My Annual Migration to O’Fallon

Every summer, we drive over 1,600 miles from Queen Creek, AZ to O’Fallon, IL with a van loaded down with deer antler chews. We have to do that because we moved to Arizona in 2020. We set up our tools at our new house and have continued cutting and producing them there, while Jeremy runs the booths for markets around the O’Fallon area. If I don’t bring enough antler chews during the summer, we end up having to ship them more often.

I spent 13 hours packing last Tuesday. A lot of that time was spent tallying antler sales from the past year, and making a chart of how much product we’d need to last through the summer, through 6 months, and through a full 12 months. I didn’t have quite enough room in the van for an entire year full of antler chews, but for most sizes I brought at least enough to last through December. I reconfigured the van and managed to stack 6 giant plastic crates in the back (around the seating for my 3 daughters). Needless to say, we packed very light in terms of clothing and “summer essentials”. James will stay in Arizona for work, so I had extra space in the passenger seat and that’s where all of our clothing and jackets and shoes went. The back was stuffed with the antlers.

Driving by myself with 3 kids (ages 4, 6, and 9) is never peaceful and quiet. I’m used to driving them short distances like the park or gymnastics or the store or wherever. And everywhere we go they’re goofing in the back and hooting and shrieking and arguing despite my numerous pleas and threats. But for the 14-hour drive to Colorado Springs on Wednesday and the 15-hour drive to O’Fallon on Friday, they were as exceptional as I could possibly hope. It’s like they knew they really needed to buckle down and help each other to help us keep going. (I’m not about to reach into the back to help someone troubleshoot their headphones.) On this critical trip they were amazing, especially Eva in the middle row, who helped Haleigh frequently and handed snacks from the cooler back to Brielle when requested.

We’re all glad to have arrived — me, Brielle, Eva, Haleigh, and our 350 pounds of deer antler chews.