1300 MIles to New York

Plymouth Fair:
Anticipation for the super long drive after the three shows on Sunday has kept me a bit anxious all week.  This was the one drive nobody would look forward to, 1300 miles in an rv pulling a trailer from western Iowa to way upstate New York.
But we still had a few days to go.
During the whole run we never had an audience less than 200 and had a full 700+ most the time.  Big or small the audiences' reaction have been wonderful. We have been blessed.

Victor and the fire bo staff

fire hoop

Dogs life

Cicade's former skin left on a crate

 Come Sunday we attended church service at the main stage at the Plymouth Fair.  The message was based on the rich young man who wanted to follow Christ but his wealth was his stumbling block. "what is holding you back from following Christ?"

After three shows, the last ending at 9:45pm the kids packed up in record time and we were hooking up the rv to the trailer. But the trailer was in an odd position. Thanks to a kind vendor who moved the trailer into a better position we were on the road an hour and fifteen minutes ahead of schedule.   Our first jump was just 4 hours to Waterloo KOA where we pulled in around 3AM.  We got three hours sleep and was back on the road to NY early.  Surprisingly I wasn't as tired as I expected, Prayers answered.
We drove another 14 hours and passed through six states before pulling off just over the boarder of PA into NY where we had a chance for a few more hours of shut eye.  Earlier that day Mami and Miles and Titus took off from KY heading to NY. By the time we pulled into our KOA site in NY they were pulling into a motel about an hour ahead of us.
The next morning came fast. We left an hour earlier than Miles and the group and we all met up a couple of hours later along the route  I90. We pulled off on the thruway at a service area and exchanged kisses and hugs only to bounce back in our vehicles for the final three hours or so of driving.
We pulled into Gouverneur St Lawrence County fairgrounds a little after noon and was greeted by, Don, our boss for the next few days. He was a very kind man and very helpful in showing us our lot and getting us anything we needed.
 Our spot was a little out of the way behind some rides behind us, behind a restroom trailer and the Maple Shack on one side, beside the carney's bunk houses on the other side and a small parking area directly in front of us. No one found our show by accident. That is why the multiple announcements of our show helped bring in the crowds.
We had over a dozen fans from other upstate NY fairs come and visit us over our five day run. The Tweedie family (from the Delaware Fair) came in various numbers over two of the days. Really great people. Ethan T. had dinner with us one night as he took in three shows.

 Gouverneur is a pretty cool little town. It has a lot of the greatest old buildings and the homes along the main street are so cool. We visited the downtown are while our laundry was being done. We discovered the man who named the lifesaver candy "Lifesaver" and ended up owning the brand and moving them from cardboard tubes to tinfoil and wrapper was born here.

 The laundromat was located right next to a pizza joint so we enjoyed some slices of some very nice NY style pies while waiting.

 While traveling we find some very interesting things in the form of food. At the Price Chopper (a bit of a stretch given the real prices, albeit not the most expensive grocer we've been to.) we found zombie hotdogs. I didn't have to look at the ingredients.

While in Gouverneur Miles and the kids made a change in Miles' Bullwhip routine....I was out and the kids took my place holding the finger traps that Miles whips. Victor came up with the idea of having fingertraps in his mouth and each of his ears. See the video on the link below:


Video of Miles' New Bull whip trick with Victor Jr.
https://www.facebook.com/victor.kent.3/videos/10213968674798875/

We ordered a butter churn and bought some heavy cream and made homemade butter for the first time ever. It was fantastic. Never had butter that fresh.

While shopping in Ny I was surprised to see an Amish man and his little girl selling stuff from their cart. We bought some fresh bread and a couple of pies.  Amelia said it was the best pie she ever had.

After a fantastic week in NY which included reconnecting with Mami and the boys we spent Sunday traveling to Mannington West Virginia. On July 29th the river that runs through Mannington Flash flooded. The fairgrounds and a good portion of the town was underwater.  Below is a picture of the fairs grounds on the 29th.  The following picture is the same buildings just a week later.
I am blown away with how fast this community rebuilt, repainted, and restored the buildings.

They didn't wait for anyone to come and help them, they pulled up their boot straps and recovered. I was told everyone helped everyone. No need for the government. Imagine if all communities worked like this. I am just blown away.

First day in we had to hit the laundry again. Here is a sign in the laundromat.  They spelt "washer" the way I pronounce it. Nice.  The sign next to the one below is just outside the laundry.

 First night at the fair Little Miss Mannington was a guest in the audience. She honored me with a picture after the show.

 The flood a week ago had the crossroads in front of this sign closed and the water covered a couple of feet over the bottom. 

Miles left Monday afternoon to head back to KY and pred the robots for the 10 day fair in IL. He will meet up with Kyle F who will do the robot . I will join them next week.

Well, I have much more to add as the week progresses so I will update you soon.