Breamer and Plymouth

Sorry for not posting for a week. Weak wifi or G4 service and scheduling has kept me away.
But I'mmmmmm Baaaaack!

Since the last posting we finished up in Cherokee, drove back to central Iowa, then back (through Cherokee) to Le Mars on the Western most side of Iowa.

The last couple of days at Cherokee went swimmingly. We had good crowds and very nice weather. The badly needed rain only came on the first day of our stint there. The whole of western Iowa has been in need of water for some time. Unlike our visit here four years ago when there was flooding of the Missouri river and massive rain showers it is as dry as California right now. Even turing as brown as Cali.  

We attended church services at the fairgrounds on Sunday Morning.

It was held by the local Presbyterian church.
After church Olivia and Amy goofed around with their friends.

One of the fair managers brought the Sultan an overgrown broccoli stalk.  He was quite happy with it. 

Every fair has its unique games and activities for kids. The local fire department comes out the the fair in Cherokee and they have water fights with fire hoses.  The goal is the move a bucket along a wire to the opponents pole using the hose to move it and to drenge the other side in a move to distract them. 

We said our goodbyes and moved out last Sunday right after the last show because our first show in Waverly (Breamer Fair) started at 2pm the next day.   Once again we had to dive white knuckled and double fisted as HWY 3 is in sad sad sad shape. We pulled into Waverly on Sunday night around 11pm.  Our good Friend, Eric V. , who works at the fair, met us and helped us settle in. (Eric and his family have been good friends for several years now. We have stayed at their house several times.  Mami, and the kids) got to take turns and "drive" a corn combine a few years back. That made Mami a big John Deere Fan.   (By "drive" I mean sit there an look outside since the computer and satellite were doing the driving. )  We set up on Monday morning and did three shows on Monday and Tuesday (six in all).   It was nice to see old fans and friends like Marty D and Steve D as well as the Dean family.  Eric's family also came out. Mami loves Eric's mom and missed out on a visit with her this year.


Here are some random pictures from the Breamer Fair.

Olivia in Action on the lyra. 

Amelia hooping 60. 

Victor proving his feet are unprepared. 

Going up the machete ladder.

Showing off on the machete ladder

Help me break out of this joint. (no grass to eat at this place. )

Post show magic wand magic trick lessons. 

Hoops!

Belly busting bricks on nail bed. 

Dynamic Duo meet and greet. 

Posing with Mrs Dean. 

I am the champion shouts our very own Forgetful bear. 

Santa????? In July?????

Amy hanging around. 

Balloon Snack.  Wait til that passes. 

Fire hoop

More fire hoop

Shoving light bulbs through an audience mom. 

Yup, they went through. 

Olivia and her long time buddy, Buttercup

We had to have a couple of trailer tires changed out, seems load class C tires wear out fast, so we went to Waverly Tire. They guy met us at the car ( By the way, Eric lent us a utility car for the two days.) he took the tire and had it changed by the time I paid for it...less than  8 minutes.  These minions are out in front of the store.

Thanks to Eric and his family the use of the car allowed me to do laundry at what has become our regular laundry stop in central Iowa and to do some grocery shopping. 

Olivia loves to stilt. 

Iowa corn from a road side truck.  I was told they sold the best corn in the area....they were good. 

We slept in Waverly then early Wednesday we started back out the dreaded hwy 3 and shook, bounced and rambled back west to Le Mars. Plymouth fair is one of our favorites. Don't get me wrong we love Breamer and Cherokee and the other fairs we have done out here but Plymouth has huge crowds.  I don't think I have ever seen a crowd under 100 people. The average is 300-500 and we have seen it max out at numbers we couldn't count. First year here we had one bleacher, three by the end of that run. The next year five bleachers...now seven, and a huge area for folks tto also sit on the ground with lots of standing space around the sides. 

We have a couple of traditions out in Plymouth. One is to visit the Blue Bunny Ice Cream Salon. Well's Blue Bunny is made here and sold nationally at grocers.

The second tradition is lunch one day at the Pizza Ranch. (That is a chain in Iowa and MN...could be elsewhere too?)  Since we are without a van we walked the short walk to downtown and through the old streets past the old buildings with wonderful cornices and architecture. All the alleys, we discovered) have murals on the walls.  And not a few.....look

These are just a few.

They are all over town. We didn't realize that at first, we thought is was just one street. The girls called that alley, "Hippy Street".  Then as we walked we discovered it was in almost every alley in downtown. 

