the CB and started cussing my friend Bob out. The exchange was getting fairly heated when I found the track I wanted on my cassette player and played it into the mike on my CB. It was the old C/W song about if all the cars Detroit built were lined up end to end they'd reach clear to the moon -- and some damn fool would pull out to pass . . .
Nobody thought it was funny but me.
TBC
(Me) (Blacktail Books)
Saturday, July 18, 2009
HOM: Oopsies
I am having an awful time trying to get the gun show trip memories organized, as you may have noticed from the disjointed posts and rambling text. I officially surrender, and won't attempt to have any kind of chronological rhyme or reason for a while.
So -- errors and goofs.
Jerry and I traded off at going on the single-show trips that just took up a long weekend, like Missoula, Bozeman, Butte, Spokane, Moscow (ID!), Libby, etc. On one of his trips he picked up a nice wooden crate that was perfectly sized to hold and display ALL of our Gun Digests and he set it up at the show. It worked fine until he was ready to leave and found out that the crate was too heavy to move. Back to the drawing board.
We cooperated on the next error. We'd gotten a set of heavy cardboard boxes with full-size lids, like apple boxes but heavier, that we started using for the books that we didn't put in the wooden box shelves. We unpacked the books onto the tables and then shoved the inner boxes into their outer boxes and stacked them under the tables so that all we had to do to repack was grab a box, fill it, then lift it out of the lid and drop the lid on.
One problem. Once the inner boxes were filled, we couldn't even pry them out of the outer boxes. The weight distorted the cardboard too badly. We had to unpack all the boxes, separate them from the outer-box lids, then repack them. Lesson learned.
We got in a nice hunting book in trade and were quite pleased as the show had been quite slow. We put it out for sale and one of our wives sold it when they babysat the table for us. Unfortunately, she sold it for the $2.50 original price and not the $45 price we'd put in it.
We ordered two dozen copies of Elmer Keith's "Hell, I Was There!" during a pre-publication promotion. These came directly from the publisher signed by Old Elmer and we stored them in the Gold Room unopened as an investment. Unfortunately, a few years later the lady running the store for me while I was at a gun show sold them to a canny shopper who offered her $15 each.
Today, I'd guess that they'd be worth $500 each. ANY copy of that book in its first edition goes for well over a hundred dollars.
One not-awake-yet morning I left part of the previous day's proceeds on the bed at the motel when I left for the Salt Palace to work the show. When I realized what I'd done I went back, but the room was clean and the money was gone. The maid got a nice tip, I guess.
It was also at SLC that I packed up after the show and left my briefcase under the table. When I discovered my lapse I went back to the Salt Palace, but it was gone. I was standing there feeling sorry for myself when another dealer came over and told me that the folks with table next to mine had taken it with them. They knew from our visits that they would be at the same show I would be at the next weekend. Yes, they delivered it there.
The Gun Show community is a pretty nice one and not quite a hotbed of radical rednecks as depicted by the media.
TBC
(Me) (Blacktail Books)
So -- errors and goofs.
Jerry and I traded off at going on the single-show trips that just took up a long weekend, like Missoula, Bozeman, Butte, Spokane, Moscow (ID!), Libby, etc. On one of his trips he picked up a nice wooden crate that was perfectly sized to hold and display ALL of our Gun Digests and he set it up at the show. It worked fine until he was ready to leave and found out that the crate was too heavy to move. Back to the drawing board.
We cooperated on the next error. We'd gotten a set of heavy cardboard boxes with full-size lids, like apple boxes but heavier, that we started using for the books that we didn't put in the wooden box shelves. We unpacked the books onto the tables and then shoved the inner boxes into their outer boxes and stacked them under the tables so that all we had to do to repack was grab a box, fill it, then lift it out of the lid and drop the lid on.
One problem. Once the inner boxes were filled, we couldn't even pry them out of the outer boxes. The weight distorted the cardboard too badly. We had to unpack all the boxes, separate them from the outer-box lids, then repack them. Lesson learned.
