Now driving my 37’ motor home, plus the things that I have yet to learn about all the mechanicals, has been no easy task. The maneuvering is pretty easy except when driving in strong winds, then it becomes a fight with the steering wheel. One thing I did learn after I arrived in Montana is problems with my propane gas. (Believe me there can be a number of problems that can and will pop up!) The meter reading isn’t accurate so I ran out of gas or so it seemed. That meant no heat, no cooking, no hot water for almost a week! In the country where I am parked, the propane is delivered only once a week. It is far too much trouble to unhook sewer, electric, phone cords and haul it out the tight squeeze through the gate and cattle guard to drive it into the nearby town. It is six miles of gravel road to the highway, then about twenty each way to the small old village of Deer Lodge with its few blocks of Main Street. Within about sixty miles there is Butte, Missoula and Helena. Missoula is the one where my friends go to shop. The propane deliveryman arrived and the tank took only six gallons. Hummm, did I flip a switch that cut it off? I may never know the answer!
Let me tell you how this all began. I had been living in Palm Springs California for three years. Subconsciously that old gypsy spirit was calling. I had decided to live in Palms Springs because it is heavily populated with seniors. About three and a half years before I had moved to Las Vegas for the same reason. I wanted to do a TV show for seniors since there are so few programs of interest for many seniors. Once a year for three years at an Anti-Aging convention, I interviewed doctors and researchers for a TV show. I thought the desert would be a perfect area for a radio show on anti-aging, especially since I had so many contacts all over the country as well as Europe. Once I got it going, perhaps it could be syndicated. I hustled with that for months – conferences with the station that changed Program Directors, which meant having to start all over. The business end of production should be left to a business person, which I ain’t!! I struggled with putting sales packages and everything involved in the business end of it together then went out trying to sell sponsorships. If I get one “no” I am rejected! (That goes back to never winning popularity contest in school.) With great hope for help on this project, I worked with a radio spots saleswoman for weeks. I had a lot of confidence in her but it was all talk, she never got started.
During all that, I called the Marriage License Bureau in Indio. They told me all I need to do to officiate weddings, as an ordained minister, was to list with them. They began sending me weddings. I hadn’t intended to drop the radio show but it got put on the “back burner” and eventually disappeared.
I also contacted the TV Cable Company to run some of the 250 shows I produced in L.A. and Mexico. They would not air programs that were not produced in their studio. To produce a program it would be necessary to take their course. It didn’t matter that I had many years of a strong background in TV plus produced all those shows. I wondered if a well-known person showed up on their doorsteps that they would require the same! I said I would take their course. I signed the application and faxed it to them and waited – and waited. No phone calls were ever answered so that, too, went on the “back burner.”
Then there were the modeling agencies; I registered with one who gave me some work plus we planned for me to teach an acting class – that, too, never got started. There was one agent who was registered with Screen Actors Guild, which meant that if there were any productions in town, I could at least work as an “extra” at SAG wages. They never made an appointment to even SEE me - that also went by the wayside! Should I be feeling rejected?
Officiating weddings was an easy occupational change from being an actress and a good profession for an aging overweight former “beauty.” At first, the license bureau was sending a lot of young Mexican couples with little money for a wedding. I set up an archway in my house with flowers, lights and decorations that made it a little chapel-like area. I charged them very little. I also was asked to do jail weddings. This would be couples with the guy going away for months or years and, for whatever reason, the young woman wanted to marry him, usually because of having a child or more. I often tried to talk the girls out of it to no avail. I tried to counsel each with good advice, which they probably ignored. With the jail wedding allowing only five minutes and over a telephone, through bulletproof glass, I tried to make it as special as possible. I felt so sorry for the bride who generally had to walk away from her wedding alone – no princess experience there! On one occasion I had a friend from N.Y. who wanted to go with me to witness the event. He felt so sorry for the young pretty bride that he took us to dinner. It was good to have such a small celebration for her.
Weddings are such a happy time for the couple, their family and friends that I, too, become absorbed in their joy and happiness. Attending their reception dinners became my only social life. I had some great dinners. It was a lot of fun to get acquainted with families and friends. I personalized each wedding and the compliments I received were a boost for my slumping aging ego. My weddings grew from the small ones in my house to larger ones, including celebrities and most couples were from colder climates that came to the desert for a nice vacation. Having a romance in my own life seemed long gone so I vicariously enjoyed the sharing the love of the young couples.
Having done weddings in Vegas for three years, I realized the Palm Springs area was so much more romantic with prettier locations for weddings than Vegas. Las Vegas is great for a vacation, especially if one is a gambler but slot machines and table gambling and wedding just don’t mix! As I became acquainted with the various wedding sources, I decided that we needed to organize and help each other promote the area for weddings. I began making plans to try to create an organization. I was a member of the Chamber of Commerce and thought they might help. They gave me the list of Chamber members that were wedding resources. About the time I decided to go forward with this, a young woman called on me to sell me an ad in a Wedding Book. I invited her to attend my first meeting so that she could offer her ads to those who attended. She said she would pay me a commission. The meeting was set. She sat at the front with me. Next thing I knew one of the attendees had nominated me for President and her for Vice President. I liked her O.K. but she did not live in the area and I felt she was wrong for being an officer for this desert group plus the fact she was there to sell ads in a wedding book that was published elsewhere. As time passed, she went from sweetness to bossiness telling me how I HAD to run meetings. This became quite irritating as she was concerned with rules and regulations for organizing and I wanted to promote the area to bring business to the wedding resources first because of the limited season. My experience had been in promoting not in Robert’s Rules! We had planned a larger meeting to bring more people together, so I proceeded to gain free publicity. At our meeting before the big event, she asked board members to stay then she brought up the publicity and other board members said it was too early for the big meeting. The publicity was already OUT stating the date and place of the meeting. She complained about an Email I sent to some board members explaining how I felt about her non-residency and a sales person, not a local wedding resource. She had mentioned to me that she knew a woman she thought should be a part of the group and THAT day I did notice the same woman sitting at the back of the room. When they lambasted me over the publicity and said I should have asked THEIR permission when not ONE had every done one thing to help get this organization going, I was the only one who worked at putting the whole thing together. I was so hurt and disgusted that I left in tears. On the way home I said to myself “Ann, you are too old for this – when you’ve put forth so much effort to get this going and no one helps then they lit into you – you’ve not been paid for your work so just dump it!” That was what I did. When I got home, feeling emotionally devastate, I sent Email to each saying I resigned as President. I think that was her plan because they immediate put her friend in, assuming my place as President! Did they plan it before I resigned? I don’t know the answer. Since the general meeting was already set and publicized, I felt I had to show up. I did not want to start another association and compete with them as some urged me to do. Since my forte’ was promotion, I wrote up a proposal for me to promote these resources as well as create a TV program to promote the wedding business in the desert areas.
The meeting day came. I had reserved a private room at a restaurant. I brought all my proposals neatly presented in clear folders. While awaiting the attendees, the Board members showed up to have