On Saturday, June 18, a little after 11 am, a big colorful motorhome pulled into the Eastside Marketplace parking lot. On board was Jim and Ruth Coffee, the lucky team that travels the country for the Jelly Belly Candy Company in the Jelly Belly Bus Tour. We were lucky to be one of their stops!
      With expert guidance from Ruth, Jim backed the large RV into a tight space with an inch of clearance on each side and started handing out Jelly Belly samples as soon as he opened the door.

      The Coffeys left California a while back on a ten-month tour of the east coast to help spread the word about Jelly Belly jelly beans. No strangers to long distance road trips, Jim and Ruth have traveled from Alaska to Key West, and everywhere in between, in their own rolling home... A custom converted motor coach that can keep them comfortable for as long as two weeks between stops for water and supplies if necessary.

      Jim and Ruth stopped in the food court for a bite to eat after their morning trip from Norwalk, Connecticut. After finishing a quick lunch, they were set up in minutes and the fun began! Under the welcome shade of an awning on the RV, Ruth treated visitors to samples of all sorts of Jelly Belly products, plenty of information about the company and a chance to enter a raffle for a Jelly Belly assortment box.
      A little farther down the table, the braver visitors participated in a little game of chance with Jim and... The Wheel!

      The game was simple... Give the wheel a spin, and you get to taste the jelly bean that the wheel landed on. Just one small complication... The jelly beans could be a good flavor... Or a not so good flavor. You might taste a Buttered Popcorn flavor or it could be a Rotten Egg flavor! Think you're getting Licorice? Guess again! It could be SKUNK SPRAY! Top banana sounds delicious but pencil shavings not so much... And that's one of the better bad ones.
      Jim wouldn't tell us the ratio of good to bad beans in the batch but as he likes to explain "Your odds are better in Vegas". The difference here is, even a bad bean is good for a laugh... And maybe a face like you used to make in your school pictures.

      It was usually pretty easy to tell who got the bad bean and who got the good bean. If you were expecting Coconut and got Baby Wipes flavor, you might be disappointed. If you were hoping for Chocolate Pudding and got Canned Dog Food, you were probably disgusted! Centipede instead of Stawberry Jam flavor sounds bad but Jim warned everyone that "the legs are a little crunchy".
      If you wanted a good flavor and got a bad one, you were... Bean Boozled!

      It seemed some of the flavors, like Skunk Spray or Canned Dog Food, made themselves known right away. Some folks needed a minute or two to decide. Apparently Centipede wasn't as bad as it sounds and Baby Wipes were the most popular. Some folks were disappointed they got a good flavor. Jim let them keep trying until they earned their Bean Boozled sticker.

      For some, the anticipation of watching the wheel to see where it would land was the best part. It was really amazing how lucky little kids can be. The wheel always seemed to stop on Berry Blue or Toothpaste for the little ones. Jim rewarded the Canned Dog Food and Skunk Spray Bean Boozled with a Berry Blue or Toothpaste just to get rid of the bad flavor.
      No one seemed offended by the game. A few grumps didn't want to participate but everyone had a good laugh... At themselves, Jim's joking around or the faces of the Bean Boozled. The "Can't Handle It" bucket was standing by for those who couldn't. A surprising number of folks were determined to finish their bean no matter what the flavor.

      Ruth and Jim seemed to enjoy their visitors as much as everyone enjoyed their time with Jim & Ruth. The line stretched past the end of the big motorhome at times but the Coffeys greated each and every one like the first... With warmth, wit and gracious hospitality. When the line dwindled on occasion both Jim and his wife Ruth had plenty of great stories of life on the road. They sold their home in 2000 and have been on the road in their own custom motor home or the Jelly Belly Tour "Bus" ever since.