We got in a nice hunting book in trade and were quite pleased as the show had been quite slow. We put it out for sale and one of our wives sold it when they babysat the table for us. Unfortunately, she sold it for the $2.50 original price and not the $45 price we'd put in it.
We ordered two dozen copies of Elmer Keith's "Hell, I Was There!" during a pre-publication promotion. These came directly from the publisher signed by Old Elmer and we stored them in the Gold Room unopened as an investment. Unfortunately, a few years later the lady running the store for me while I was at a gun show sold them to a canny shopper who offered her $15 each.
Today, I'd guess that they'd be worth $500 each. ANY copy of that book in its first edition goes for well over a hundred dollars.
One not-awake-yet morning I left part of the previous day's proceeds on the bed at the motel when I left for the Salt Palace to work the show. When I realized what I'd done I went back, but the room was clean and the money was gone. The maid got a nice tip, I guess.
It was also at SLC that I packed up after the show and left my briefcase under the table. When I discovered my lapse I went back to the Salt Palace, but it was gone. I was standing there feeling sorry for myself when another dealer came over and told me that the folks with table next to mine had taken it with them. They knew from our visits that they would be at the same show I would be at the next weekend. Yes, they delivered it there.
The Gun Show community is a pretty nice one and not quite a hotbed of radical rednecks as depicted by the media.
TBC
(Me) (Blacktail Books)
Thursday, July 16, 2009
HOM: The Show Is On II
There was always a sense of anticipation when I uncovered the books and the first shoppers trickled in -- or poured in, sometimes -- and, armed with coffee and another doughnut, I'd take position behind the tables. Tables, plural. We would take two at most shows or three if we could get them in a U at the end of a row. More than that were more than one person could handle.
The box shelves were stacked two or three high along the back of the tables, leaving a little space at the very back for coffee and paperwork. There was a full row of spine-up books along most of the front edge and then some nicer or rarer books face-up between the boxes and the row. Heavy stuff like Gun Digests would go on on the floor under the front of the tables.
The shows always furnish chairs for the dealers, but I'd spend most of the day standing up and, if the crowd was light, would wander a bit and look at the stuff on other folk's tables. I guess being around a lot of people made me edgy because I had trouble sitting still. I am a "People Person" but only in small doses. A day of fraternizing with friends, customers, and dealers would wear me down.
I always spent some time buttering up the other dealers. Dealers were a little clannish, and being a new dealer meant having to break the ice and get acquainted with the neighbors, because being next to friendly and trustworthy dealers made life easier.
I could give them for change if they ran short, watch their tables while they made a head call, fetch them coffee if I bought some for myself, and visit with them, and they'd reciprocate in kind. Being a part of the community made the shows easier and a lot more fun and I got to meet a lot of great people.
At the end of the day the stock of books would be lighter, my billfold heavier & my capacity for conversation at zero, so it was nice to throw a cover over the books and find a quiet restaurant where I could enjoy good food, SOLITUDE, and a good book. Then it was back to the motel and to bed for an early start the next day.
TBC
(Me) (Blacktail Books)
The box shelves were stacked two or three high along the back of the tables, leaving a little space at the very back for coffee and paperwork. There was a full row of spine-up books along most of the front edge and then some nicer or rarer books face-up between the boxes and the row. Heavy stuff like Gun Digests would go on on the floor under the front of the tables.
The shows always furnish chairs for the dealers, but I'd spend most of the day standing up and, if the crowd was light, would wander a bit and look at the stuff on other folk's tables. I guess being around a lot of people made me edgy because I had trouble sitting still. I am a "People Person" but only in small doses. A day of fraternizing with friends, customers, and dealers would wear me down.
I always spent some time buttering up the other dealers. Dealers were a little clannish, and being a new dealer meant having to break the ice and get acquainted with the neighbors, because being next to friendly and trustworthy dealers made life easier.
I could give them for change if they ran short, watch their tables while they made a head call, fetch them coffee if I bought some for myself, and visit with them, and they'd reciprocate in kind. Being a part of the community made the shows easier and a lot more fun and I got to meet a lot of great people.
