Well, the first book trip on the bus is almost over. I am waiting at the Tucson Greyhound Terminal for a ride to Ruidoso, NM for a little break while visiting my cousin. (However, I really hope that the Ruidoso Friends of the Library store is fully stocked with new merchandise that I can't say no too!) I spent 2 extra days here, which is both good and bad. Good that I bought so many books to warrant the extra stay, bad because I am broke! May end up washing out the profits due to having slow internet connections, my inability to stay focused when working in an improperly cooled room, and eating with my favorite Night Clerk.
I really thought I bought a lot of great stuff, but as I continued to list and research book prices, I realized that my German language books may not be anything special. Only a few of them were selling for decent money on amazon.de, so that means that the Amazon.com marketplace sellers are just throwing out insane numbers. Most of my prices are dramatically lower than my competitors, but we'll see how long the others' stay so inflated. Thus, I may not have bought as many good books as I originally thought. Only time will tell, but I hope that it's not as bad as I'm feeling right now.
I think the most important thing I learned from this trip is that I really miss my truck. It's hard to do my job without my own wheels (shipping supply surplus, postage scale and printer). To sum up the adventure: rental cars are too expensive to keep when you're not driving very far, cabs drivers should be arrested for extortion, hotels.com packages are not really good deals, and La Quinta is the best hotel chain for business travelers.
I got everything shipped to Amazon and I hope that I get a quick turnaround. I need to replenish my travel funds so I can go to a sale in Pennsylvania on the 24th. Gotta milk this bus pass for all it's worth!
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Saturday, June 11, 2011
5 States in 2 Days
I left Kansas on Wednesday afternoon because I had to catch my bus at 6 am on Thursday. Thus, I purchased my 60 day Greyhound Discovery Pass. I left Oklahoma City and traveled through Texas and New Mexico in order to get to Tucson, Arizona by 6:30 am Friday morning. Whew...that's a lot of miles and thank God that I was not driving them (although I drove a bit in Kansas on the way back to Oklahoma)! I'd love to talk about the adventure in detail, however I was blessed to purchase about 350 books here and I have to get them listed and shipped out by Monday morning. Perhaps I can elaborate during my brief stay at my cousin's in Ruidoso. I'm scheduled to leave out at 11:45 pm on Monday.
I don't know if I can pull of all of this work, but I'm going to give it my best. I'd hate to rent the car for another day and find other lodging, because I was ready to leave this overpriced roach motel upon arrival (I found my room already occupied when I plugged in my phone to charge.). I'm not sure if it was dead or alive, but it was next to the outlet. (I was extremely irate over this since I called ahead to see if I could get an early check-in and was given the excuse that there were not going to be any rooms available until 3 pm because housekeeping had to clean 200 due to the conference.) Since the internet was not working, I was relocated. Unfortunately, I think that the rude front desk personnel intentionally put me in the worst room as punishment. This room had chips, possibly Doritos, on the floor and a broken AC...literally, somebody kicked it and the front casing is all jacked up! I took pictures but cannot upload them yet as I've got an insane workload to complete in less than 48 hours.
I don't know if I can pull of all of this work, but I'm going to give it my best. I'd hate to rent the car for another day and find other lodging, because I was ready to leave this overpriced roach motel upon arrival (I found my room already occupied when I plugged in my phone to charge.). I'm not sure if it was dead or alive, but it was next to the outlet. (I was extremely irate over this since I called ahead to see if I could get an early check-in and was given the excuse that there were not going to be any rooms available until 3 pm because housekeeping had to clean 200 due to the conference.) Since the internet was not working, I was relocated. Unfortunately, I think that the rude front desk personnel intentionally put me in the worst room as punishment. This room had chips, possibly Doritos, on the floor and a broken AC...literally, somebody kicked it and the front casing is all jacked up! I took pictures but cannot upload them yet as I've got an insane workload to complete in less than 48 hours.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Back from MO
Overall, it was a great sale. I did not purchase the quantity that I'd wished for at MO sale, however, I got more hitting the thrift/used bookstores in KS on the way back to OKC than I had anticipated. I'm now rushing to get the books cleaned and shipped to my primary store, so they can be available for sale ASAP. Got enough money to hit an extra sale this week, so I am pretty excited to see what potential profits can be found. However, there's a lot to be done before then, thus I must make a quick post of the travel.
