ThinManager Roadshow

We continued down the coast, past an area with huge sand dunes, and into the California redwoods. We ate dinner in a small dinner in Crescent City that Matt & I ate in before. They use salmon as the fish in their fish and chips.
The next morning we drove through the fog and mist into the heart of the redwoods. It was the best visit I had to the redwoods. The kids were loving it. You can read about how big they are but until you stand beside one and try to see the top you’ll never know just how massive they are. We parked on a loop trail and hike for a while, the Blond Family doing a couple miles up to a ridge from along a creek. It started to rain but they baby was wrapped snugly so they continued. When they hit the bus he was the only one who was dry. The rest of the family looked like they had been swimming with their clothes on.
We saw part of the Roosevelt elk herd in one of the glades among the trees. One was probably less that 20 feet from the bus.
We headed inland along the Eel River through some really beautiful countryside to Ukiah for the evening.
We stopped at the Chandelier Redwood that has a hole cut into it that you can walk or drive through. We couldn’t get the bus to fit so we walked instead.
-pbs

One of my favorite legs of the journey was the Oregon section. We followed the Old Oregon Trail across the Snake River plateau in Idaho and through the Blue Mountains of Oregon to the Columbia River. As I mentioned before, it was a difficult drive in a bus on an interstate, I can’t imagine hauling a Conestoga wagon across the mountains, down gullys, and through the canyons.
As we left Portland we chanced upon the Evergreen Aviation Museum, home of the Spruce Goose.
The Spruce Goose was Howard Hughes’ massive wooden flying boat that he build during the waning years of World War II. It has been restored and is the centerpeice to the museum. It is so huge that they have a dozen planes exhibited under its wings. Although several planes are larger now it was a mammoth in its day.
At the time a B-17 was a huge plane and they have one parked under its tail. It looks like a float for the wing!
It was great to see such a historic plane and others like the P-40, P-51, P-38, and Spitfire.
Next we drove to Lincoln City on the coast and saw the D River. This is the shortest river in the world, stretching 100 yards or less to drain Devils Lake. We continued down the coast to California.
I have driven from San Francisco to Portland sevral times up the coast but driving south along the coast is far more interesting as you are on the outside lane. Matt was in the mood to drive so I got to sit high up in the passengers seat and get the best views. We stopped in Newport and tried to find a good seafood palce. We ended up in a working fish harbor and could hear seal lions barking. After a few minutes of walking in the dark we found a rock island in the harbor with several hundred sea lions.
Th3e next day we drove to Sea Lion Cave, the largest sea cave in the world. You take and elevator down into a 3 or 4 acre cave. During the winter the cave is home to hundreds of Stellar sea lions. It was empty when we were there but we could see them in the waves outside. The cave itself was worth the visit.
The Oregon coast is magnificent, with mountains tumbling into the sea and rocky coves between the headlands. we saw both seals and sea lions (there is a difference!) and tons of sea birds. It was mild but foggy and damp, very beautiful.
If you haven’t been you’ve got to see the Maine coast and the Oregon coast.
-pbs

The Roadshow 2009 is over. Brad & I each flew home to our families while Matt is heading back to world Headquarters via Orlando.
It is really strange to be done. We have a couple plans in the works for our 2010 Roadshow but I think we will sit on them through the holidays and spend some time before starting our next round of planning.
The Roadshow went remarkably well thanks to careful planning, good support, and patience. It was remarkably stress free.
Several people suggested that we put cameras in for a reality show but it way to calm in the bus for a reality show.
-pbs

We had one of our best runs across Alligator Alley from Miami to Naples on the way to Tampa.
It was a warm, sunny day. Sitting in the bus gave us a great view into the ditches and canals along the road through the Everglades. We saw tons of birds, wood storks, white egrets, great blue herons, cattle egrets, and anhingas. We saw tons of gators swimming in the canals and sunning on the banks.
During one stretch of the Big Cypress we were seeing a gator every 5 seconds, probably a hundred or more!
We also saw a couple of bald eagles and several osprey.
One of our best runs on our last day together.
-pbs

We are on the last show in Tampa, 130 days, 37 shows, and 19, 036 miles later.
I’ve been slack on the blogging due to the flu and documentation but I will be filling in the gaps in the next week.
It is bittersweet. We’ve had a great time on the road with lots of fun and fellowship but it was a lot of hard work and hard miles.
It is sad to be finally done but a great relief.
Thanks to everyone involved, the ACP Staff, the Blond Family, our distributors, and our customers.
THANKS!!!
- Paul Burns

We are on the road again. After two weeks off for work and recouping we headed to the Midwest. Matt & I took Tom along and met up with Gene in Springfield.
It was a good drive on Sunday, a little wind and rain but nice to be on the open road. We saw a ton of deer in Kentucky on th plateau before th Ohio River.
After Springfield we drove through th cornbelt to Chicago. We went out for sushi and had a good time.
Matt drove the Chicago to Lansing run, giving me a nice break. We had good talks along the lake and across Michigan discussing future plans for our next user’s group meeting.
Our meeting in Lansing got moved to the downtown Radisson because of construction . It is in a nice spot along the river with a view of the capital. Really helpful people here.
We’re heading to Colubus tonight.

We made it home Thursday. We pulled into the World Headquarters around 2:00 PM. We quickly unloaded then headed home to revisit our previous lives.
As I was sitting in my living room things felt normal and I felt like the last seven weeks were merely a dream.
I slept fitfully, dreaming of driving, seeing America, and working on the bus. I think I will be dreaming of driving for a while.
-pbs

We are on the way home!
We have left Houston and are heading to Atlanta. The bus & the Blond Family have been gone for 7 weeks. I’ve had two 3-weeks stints. It has been fun with lots of sights but it has also been lots of hard work and long miles.
We are all tired and ready for home.
-pbs

We left Dallas-Ft Worth in the rain.
We stop at the Czech bakery in West, Texas, just north of Waco. We parked next to a bus that was big enough to make ours look like a mini-van. We loaded up on great baked goods then headed through Austin to New Braunfels.
It was a great hotel once we found it. We hadn’t headed far enough south.
We headed to the little town of Gruene for dinner. This is an old town with historic buildings, nice restaurants, bed & breakfasts, and the oldest dancehall in Texas.
We had a great meal but we are ready to come home. We’re going to the Alamo & Riverwalk tonight, then Houston, then home!
-pbs

We had the day off in Dallas on Sunday so I decided to take the kids to the Ft Worth stockyards for the day. Brad’s family brought him to the hotel for the week’s travel so I loaded Matt’s kids and Brad & his family and drove the bus to the stockyard.
We got there in time to see the cattle drive. Each day cowboys drive a herd of longhorns through the streets. It is cool. I got pictures of the kids on a longhorn named Pecos Bill.
We ate bbq @ Riscky’s on their patio. We saw the Tarantula train arrive and use the roundtable.
A great day all around.
-pbs