Once again the Travelers are on the road, buying more insulators, having more fun, meeting more new friends, having more experiences, and wishing we owned a gas station! 

To Jack Tod..... my, how we can sympathize with you about the sad tale you wrote about in the January 1980 issue of Crown Jewels. Approaching Memphis, Tennessee for a show last year, we noticed an old privy sitting on a small knoll just waiting to be checked out. The main house was long gone. We didn't have time to stop. Next time, we said. Several months later, we were once again nearing Memphis, the old privy is still there but has been knocked over. It's getting late, so once again we say... next time. When the 'next time' did occur, it was a beautiful day, we had time to spare, and you guessed it, the old privy was gone and all evidence that there had ever been one there! We will always wonder what we missed, or what might have been. 

We saw a bumper sticker that read: "I collect rusty nails!" We're still trying to figure out which way that was meant. 

And then there was the time we got the bright idea to tape a short recording for use with our insulator display. We wrote out a short script. Lady Traveler practiced reading it through and finally we were ready to begin taping. Take one: Going well until Traveler loses her place. Take two: Once again doing fine and Traveler sneezes! Good grief! Take three: We're getting exasperated at this point, but progressing right along. We're almost to the end when the phone rings! Take four: Success is almost ours when Traveler's mother walks into the room and wants to know what we are doing! Take five: At this point, we're ready to scrap the whole idea, but we do get to the end this time with no interruptions..... thank goodness! 

Driving through Rome, Georgia, we see a sign at a church that reads: "Come In For A Faith Lift!" 

Just south of Ocala, Florida my better half thinks I'm jumping up and down because I see him coming down the tracks with some insulators in his hands. I'm jumping up and down be- cause I didn't know I was standing in red ants until they started to chew on me! 

What would you have done? A little boy came up to our sales table at the show in Nashville, Tennessee wanting to know which insulator he could buy for the nickel he had in his hand. We gave him one. 

Arriving around noon at the Montgomery, Alabama show at the state fair grounds, we are really impressed by the friendly, congenial group of men helping to set up the show, ie, sales and display tables, chairs, stanchions, ropes, etc. While we were all setting up our displays they helped in any way that was asked of them. At 4:30 p.m. they all disappeared at once. Then we learned that their guards were returning them to the state prison near by! 

One of our greatest pleasures happened several years ago when we first met Mr. N. R. Woodward in Houston. We met for dinner and then went to his place to talk insulators. If memory serves correctly, think we may even have purchased a few. It was a most delightful evening, and the start of a long friendship. 

Did you ever clean an insulator, place it on a shelf to admire it, forgetting that a breeze from the air conditioning unit is blowing across it? And minutes later you hear a sickening "ping"! That was the first and last time we ever cleaned an insulator in warm water. 

Near South Pittsburg, Tennessee, in answer to our question about the location of a shop, the nice lady ended her directions by saying, "You can't miss it. It's right next to the bear cage." Our mental image told us it was next to the State Highway Patrol Station, having been C.B.er's for several years. We were wrong, however. The shop was next door to a real bear cage with a real, live, huge, black bear in it! Mercy sakes! 

Remember a few travels ago when our grown children wanted us to bring them some of that smooth "Colorado Cool-aid" (Coors Beer) from Golden, Colorado, where we were attending the 10th N.I.A. Convention? And we waited till just before crossing the Mississippi and then found out it couldn't be purchased in West Memphis, Arkansas! Imagine our delighted surprise when we were told at the recent Memphis Bottle Show that a short trip across the Mississippi could now result in the purchase of the famous brew to bring back to our family. Thank you Arkansas for making this possible.

And to think that we rather complained in Part III about paying $1.00 a gallon for gas. On our last trip, we paid $1.36 a gallon and glad to get it. Of course, the wagon will only take unleaded and seems to run its best on that super-duper stuff! As we said at the beginning of the article, wish we owned a gas station! 

We appreciate the many kind comments we have been receiving about our articles. We will try to get more articles written. We have been a bit busy though, between the middle of January and the middle of June we have done eight shows. So, till next time, good collecting to all of our friends.