Thursday Afternoon

Willis called while we were driving up to Smuckers near Orville. He asked if we could come for supper after six o'clock chores. We stopped in to Smuckers and found it to be a very nice building but a giant commercial for all their brands and a tourist trap. Shortly after we arrived, a tour bus pulled up and unloaded about sixty elderly tourists. They appeared to love free taste samples, it also was evident they had not eaten for days. It turned into a free for all as the elderly tourists swamped us rushing for free samples. We nearly crawled out from the stampede on our hands and knees, we headed for the parking lot.
Josiah had been asking "where's lunch?" so we stopped at a Wendy's for a burger and fry for him.
I stopped a Shearer chips truck driver to ask directions to the Shearer clearance store in Brewster.
We headed to P. Graham Dunn. To my dismay, that dreaded tour bus from Smuckers was just pulling up and the unruly crowd of retirees was piling off, head over heels for the entrance. We parked and watched the melee, deciding to let them get inside and spread out before we entered.
I was a little miffed at their unruly behavior and said out loud, "Where do they find these people?" Then I read the lettering on the side of the bus. Rochester Minnesota... that figures...what great people!
P Graham Dunn is perhaps the most commercial of all enterprises, selling their inspirational wares by plucking the heart strings of everyone who walks through their doors. If you are a human being with any emotions at all, they have something for you, and they have left no stone unturned. Are you a Christian? American? Patriotic? They have verses and quotes on everything you can think of from key chains to toilet bowl seats and fireplace mantles to clocks. Amish were filing in before we left and they were lining up to buy. The Amish homes we were in also have most of their home decor purchased from P Graham Dunn. I always thought that tour bus retirees were too thrifty for this type of decor. I don't know if there could possibly be room for all the items I saw them holding and piling on shopping carts. It seemed almost like taking advantage of peoples beliefs. I can't say that I wasn't impressed, somebody there is a marketing genius, and the sheer variety and volume was a study in commercialism's widest audience appeal. It was all I could do to walk out without loading up with dozens of items. Even the chain smoking tour bus driver finally walked in for what must have been his first visit. Before he knew what hit him he was overwhelmed and was having a clock personally engraved for his mother. It didn't seem to bother him that it would take forty-five minutes and could jeopardize his entire bus schedule. (P Graham Dunn = Marketing Genius)