At the end of the day the stock of books would be lighter, my billfold heavier & my capacity for conversation at zero, so it was nice to throw a cover over the books and find a quiet restaurant where I could enjoy good food, SOLITUDE, and a good book. Then it was back to the motel and to bed for an early start the next day.
TBC
(Me) (Blacktail Books)
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
A Message From Chris
Jan Level | $1-$19 'If you can give just a bit, because we have a child on the way!' | You get: |  Download pdfs of (3) 'Gang of 4' PostersDownload jpgs of (3) Propaganda Posters |  |
| After you pay, be sure to click the yellow button that looks like this, so you can receive your downloads:  | ||||
Zed Level | $20 'I need to get me some financial backup for all these girls in my life. And maybe a Unertl scope.' | You get: |  Download pdfs of (3) 'Gang of 4' Posters Download jpgs of (3) Propaganda Posters Download pdfs of (7) 'SmallMatters' trial strip (c1998)Download pdfs of (3) 'PaintedWomen' Posters |
 Optional: Click this box to add $67 to this order and receive (1) 8" Sam figurine. Shipping included. Resin, fully painted, signed & numbered. Sam in the flesh! Allow 2-3 months delivery. Not sold separately. |  | ||
| After you pay, be sure to click the yellow button that looks like this, so you can receive your downloads: | |||
Sam Level* | $40 'Because I have two baby girls, and I don't want Zed to work in the Power Tools Dept!' | You get: |  Download pdfs of (3) 'Gang of 4' Posters Download jpgs of (3) Propaganda Posters Download pdfs of (7) 'SmallMatters' trial strip (c1998) Download pdfs of (6) 'PaintedWomen' Posters |
| Optional: Click this box to add $67 to this order and receive (1) 8" Sam figurine. Shipping included. Resin, fully painted, signed & numbered. Sam in the flesh! Allow 2-3 months delivery. Not sold separately. |  | ||
| After you pay, be sure to click the yellow button that looks like this, so you can receive your downloads: | |||
Damon Level* | $125 'Engaged to a Liberal, what can I say? But Jan's worth it.' | You get: |  Download pdfs of(3)'Gang of 4'Posters Download jpgs of(3)Propaganda Posters Download pdfs of (7) 'SmallMatters' trial strip (c1998) Download pdfs of (8)'PaintedWomen' Posters |
| Optional: Click this box to add $67 to this order and receive (1) 8" Sam figurine. Shipping included. Resin, fully painted, signed & numbered. Sam in the flesh! Allow 2-3 months delivery. Not sold separately. | | ||
| (1)Signed Original Toon Script & Toon.Limited supply,2009 only.On such 'yellow sheets' DBD takes form every day.Strips selected randomly by author and signed by him.Your order contains the toon derived from your purchased Original DBD Script sheet, and is printed on heavy stock,signed,and ready for framing.(8)Signed Prints of 'PaintedWomen' Posters printed on heavy stock,signed,and ready for framing. (4)Magnet Full-Color Cards of all 4 Characters. |  | ||
| After you pay, be sure to click the yellow button that looks like this, so you can receive your downloads: | |||
(Me) (Blacktail Books)
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
HOM: The Show Is On
When the doors to the Salt Palace opened, the first chore was heading for the show chairman's table, presenting your receipts and paperwork, finding out where your tables were, and getting your exhibitor's badge and related items.
Next was actually locating the tables, then going out to the truck and bringing in the table covers. There were two sets of these, one to cover the tables and another to cover your merchandise at the end of the day. We used stretchy nylon covers as they looked nice and were easy to clean.
Usually a cup of fresh coffee and a doughnut or two from one of the food vendors that usually gather nearby helped the day get off to a good start.
Once the tables were ready, the boxes would be brought in and set up and the extra stock brought in and arranged. When you were ready for business, you flipped the top covers over everything and started wandering around watching others set up. Yeah, its called bargain hunting. The public never sees the best buys at a gun show -- the other dealers grab them and mark them up and resell them.
