Januarys without David

January is a big trade show month. 

Last January David worked a couple trade shows for the former family business.   

This January he was at a trade show in Arizona for our new electric bike company.  

He was gone for TWELVE days.  That's a whole lot of days.

I am forever grateful for technology that keeps us connected while he is gone.

 2012

This year David's Dad, Marty, went along to showcase his new bike.  The two bachelors roughed it in the motor home.  Because they are literally in the middle of no where,  I tried to help out by making breakfast, lunch, and dinner meals for them.  For dinner we planned a mix of frozen casseroles, microwavable dinners, soups, and two crock pot dinners.  I sent them with lots of eggs, Elizabeth's egg puffs, and cereal for breakfast.  We packed enough fresh fruit and veggies to hopefully keep them from getting scurvy. Ha! All they had to do was follow the menu plan and it would help them with the variety.  They said it worked great.  It also helped me because when I would make a meal for them, I'd make one for us, too.  That way I had a lot of my meal planning done.

 David and Marty with the loaded bike trailer.

The show was in Quartzite, Arizona.  According to the 2006 census there are a little over 3,000 people in the town.  When the winter hits, however, the town swells with nearly a million visitors who escape the cold and create a make-shift city.  It is really in the middle of no where.  It's about 2 hours from Phoenix, and three from Los Angeles and Vegas.  It's really dusty and when the wind kicks up it can make a mess.  They had a little wind, but this trip their biggest issue was rain.  There was lots of rain and lots of mud puddles.  Unfortunately, all the moisture prevented the customers from coming on what should have been the best two shopping days, so we were told.

 A picture of their booth outside the vendors' tent. 

We really looked forward to our 8:00pm talks with Dad.  The kids were excited to update him on the often mundane details of our days.  Sometimes we had problems with our internet connection, but the times when it worked were magic.  It was fun to see Grandpa, too.  

I haven't decided who had it worse.  Me managing our hectic life with four kids by myself for two weeks for David and Marty...in the middle of no where...in a motor home.  I really think it's a toss up.  

Halfway through the show we told them, via Skype, that we had stashed a secret supply of treats in the motor home.  It was a bag with notes from us, a family picture, licorice, popcorn, and Whoppers. We thought it would be a fun pick-me-up.

While Dad was away, we tired to keep it fun.

One Saturday night after we had finished all our chores, I took the kids to the bowling alley. 

 It goes without saying that we were all grateful to be reunited last weekend.

I'll also mention that I am grateful to good neighbors who checked in on me, and for a great home teacher who saved us a seat at Church for two Sundays.  It's wonderful to feel so watched over.