Four Days, Four More States

The Tour made a brief stop on Tuesday afternoon in Corinth, MS to meet with a prospective customer, Brad H., and walk through Lonnie's Sporting Goods.  Brad tried to make it to the Nashville River Bassin' stop this summer, but it didn't work out.  He invited a couple friends out to check out the Frontier with him.  All were impressed...and Brad is already planning his trip to Riverside Fly Shop to pick up a Frontier in February.

Wednesday we made the rounds in Memphis visiting three of the four Outdoors Inc stores.  They have been a dealer for a couple years and have seen interest in the NuCanoe boats really grow in the past year.  They've also seen the kayak fishing segment start to boom.  Given that, the staff at each store were excited to see the Frontier...and after learning about it, even more excited to get them in next spring.  We are pleased to have a great retailer representing NuCanoe in western Tennessee!

Wednesday night we went down to Beale St for a little Memphis fun.  What is normally a packed & crazy street was pretty chill on a crisp November evening.  We stumbled into J Money & his entourage upon entering BB King's Blues Club, enjoyed a little blues, and had some good Memphis ribs.  A nice midweek outing!

Crossing the Mississippi river bridge from Memphis takes you from city to farm country in the blink of an eye.  We cruised through eastern Arkansas, which was a little reminiscent of the Nebraska with its endless fields, to the duck hunting capital of the world.  And in the middle of Stuttgart lies Mack's Prairie Wings, a huge and impressive store in a small town.  It's existence is a testament to the huge duck hunting region that surrounds Stuttgart.  We met with Adam Davis and learned more about the region and their store.  Adam was impressed with the Frontier- for both hunting and fishing purposes.  The only problem is we won't have them available in time for this year's duck season.

Next up was Ozark Outdoor Supply in Little Rock, AR.  It is a nice and fully equipped store in a surprising nice city.  We had no idea that Little Rock would be so interesting.  We enjoyed our visit with Joe at OOS and the evening in Little Rock.

The Northwest of Arkansas is a beautiful region with loads of great outdoors activities.  If we'd arrived a week or two sooner, the fall colors would have been brilliant and bright.  The falling leaves and fading colors were scenic enough though as we made our way to Lewis & Clark Outfitters in Rogers & Springdale.  We had shown the staff renderings of the Frontier on our previous trip in August, so they were excited to see the real deal.  And they were not at all disappointed!  With their growing fishing market and emphasis, the Frontier will fit in great in 2012.

Springfield, MO was our last stop in the Midwest before heading to Texas.  We met with Brad & Scott from Marine Repair Center and Dennis & Pat from our Midwest Rep Group.  We went out to Lake Springfield to all could take the Frontier for a test paddle.  Once again, minutes after launching, everyone was standing, paddling, and smiling!  Another successful Frontier demo!