Road Trip

We decided it’d be a great idea for me to take to the highway and travel north to meet some of my friendly customers.  I wanted to let them know that Tom approved my taking over some of his responsibilities so I took him with me! I let him drive but I got to choose where we lunched.

Tom had warned me that we were going to be traveling ‘off the beaten path’…so I brought snacks.  They make fun of me at the office because I’m the ‘bag lady’ BUT if we broke down or were ‘off the beaten path’ and they got hungry…I bet they’d want the ‘bag lady’ and her snacks around!!!  Who am I kidding, I’d be worth more if I was toting a micro-brew in Tom’s case or a few ‘high-dollar’ Hamm’s if we are talking about Dave. I’m off subject here but I’ve seen a trend in the hardwood business, you always end up talking about beer at some point.  I wonder if Paul Bunyan had a preference?  Anyway…

We left at the bright and shiny time of 0630 from Cole Hardwood.  I met some great people in areas I had never seen before and never knew existed.  Tom asked if I was making a mental note of the roads we were taking or maybe I should write them down…I thought “oh that’s not necessary I have GPS on my phone…wait…would these locations register on my phone?!” I then made mental notes of Notestine and Cuba…who could forget those street names?  I indicated I was ready for lunch so of course Tom knew to head to the buffet.  Have you ever been in the car for hours with a hungry woman?  Tom had evidently, because shortly we were pulling into The Essenhaus.  Note:  Don’t buy a blueberry sucker when you are making sales calls in person, unless you tote hydrogen peroxide and baking soda for your pearly NOT so whites.

We had a successful day with great introductions, generated new business relationships, rekindled some old ones, and had some general ‘off the beaten path’ education on northern Indiana hardwood customers.  I felt good not only that I could fill Tom’s shoes (insert over-confidence here) providing product for furniture, toys, cabinets, RV components, décor, BUT also for being a small part of the cycle that contributes to good people’s livelihood.

And now back to our office theory’s on what really happened to the missing plane in Malaysia…