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Carol supported him wholeheartedly, and the couple traveled thousands of miles over the years as constant companions.

Of course, he took his lumps in the course of the rigorous performance schedule. During 17 years on the road he broke 26 ribs, and only once did he break more than one at one time. He explained, "Most of them came from going off the unicycle. You pull your arms in to keep from breaking them when you fall, and then you break your ribs when you land on your side instead."

He also broke almost every finger, but considered that normal for juggling and acrobatics of the time. "We used heavier clubs and threw them harder," he said. "If you passed with someone like Bob Jackson you had to tape your hands like a boxer!"

During their 13 weeks off tour in the early 1960s, he and Carol usually returned to the Pittsburgh area to visit acquaintances. To keep busy, Art took jobs doing promotions for department stores. He began selling himself to management as a clever consultant rather than just an entertainer. He found that customers and employees alike would talk about their feelings and business operations much more openly to a character with frizzy hair and a big red nose than to a pencil-pusher. So while he entertained at $150 for the first hour and $100 for each hour following, he also gathered valuable information for his employer. "I wasn't getting paid for the entertaining, I was being paid for the conference afterwards," he said.

He also took part-time work selling Airstream trailers. When he and Carol bought their first Airstream in 1960, the company was relatively new, and only built units for customers on order. They drove theirs 40,000 miles per year through all sorts of weather and kept up a constant correspondence with the company about their impressions of the product.

That made him a consummate sales person for the product, and the Pittsburgh dealership eagerly employed him on commission when he was in town. The president of the company even offered to hire him as a field rep, but Jennings loved his performing life far more than more money. Airstream was part of his lifestyle, but he didn't want to make it his life. Several times, though, when he found himself on the road needing some money, he would walk into Airstream dealers and announced, "I'm your new salesman." He would tell the manager he didn't want a salary, just 5% of the bottom line of the contract. He promised to sell two units, and then said he would be moving on. "I knew the trailer, I lived in it, and I made as much as $3,000 in two days that way!" he said.

In 1971 when he was car shopping, he decided to have Cadillac build a car to 4 his order, and to go with it he had Airstream build a unit to their design. He counts that moment as his ultimate ego trip. He still drives the Cadillac, which now has 300,000 miles on it, living testimony up to his claim that "if a car's made right, it'll last forever."

Then in 1978 he stopped performing. He was at the top of National's pay scale, so he began asking for favorable employment conditions in lieu of more money. He didn't want to work where it was cold, and only wanted to work 26 a weeks instead of 39 because taxes ate up most of the & income from the extra 13 weeks anyway. The agency wanted him to work in Eastern states, but that would have required him to buy a motor home because many eastern turnpikes wouldn't allow trailers.

He and Carol decided it just wasn't worth it, and Art quit. They had been parking the Airstream on four acres of a friend's land near West Middlesex, Pennsylvania, and decided to settle there. They called it "Trail's End." Art was happy as a clam there. He built a room that could be rolled up to the side of the Airstream, and installed in it all the tools he had kept in storage since Ruth died. He built fountains and illuminated paths through the woods and tinkered with all sorts of building and crafts projects. Instead of paying rent on the land, he did consulting work for his friend's company, helping it create a subsidiary called Panel Frame and designing prefabricated industrial buildings.

They liked Pennsylvania in the summer, but couldn't bear the cold winters. So each winter they hooked up the Airstream to the Cadillac and headed some place warm. They tried trailer parks in California and Arizona so Art could be near the Indian reservations. They always visited San Antonio, Tex., on the way out or back because Carol's sister lived here. A large art gallery in town also handled Art's paintings and jewelry, so it was a convenient stop for business reasons as well. Carol liked the city, and convinced Art they should rent an apartment there. Then she decided they should buy a house, and they settled there permanently in 1984. Art built his shop outside, and converted a room inside into a painting and glass working studio.