"People all over the route got to know me, and when they'd see me comin' they'd say, ' Here comes the rubber man', and run up askin' for samples. You know, like I was the ice cream man or something. Just beggin' me for 'em and I'd pass 'em out. That was in the peak of business, about ten years ago. I was the biggest independent operator from Dallas on down, sellin' seventy-two thousand a week. that was the peak."