As we drove into the camp site of Walnut Hills at Staunton Virginia, we noticed a advert for a German restaurant nearby and decided that, as we'd been driving all day, we would treat ourselves to a night out and hopefully a good beer?

Once we had got the RV parked up and everything sorted we set off to find the Eidelweiss restaurant, which was billed as offering ‘authentic Black Forest region dishes'. Well, maybe we got the chef and server on an ‘off' night, but I am sorry to say that the evening was very disappointing. We will not be adding this restaurant to our "Good Food Guide" list! Overnight we had horrendous storms and torrential rain which kept up for most of the following day when we were travelling through the Appalachian Mountains, Blue Ridge Mountains, and Shenandoah valley. We managed to get a couple of photos when it stopped raining to try and show the fabulous scenery and lovely autumn colours.

 Appalachains in autumn

We arrived at the next venue, the Meadow Event Park in Doswell, Virginia, for the Equine Extravaganza. The Meadow has a wonderful and fascinating history. In recent years, having been bought by The State Fair of Virginia Inc., which is a not-for-profit organisation that receives no state aid, relying totally on charitable donations. www.meadoweventpark.com the Meadows were found to be the site of Native American tribes dating back to 8,000 .B.C! Archaelogists excavated the site and found fire rings, arrow heads, and evidence that confirmed that the area had been the site of tribal gatherings for many of the native American tribes for thousands of years.

One of the other claims to fame for the Meadow is that it is where the legendary racehorse Secretariat was bred and raised by Penny and Cristopher Chenery. Secretariat, who was also known as' Big Red', won the elusive Triple Crown of Thoroughbred racing in 1973, the first horse in 25 years to do so, and he did it in such a way as to become regarded as America's greatest horse. His history-making day was in the Belmont Stakes, a mile and a half race for 3 year olds, which he won by an astounding 31 lengths in a record 2.24 minutes flat, a world record that has as yet to be broken. Secretariat, who was born in March 1970, was a legend and as such is the star of a new film just released in the US by Disney (add Disney website address) that tells the amazing story of how the Chenery family came to own this horse through the toss of a coin.

The venue is excellent and has all the facilities needed to put on a horse show, including stabling and excellent show rings. Unfortunately the Chenery family is no longer here and their fabulous family mansion was demolished many years ago. More recently however the SFVA has rebuilt the mansion house which was the venue for a ‘Denim & Diamonds' VIP dinner on Friday night with entertainment provided by Waylon Jennings' brother, Tommy, and Bobby Plough.

The setup was very difficult, not because of access but because temperatures had rocketed with a daytime temperature of 90 F, with 90 per cent humidity, and only dropped to 80 F during the night. Tony was in a muck sweat by the time he had made the first trip with the trolley from the RV to the booth location. The organisers have tried really hard to put on a good show and there are lots of good speakers and exhibitors here, so let's hope the show really draws the crowds.

Friday dawned bright, sunny and very cold! After a heavy thunder storm which rattled the wine glasses on the table in the RV, the weather had changed literally overnight, dropping a massive 30 degrees. The first day was fairly slow but the visitors were interested in our products and we did a number of sales to clients of our friend Joyce Harman DVM www.harmanyequine.com who has an extensive knowledge in the treatment of horses with Lyme's disease, and recommends our Digest Plus and Digest Support (GastriX) to help support the horse's digestive system when they are having heavy doses of powerful antibiotics as part of their conventional treatment.

Our stand at the Equine Extravaganza

Our booth is located right across the aisle from Cashmans, we have seen their stands at a number of other shows, and they always have massive displays of products for stable, farm, and barn. The Cashmans crew had driven 600 miles from Columbus, Ohio, to be here and had come straight from the AQHA convention which runs over 21 days. It is an enormous show, attracting people from all over the US and it is where the finals of all the Quarter Horse competitions take place.

Cashmans' stand

Cashmans

We were hopeful that Saturday and Sunday would prove to be busier but unfortunately, despite excellent weather, the crowds stayed away. This could have been a combination of the slow economy and Halloween however we do hope that the organisers persevere as everyone here felt that the show had great potential and could really grow. So its back in the RV and we head back to Pennsylvania where we can restock before we have to leave for Plymouth, Massachusetts, where we will be doing two training sessions with all the sales people at SmartPak.

We then move onto Springfield, Mass, in time to set up our booth for the Equine Affaire, our next show which starts on Thursday the 11th November.