Since we don't have a chase vehicle until Mami, Miles and Titus meet up with us in upstate NY we have been fortunate for a couple of things. Like, in this town there is a Fareway, the grocer that takes you back to the 50s where there are real butches and everyone wears a white shirt and bowtie. 

We have also been blessed with local folks who have given me a lift to pick up things like cement blocks to break on Victor's tummy.  A local biker, who also has an F150, named Mongo and his bride, gave us a lift to get the bricks here is Le Mars.  

Since we haven't a car, just the RV, when we pull into a town we hunt out a Walmart and do our general shopping before we head to the fairgrounds.   If we can find a home center or builder supply that has a parking lot able to handle the rv and trailer we will stop there too for bricks. 

Here are some fun pictures:

 Moe the Pig Dog

 I found a triple chocolate fudge cake mix at fareways for 75 cents (Betty Crocker) and Amelia made Victor a belated birthday cake using the rice cooker. 

OK....there maybe some stories I have forgotten to tell so I will save them for the next entry. 

SUnday we do three shows 4, 6, and 8pm. Then we pack up and have 36 hours to get to upstate NY. That is a 19.5 (according to gps) hour drive add a couple of more for stops and add one more for time change.  We start at the St Lawrence Co fair in Gouverneur, NY Tuesday after 4pm. Keep us in your prayers for safety and no mechanical issues.   Mami and the rest of the gang will catch up with us there. 

Cherokee People, Cherokee Pride

We are in Cherokee, Ia at the Cherokee County Fair.  This is our 4th year.  It has been fun watching this fair come back to life and grow over the past four years.  They have made improvements on every front: Infrastructure, acts, events, and vendors. We are even in a new and better location this year.

Since this is a repeat fair we have brought a bunch of new stunts, tricks and routines to the fair. Naturally, we kept al the old favorites. The only down part is the absence of Mami, Titus, and Miles. Of course it would be nice if Jim were here too, but he has taken his own path now. God Bless him.
Mami and the others will catch up with us as we head east to New York for the Lawrence Fair in Gouverneur NY.
Here are some fun pix from the fair:

 This hangs outside our Museum of the Weird. Those (that) little guy(s) arre still in their jar in that tent. Along with the shrunken head, the huge flea, the strange thing and that thing that was found in that attic in TN.

 Being from Africa the Sultan is loving the heat.  He has been eating and strolling. He makes his debut in the show tonight....his first magic trick. 

 This is Mr. Wiley. He lives right next to the fair and has been our fan since 2013. He greeted me on the day we arrived.  When he heard we were looking for a ride into town to pick up some supplies (Mami and Miles has our chase van) he cheerfully volunteered.  He brought his grand nieces to our shows on Thursday.  Supposed to be back tonight. 

 Pre show Selfie. 

Team Rock is a martial arts impact show that is sharing the grounds with us.  I met the crew and they seem like real nice folks.  My girls have been enjoying their show. 

 Red Goggles is here with the son of the food vendor next door to the show. They have been really kind to us as well. This morning this boy's dad picked up some dog food and ice-cream for Vic's birthday when he ran into town. 

 Red Goggles has been making his rounds here. Tonight T Master goes out. 

Over these past 4 years the girls have become good friends with the family that has the petting zoo. Here are a couple of their animal friends.  The baby is Timmy. 

 We walked into town today becaus Victor Jr wanted to visit the antique and secondhand store we always visit when in Cherokee. This guy was just laying along one of the downtown building minding his own business. Maybe a milk snake? (ampropeltis triangulum, commonly known as a milk snake or milksnake, (French: Couleuvre tachetée; Spanish: Culebra-real coralillo)^[1] is a species of king snake. There are 24 subspecies of milk snakes. Lampropeltis elapsoides, the scarlet kingsnake, was formerly classified as the subspecies L. t. elapsoides, but is now recognized as a distinct species.^[1] The subspecies have strikingly different appearances, and many of them have their own common names. Some authorities suggest that this species may be split into several separate species.^[1] They are not venomous or otherwise dangerous to humans.^{[2][3]) wiki}

Met a fireman just standing in front of the firehouse.  He wasn't talkative so I did most the talking. Nice guy. I loved how stoic he was. 

On other issues, I have to say I love Skype. It has allowed me to not only talk but see Mami and the others.  I even got to chat a little with Titus today.  What a blessing to have this technology. 

Well, more to come....stand by.