In Minnesota the weather is up and down. "It's real muggy in the summer and real cold in the winter. Spring and fall are the good seasons, not too hot and not too cold. Fall has all the leaves turning, it's beautiful."
In a couple of years, Vendor of the Week Gordon Mars will return to his family and hometown of St. Paul, Minn. "I've been hitchhiking round the country and I'm burnt out on all that. I'm ready to go home."
He will return to the lakes, where he enjoys ice fishing. "You get a little fishing house and there's four holes in it. There's a heater in there and beds. Fishing out of your bed and you drop a line through the hole.... It's too easy."
When Mars arrived in Seattle he was homeless for six months. Then he found shelter in low-income housing. "I was able to get off the streets because of Real Change. It keeps money in my pocket, day to day because I'm clean and sober."
Mars appreciates working for Real Change because he can set his own hours. "I can get up late, or early, whatever time I want. I'm my own boss. And that's good."
Hard work has worn down his knees and feet. "I was working in ditches, fishing up north in Alaska, longshoreman in Florida, oil rigs in Texas and Louisiana. It's all hard work. It caught up to me." Mars has not found employment in Seattle that suits his needs. "There's enough work here, but not for me. I'm 52 years old now, my bones are creaky."
Say hello to Mars before he returns to Minnesota. You can find him downtown, where Stewart Street meets Pike Place.