When the doors were opened to the public it was time to head back to the tables, flip off the covers and get ready for business.
TBC
(Me) (Blacktail Books)
Next was actually locating the tables, then going out to the truck and bringing in the table covers. There were two sets of these, one to cover the tables and another to cover your merchandise at the end of the day. We used stretchy nylon covers as they looked nice and were easy to clean.
Usually a cup of fresh coffee and a doughnut or two from one of the food vendors that usually gather nearby helped the day get off to a good start.
Once the tables were ready, the boxes would be brought in and set up and the extra stock brought in and arranged. When you were ready for business, you flipped the top covers over everything and started wandering around watching others set up. Yeah, its called bargain hunting. The public never sees the best buys at a gun show -- the other dealers grab them and mark them up and resell them.
When the doors were opened to the public it was time to head back to the tables, flip off the covers and get ready for business.
TBC
(Me) (Blacktail Books)
Monday, July 13, 2009
HOM: A Trypical Tip: Part One
This is a composite trip.
Jerry built some book boxes, 24" long and in assorted depths & widths. We remodeled the "Gold Room" so that we could stack these boxes on their sides to be used as shelves or tipped upright to be used for transporting books. This saved a lot of handling on our part and a lot of wear and tear on the expensive books.
We bought a sturdy little hand truck that fit nicely in the back or on top of the rig that I still have & use.
All we'd have to do is pop out a couple of screws on the brackets holding the boxes in place, stack the boxes on the hand truck, wheel them out to the Datsun and stack them in. At a gun show, it was fast and simple to drag the boxes out, wheel them into the show, and stack them on the tables. Instant shelving.
We'd load the Datsun topper with those boxes and put in cardboard boxes of extra stock, then I'd toss in camping gear, personal stuff and some emergency supplies at the back. The briefcase that served as a mobile office rode in the front with me and handy items were stashed on the shelf in the front of the topper that I could reach while I was driving.
Bec & Lyn would stay home, with Jerry keeping an eye on them.
I'd leave fairly early in the morning, heading south on Hwy 93, east on I-90 to Butte, then south on I-15. Heavy books and a low-powered pickup made for slow travel so I'd generally spend Wednesday night in Pocatello, putter into SLC around noon on Thursday and get checked into a motel, then go book scouting. I'd be at the Salt Palace Friday morning well before they opened the doors to dealers so I could get a reasonably close parking spot.
Laziness and bulky books weren't the only reasons to park close by the entrance -- nasty weather sometimes meant books could get damaged between the truck and the door to the exhibition area. The shorter the trip between the two, the better.
The trip to SLC was usually the slowest part of the trip. I'd have the heaviest load then and the long slog up over Monida pass meant creeping along at 25 or 30 for mile after mile.
If the weather was good and the traffic light, I got in the habit of reading as I drove during the climb up the Montana side of that 6800' pass. I've always considered that road to be the safest highway I've ever driven on, wide and straight and not carrying a lot of traffic, and I never had any scares or close calls.
You could tell when you hit the Idaho border. The road tilted downhill, lost most of its width and got a heck of a lot rougher. I couldn't go much faster than I had been, but I had to pay a lot more attention. Idaho didn't spend a lot of money making it easy to go to or from Montana in those days.
TBC
(Me) (Blacktail Books)
Jerry built some book boxes, 24" long and in assorted depths & widths. We remodeled the "Gold Room" so that we could stack these boxes on their sides to be used as shelves or tipped upright to be used for transporting books. This saved a lot of handling on our part and a lot of wear and tear on the expensive books.
We bought a sturdy little hand truck that fit nicely in the back or on top of the rig that I still have & use.
All we'd have to do is pop out a couple of screws on the brackets holding the boxes in place, stack the boxes on the hand truck, wheel them out to the Datsun and stack them in. At a gun show, it was fast and simple to drag the boxes out, wheel them into the show, and stack them on the tables. Instant shelving.
