Day twenty-seven - Driving through daylight

When I finally stopped to sleep on Monday night, I was somewhere between Lafayette, LA and Beaumont, TX. I don’t exactly remember the town but it was the first one I came to before it got too dark. After my blowout on the highway, I have become more attentive to driving only during daylight hours. All I remember is booking into a Holiday Inn, finding out the Internet wasn’t working, checking out, and moving to a Days Inn.

I’ve become a seasoned traveler. I don’t even unpack my bags until I check the hotel’s Internet connection! Some places advertise that they have it, but my advice to other ‘Internet junkies’ is to “check out the Internet before you check into the hotel”.

When I woke up at the Days Inn, I was still a couple of hours behind my targeted schedule. I got on the road as quickly as I could and made it over to Manning’s School Supply in Beaumont. You know, personal visits mean a whole lot. I think they might mean a lot to the vendors; they really mean a whole lot to me. When I see buyers at the NSSEA show each year, I never could really imagine what their stores looked like. To be able to visualize everything now is so important. It gives a special insight into the needs of each retailer.

Manning’s School Supply’s 25,000 square foot store is large and airy. It resembles the inside of an “Office Place” or “Staples”, with clean white walls, high ceilings, and bright lights. Except that Manning’s specializes in school supplies. Now, they even specialize in fresh custom-ground coffee beans. A second store is located in Wederland, TX.

When I met with Stacie, the buyer, and we talked about my long drive from the north, she told me that Corinne’s mother has a business in Ontario. (Corinne and her husband Richard Creason are the owners of Mannings.) I know it’s a little off topic but this really fascinated me. Evelyn Manning’s company is called ‘Canadian Fly-in Fishing’ and it flies in fishermen/women into Red Lake, Ontario, where ten cabins sit in isolation on seven beautiful lakes. (www.canadianflyinfishing.net). These are only accessible by float plane. When I heard about this and saw the brochure, I knew of someone immediately who would love to hear about this! Dick Cromlish of School Resources Inc, Belmont, NC, had just shared his travel and fishing tales with me recently.

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Stacey [top left] the buyer of Manning's and Manning's inside [top right] and out [bottom].

Next stop of the day would be a classroom visit. Dr. Debby McKinney of Bear Branch Elementary in Humble, Texas, invited me to visit her music classes. It was a very gratifying experience. These little kids (in grades one and two), knew so many songs by memory and had such fun singing them that it was a very ‘humbling’ experience. Thanks to Debby and her school for the invitation. I had a great time!

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Debby and her class showing me what great performers they are.

Moving right along, and almost on schedule, my last stop of the day was at Basic Office and School Supply in Houston, TX. There were some scary moments along the way. It was just about rush hour and, there I was, zipping along the freeways with one hand on the steering wheel and the other holding my directions. (Not recommended.)

I am glad to report that I made it safely and had a good visit with Shiray, the owner. Shu-Ray has had her business since 1983. The store has been in its present location for the past 11 years. The 16,000 sq.ft premises has separate rooms, cubbies, and cubicles crammed with interesting resources for teachers and parents alike. I was glad that I had been able to visit. Now I only had to make my way through the rush hour to my hotel. This was to be a trip I would never forget.

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Shu-Ray [top left] the owner and Basic Office and School Supply inside [top right] and out [bottom].