May 23rd, 2018

​Roadside Sales
For the third consecutive year I’ve traveled to Ashland Wisconsin in mid-May for a few days of personal respite.  Quite by accident the last few years I’ve become intrigued with birding.  Birding requires being very alert and sensitive to your outdoor environment and is an activity that helps hone those skills for writing.
I drove the first leg of the five hour trip and my wife drove the last half which gave me the opportunity to just look.  What I saw was disturbing.  I call them road sales.  People will put items near the road with a sign FOR SALE in three foot letters. 
Sometimes they even include the price – which is always in even dollars - $1500. Why not get creative and post $1434.76?
It was disturbing because of the number and variety of items.  A lot of the things were recreational – boats all shapes and sizes, camping trailers, tents, snowmobiles.  Others were household equipment – lawn mowers, lawn tractors, rakes, shovels, etc.  There was some farm equipment – tractors, wagons, and a manure spreader.  I must have seen at least 50 items for sale.
I’ve pondered why people sell by the road and wonder if they are successful.  I desperately want to stop at one and ask the owner if they sell by the road often and is it successful.  I see it as an act of desperation.
The economy is supposed to be humming along just fine but by the number of roadside sales I don’t think it has reached north central Wisconsin.
Make a comment if you thought the Blog title was about book sales!
   
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