We'd load the Datsun topper with those boxes and put in cardboard boxes of extra stock, then I'd toss in camping gear, personal stuff and some emergency supplies at the back. The briefcase that served as a mobile office rode in the front with me and handy items were stashed on the shelf in the front of the topper that I could reach while I was driving.
Bec & Lyn would stay home, with Jerry keeping an eye on them.
I'd leave fairly early in the morning, heading south on Hwy 93, east on I-90 to Butte, then south on I-15. Heavy books and a low-powered pickup made for slow travel so I'd generally spend Wednesday night in Pocatello, putter into SLC around noon on Thursday and get checked into a motel, then go book scouting. I'd be at the Salt Palace Friday morning well before they opened the doors to dealers so I could get a reasonably close parking spot.
Laziness and bulky books weren't the only reasons to park close by the entrance -- nasty weather sometimes meant books could get damaged between the truck and the door to the exhibition area. The shorter the trip between the two, the better.
The trip to SLC was usually the slowest part of the trip. I'd have the heaviest load then and the long slog up over Monida pass meant creeping along at 25 or 30 for mile after mile.
If the weather was good and the traffic light, I got in the habit of reading as I drove during the climb up the Montana side of that 6800' pass. I've always considered that road to be the safest highway I've ever driven on, wide and straight and not carrying a lot of traffic, and I never had any scares or close calls.
You could tell when you hit the Idaho border. The road tilted downhill, lost most of its width and got a heck of a lot rougher. I couldn't go much faster than I had been, but I had to pay a lot more attention. Idaho didn't spend a lot of money making it easy to go to or from Montana in those days.
TBC
(Me) (Blacktail Books)
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Friday, July 10, 2009
HOM: Gun Shows
Jerry put together a trip schedule that involved hopping from gun show to gun show, working out dates and places and available tables and coming up with somewhat of a paid winter vacation that covered most of the month of February. That was quite a feat in those days and meant using a LOT of different sources for dates, addresses, and information. If the Internet had existed things would have been a bit simpler.
Most shows ran from opening around eight Friday morning for the dealers to set up till mid-afternoon Sunday when the public would be booted out and the dealers could start repacking. The idea was for us to spend the three day weekend at a show and then use the next four days for traveling to the next show and shopping/restocking/sightseeing along the way. One of the scheduling tricks was to get the itinerary set up with as little backtracking as possible and no over-long a transits between shows.
We took several of these February trips, and I don't remember the exact itineraries of each one. Lyn was with me on parts of some but not others. I guess the last trip stands out better the earlier ones for various reasons, but I'll get to it later.
All the trips started with the first weekend in Salt Lake City for the big Crossroads of the West show at the Salt Palace and residence at the Wagon Wheel motel nearby. 125,000 square feet of floor space filled with rows of 8' tables loaded with everything from candy to machine guns, with a few tanks and planes mixed in. This was my personal favorite of all the gun shows.
At various times we hit Albuquerque, Tucson, Phoenix, Las Vegas and Los Angeles on these jaunts.
TBC
(Me) (Blacktail Books)
Most shows ran from opening around eight Friday morning for the dealers to set up till mid-afternoon Sunday when the public would be booted out and the dealers could start repacking. The idea was for us to spend the three day weekend at a show and then use the next four days for traveling to the next show and shopping/restocking/sightseeing along the way. One of the scheduling tricks was to get the itinerary set up with as little backtracking as possible and no over-long a transits between shows.
We took several of these February trips, and I don't remember the exact itineraries of each one. Lyn was with me on parts of some but not others. I guess the last trip stands out better the earlier ones for various reasons, but I'll get to it later.
All the trips started with the first weekend in Salt Lake City for the big Crossroads of the West show at the Salt Palace and residence at the Wagon Wheel motel nearby. 125,000 square feet of floor space filled with rows of 8' tables loaded with everything from candy to machine guns, with a few tanks and planes mixed in. This was my personal favorite of all the gun shows.
At various times we hit Albuquerque, Tucson, Phoenix, Las Vegas and Los Angeles on these jaunts.
TBC
(Me) (Blacktail Books)
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