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Summer Vacation to MOJAM by Debbie Gault

Around the time of our TBW banquet Clinton cooked up the idea that he wanted to go to MOJAM. It was the ninth annual Selfbow Jamboree in Marshall, MO. It was the week after our WAJAM. It didn’t take any convincing to get Steve Meyer and Duane Spangler to go with us. Airline tickets were less than $300 round trip. We arrived in Kansas City, MO and headed the 100 miles east to the small town of Marshall. The guys decided right away that Missouri only had three things; adult shops, truck stops, and the largest fireworks stands in the world. We found people at the motel right away that knew Don Shannon, they called him “the Hinge”. We took ski bags full of yew billets to trade for osage staves. We also took our selfbows and arrows. They had a clout shoot and target courses open. We quickly learned that 95% of the bows we saw were osage. We met the nicest people. Duane took flax and other natural materials and demonstrated how to make bow strings. While he was doing that he met a nice guy named Roger Marconi from Iowa. They had both written articles for Primitive Archer. Duane asked him if there was anywhere that he could put out some bamboo kids bows for sale. Roger set us up with a 10 x 10 shelter, chairs, and a table. Duane and I both sold some of our items. It was nice to have shade . We lucked out the weather was cooler than usual. The guys had a great time talking selfbows. We got to see huge osage trees. They did a little trading and buying and we brought home our ski bags full.

Before leaving Missouri we had to check out the largest fireworks stand in the world. We spent the last day in Kansas City, Kansas. We found a Cabelas store, Bass Pro Store, and a great steak house for dinner. Duane asked at the Cabelas store “when are you guys going to open one of these in Seattle?” The surprising answer was Thanksgiving in Lacey. One of the guys he talked to was moving here for the opening.

Steve and Duane were great traveling buddies. I hope we get to travel with them again. Thanks guys. You both made the trip great fun.