I loved eating in Old Town St. Charles. It was like stepping back in time, but thankful for the modern conveniences that we take for granted daily. The cobblestone streets and old buildings were from the colonial era and a wonderful setting for lunch (I'm not certain how many of the buildings were actually historic and which were reproductions). We ate at the Trailhead Brewing Co. and the food was fabulous. The chili, which will no longer be an item as of Monday, was a nice surprise and very different from the chili found in Texas. It had a bean base with chunks of brisket and a nice bite. The burgers were thick and juicy, but the fries were horrible, so the kid's pepperoni pizza made a better side! I would have liked to walked a bit more around town, but I was exhausted from the drive and only 4 hours of sleep, plus I had to get back to the sale and buy more, since I did not have a decent quantity. Thankfully, I picked up a rare book that is worth a couple hundred, so that was a blessing and motivation to attend next year.
Sleep beckoned, thus I left the sale early. In fact, I overslept and left later than planned, but managed to shop 1 store in Kansas City before hitting the hotel. However, the pit stop in Columbia, was the highlight. We accidentally toured the University of Missouri. Wow, what a beautiful campus, at least the small portion that we saw! Chris spotted a Gothic-style church from the distance so I drove closer for a better look. Then, I started to notice that the street signs have the Mizzou Tigers emblem and saw that this church was actually the student union center. We drove a couple of blocks trying to find Pickleman's Gourmet Cafe, the billboard on I-70 caught my attention, so I was on a mission to eat at this sandwich shop, which is how we ended up finding Mizzou.. Got to the eatery and struck up some conversations with the staff, where I learned that the campus had burned in the 1800s and that the only things left were the columns. There was a picture adorning the wall so I just had to see them in person. After eating, we drove and parked so Chris could get his own photo. As we walked to the site, we were plagued by locusts! I could not believe the noise and how aggressive a few of the little monsters were. Had one land and crawl up my leg, and another got mad when I swatted it off of my neck! Minus the bugs, it was a nice walk in a serene garden that led to the columns.
Needless to say, we got more books than we hoped for during the KS leg. That was good, but the only noteworthy experience happens to be the parking ticket I received while eating at The Burger Place in Lawrence, KS. Chris paid at the wrong meter, thus I have a lovely $3.00 ticket that must be paid in 10 days, or a $12 late fee will be added. The Burger Place is in the downtown section, which was like walking into the 1950s. It was such a cool scene as there were lots of shops and restaurants open along both sides of the street. Since there were no visible parking lots, you had to pay at parking meters. (I'm sure that there were some parking lots hidden somewhere, but I was hungry and looked for the closest spot to park the beast.) It seemed to be the place to be as there were hundreds of patrons walking on the sidewalks. Hope to visit it again, now that I know which meter belongs to which parking space!
I loved eating in Old Town St. Charles. It was like stepping back in time, but thankful for the modern conveniences that we take for granted daily. The cobblestone streets and old buildings were from the colonial era and a wonderful setting for lunch (I'm not certain how many of the buildings were actually historic and which were reproductions). We ate at the Trailhead Brewing Co. and the food was fabulous. The chili, which will no longer be an item as of Monday, was a nice surprise and very different from the chili found in Texas. It had a bean base with chunks of brisket and a nice bite. The burgers were thick and juicy, but the fries were horrible, so the kid's pepperoni pizza made a better side! I would have liked to walked a bit more around town, but I was exhausted from the drive and only 4 hours of sleep, plus I had to get back to the sale and buy more, since I did not have a decent quantity. Thankfully, I picked up a rare book that is worth a couple hundred, so that was a blessing and motivation to attend next year.
