HOM: Home!

We finally headed north, though the direction was mostly west at first. We took a side trip through Zion National Park, a spectacular drive and worth the few extra miles. I realized I'd fallen in love with the desert country. We got into Salt Lake City, or, as a friend of mine from Idaho used to call it, Sh*t Lake Salty, and hit Sam Weller's Zion Book Store and a few other stores. We overnighted there and then headed home. It was a great trip, but when I topped the hill above Polson and saw Flathead Lake spread out below, the feeling that overwhelmed me was "HOME!" I still get that massive boost whenever I have been away and come back to the Flathead via Highway 93. The desert is nice, but this is where I belong! There was a lot of work waiting for me when I got back to the store. We had to price all the books I'd sent to Jerry and then get ready to put out a catalog, which meant a lot of work with card files and other dealer's catalogs (for pricing) and a lot of typing. Pastor Roy Jones, who had done so much to encourage me in giving up C&C and getting into the book business, was our printer -- printing was his hobby and his avocation. We gave him the "camera-ready" pages and he printed them for us, but Jerry & Barb & Lyn & I did the collating and stapling and addressing and mailing. Our mailing list consisted of names from the gun show drawing and responses to ads we ran in Shotgun News, plus Jerry sent off a few catalogs to established dealers. TBC (Me) (Blacktail Books)