Wednesday, 26 December 2018
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| today's route |
The David Bradley Chocolatier is in a light industrial park in a tiny town called Robbinsville, not far from Trenton. There's nothing photogenic about the outside - the business is one of several businesses in a large warehouse-type building that's one of a couple dozen similar buildings on the property. But inside is a world of chocolate.
While I was there, the factory was putting a milk chocolate coating on graham crackers and on pretzels, both of which were for sale in the shop. They also sold milk and dark chocolate coated potato chips, apricot slices, animal crackers, Oreos, and - wait for it - bacon. I tried some - pretty good chocolate-covered bacon. They gave out free samples.
They offer chocolate in the shape of ballet slippers, a guitar, a police badge, wine bottles, large and small keys, a solid chunk of Jeep, various tools, a motorcycle, a tractor trailer, a fire engine, a golf bag, dogs and cats and alligators, a teddy bear, a smart phone, a remote control and a credit card.
And lots more. I gave in to a small bag of dark-chocolate-covered caramels with sea salt. Turns out salt is really good with chocolate.
No shortage of creativity here. The story behind the business is your basic American small entrepreneur success story. www.dbchocolate.com/About-Us
In the same industrial park is another small business called Wick It Candle Factory, so I stopped in there too. That is a different situation altogether because it's not really a factory. The young woman in the front of the store told me they make candle wicks that they sell to candle-making companies, but she couldn't tell me anything at all about how the wicks are made or what they're made with, so I'm not convinced they make them in that building.
The showroom is full of candles that, according to the young woman, were made by companies that use the wicks made here: Kalamazoo (MI) Candle Co., Milkhouse Candle Co. (the candles are in small replica milk bottles), Max's Wax House (using repurposed beer bottles, candles in half coconut shells (they float!), ScentsAbility (100% donated to charity), and so on. Some use soy wax, some use beeswax, one uses renewable-resource-based vegetable wax. All different kinds.
What the young woman mainly seemed to know about is how to make a candle, and they offer candle-making classes. While I was there, 3 people came in for a class by appointment and 2 others stopped in after going to the chocolate place and decided to stay and make a candle. I don't really have room in my life for a candle - I know some in RV people have them, but I'm betting those people aren't moving around constantly in a tiny RV with 3 intrusive pets. Besides, most candles these days are scented, and the scents give me a headache after a bit.
But it was interesting anyway. Maybe when I'm in Kalamazoo, I'll hunt up the candle company and see how they're made.
On the way back to the campground I was surprised when the traffic came to a standstill on one of the interstates at 1:00 on a Wednesday afternoon. But this time of year, lots of people are moving around, and this area is a crossroads for people from quite a few states.
For some surely bizarre and unknown reason I thought of Rick Perry, former governor of Texas and early member of the Trump administration and wondered what had happened to him, so I looked him up. Incredibly enough, he's still in the Trump administration - still the Secretary of Energy. And for someone who's always liked the limelight, he's managed to keep an extremely low profile for 2 years. Don't know how on earth he's been getting away with it.
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