Sleep beckoned, thus I left the sale early. In fact, I overslept and left later than planned, but managed to shop 1 store in Kansas City before hitting the hotel. However, the pit stop in Columbia, was the highlight. We accidentally toured the University of Missouri. Wow, what a beautiful campus, at least the small portion that we saw! Chris spotted a Gothic-style church from the distance so I drove closer for a better look. Then, I started to notice that the street signs have the Mizzou Tigers emblem and saw that this church was actually the student union center. We drove a couple of blocks trying to find Pickleman's Gourmet Cafe, the billboard on I-70 caught my attention, so I was on a mission to eat at this sandwich shop, which is how we ended up finding Mizzou.. Got to the eatery and struck up some conversations with the staff, where I learned that the campus had burned in the 1800s and that the only things left were the columns. There was a picture adorning the wall so I just had to see them in person. After eating, we drove and parked so Chris could get his own photo. As we walked to the site, we were plagued by locusts! I could not believe the noise and how aggressive a few of the little monsters were. Had one land and crawl up my leg, and another got mad when I swatted it off of my neck! Minus the bugs, it was a nice walk in a serene garden that led to the columns.
Needless to say, we got more books than we hoped for during the KS leg. That was good, but the only noteworthy experience happens to be the parking ticket I received while eating at The Burger Place in Lawrence, KS. Chris paid at the wrong meter, thus I have a lovely $3.00 ticket that must be paid in 10 days, or a $12 late fee will be added. The Burger Place is in the downtown section, which was like walking into the 1950s. It was such a cool scene as there were lots of shops and restaurants open along both sides of the street. Since there were no visible parking lots, you had to pay at parking meters. (I'm sure that there were some parking lots hidden somewhere, but I was hungry and looked for the closest spot to park the beast.) It seemed to be the place to be as there were hundreds of patrons walking on the sidewalks. Hope to visit it again, now that I know which meter belongs to which parking space!
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Well it's done!
I got moved out a little after midnight, thus I am completely nomadic! Right now, I'm in Oklahoma City waiting to begin the first trip without the safety of home. I got here around 5:30 am, deep in exhaustion. Going on 5 hours of sleep but it really doesn't feel like it after being awake and working hard for 24 1/2 hours straight. Already unloaded my truck as I am planning OKC being my base of operations for June, when I am not on the bus elsewhere. I have a lot of work to catch up on and my friend said it would be cool to use his place this month when I am not traveling, so I am going to take advantage of such generosity!
I guess it doesn't hurt when I am picking him up and taking him along this trip. He's a friendly competitor, also a bookseller. I know that I can't buy all of the books, so it's nice to split expenses at times on these trips. He rarely travels to book sales, yet he traveled once to Arlington, TX in October 2009, which is where we met. I attended the OKC sale this past February and ran into him again when I was leaving on the second day. In this business, you get to know your competition and it's nice to strike up friendships. As I've said earlier, you can never buy all of the books, so it's nice to actually like the people that get those you can't purchase! I have several friends that I hold dear in the business. But that will be revealed in later posts, now it's time to leave because Mr.-I-don't-know-how-to-prioritize is finally back so we can load the truck and go!
I guess it doesn't hurt when I am picking him up and taking him along this trip. He's a friendly competitor, also a bookseller. I know that I can't buy all of the books, so it's nice to split expenses at times on these trips. He rarely travels to book sales, yet he traveled once to Arlington, TX in October 2009, which is where we met. I attended the OKC sale this past February and ran into him again when I was leaving on the second day. In this business, you get to know your competition and it's nice to strike up friendships. As I've said earlier, you can never buy all of the books, so it's nice to actually like the people that get those you can't purchase! I have several friends that I hold dear in the business. But that will be revealed in later posts, now it's time to leave because Mr.-I-don't-know-how-to-prioritize is finally back so we can load the truck and go!
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