Beech Bend Park

A long time ago in a little Kentucky town called Bowling Green a man had a dream that for a thin dime you could enjoy a day filled with rides and fun. That man created Beech Bend Amusement Park. His story is in a book called Dynasty of Dimes. The park has changed hands over the years and a race track has been added. Dallas Jones owns the park now and it is a family run business where three generations create an affordable day of fun for anyone who wants it. They have races and concerts there too. They also have a campground with full hookups. That is something we are taking advantage of.
If you like fishing there is a river that runs right next to the park. In fact, for a few days this spring the river became park of the park virtually washing away good chunks of the campgrounds (since repaired) and damaged parts of the park, though you can't tell today. It did slow down the massive expansion of their water park, which was already a good size. They hope it will be open before our run here is finished.
Today we stated our third year here. We perform three shows a day for two weeks and do strolling acts as well. We did the same three shows up in London, Ky but, where as, the London fair schedule started at 5pm and ended at midnight, this schedule is 10 AM meet and greet at the front gate with our stilt walker, clown and mascots and then three shows between noon and five or six.
Shifting schedules like that in just one day is tough. Today we were all wiped out for most the day. Still everyone did very admirably. Olivia got a bit antsy during the last show but audiences forgive 4 year olds.
Mami and Titus sat out today and stayed at our suite at the hotel. It was best this way since today (the first day of a semi-long run) is more of a tech day. Tomorrow we are doing all the new stuff and more. Everyone is on overdrive to create new everything for the show. We are trying to take it to that next level.
Below Jim is experimenting with a new move....that's a sledge hammer.

Miles rings thew sweat out of his shirt after walking around in our skunk costume.

We did the 100 foot $300 rope challenge where Victor has as much time as it took three people to tie him up to get out of the rope. The rope got hung up on his pants....but that is what spandex shorts are for. The spandex idea came when one time the rope got hung up on his pants and he refused to drop his pants because all he had was underwear under it. I had to pay out.AnAnother new move from James is lifting one leg up while balancing the wheel barrow. He now walks up the ladder while balancing it. His broken rib is feelin much better now.

After the gig we chit-chatted with Rachel (the owner's grand daughter) and Morgan, a dancer from the music show at the park. Then as the bulk of us went back to the hotel Jim went off to a movie and will do RVing for the night.

That dang ol' RV goes into the shop on Wed for an AC checkup (been making noise) and a generator fix (it floods) and the front end gets realigned and tires balanced...been shaking like a paint can mixer.
Below are pictures for Canada Chris Jaster and The Prairie Post are the copyright owners and the ones who took the pictures. Posted with their permission.

Arrival in Bowling Green....being treated like Royalty

We were awakened last night a number of times as the car alarm from one of the "tractor pull" folks kept going off. The last time was at the point where we were just under six hours of sleep....we went to bed after 2AM. That time it woke up Titus and left him a bad sort. Turned out to be a blessing because as I lay there trying to go back to sleep as Mami tried to keep Titus calm I remembered the animals were all in our van and sunrise was sometime ago. Though it was no longer heat wave weather it was still summer and a van can heat up quick. The thought of loosing one of my bunnies or doves drove me out of bed to go check on them. Good thing too. There was no shade where we were parked. So I moved the RV next to the van to buy some time. Then I woke up those who the alarm didn't wake and got everyone going for the drive to Bowling Green.
The morning duties included sweeping and cleaning out the van and RV, gassing up, dumping the black and gray water, and getting b-fast. Then it was the road.
The last few hundred miles I've drove I've noticed a wobble in my front end. (The RV not my body!) I know that feeling....I'v got a tire or two that is unbalanced...so that will need to be done. It's just uncomfortable to drive. But drive I did and Cynthia pulled the trailer filled with the show.
It only took 2.5 hours to get to BG but we cross a time zone so we got one hour back. Once here we drove into Beech Bend and set the RV up at a site then moved the show to our stage. We are in the same structure as last year but with raked bleachers instead of benches....we set things up like a theater in the round with a very circus feel. Shows start tomorrow. The kids will do some strolling at the front gate.
We left many great friends behind in London. All the fair board members have become good friends who we joke with and share lots of good times. We love those folks. So Cheers to Doug, Mark, Kim, Robert, Jimmy, Steve, Johnny, Tony, and their families, and so many others I am too tired and dim witted to remember right now. I bid you all well and I thank you for blessing us last week.
I did take one souvenir from London. I have a strange bug bite on my inner ankle. It has left a sensitive strange uneven shaped rash. I hope it goes away soon or I get to visit a doctor.
Olivia's fever is gone, thanks for the prayers.
Once we set up the stage area we left Jim and Belle at the RV in the parks camping area and the rest of us went to find our hotel. Wow, what a place. We have a three room suite with a full kitchen and a living room. The place is fairly posh and very nice.
First thing we did after getting here is head out for eats. There is a nice family restaurant out here called Bob Evans. We ate our fill and then some. Can you believe nine people ate until they were near popping for less than $65?
In fact all prices out here are wonderful. A gallon of milk...$2.39; a gallon of gas between $2.59-$2.73...just about everything is cheaper than the rest of the country.
After dinner Miles volunteered for laundry duty. He emptied the cashier's quarter drawer and is on load number 6 or 7 as I type these words. What a good kid...not a complaint out of his lips.
Talking about complaints, for the first time in our history, the front desk had to call us and tell us the kids were to loud....they were so excited about the accommodations that they were running from room to room. Our suite takes up almost half a complete floor (or at least half of one side of one floor). Embarrassing!
Mami is in heaven. She loves this place. She even expressed her pleasure of all the comforts and conveniences BG has to offer. The people here are nice too.
Usually when we arrive in a town the first night our RV is with us at the hotel so we don't have far to go if we forgot anything. But tonight, wow, we forgot a lot of stuff. So I had to drive across town back to the park to get the forgotten stuff. Did I mention it's raining. A thunderstorm is in the process of passing through.
On a separate not, I have to mention the wonderfulness (if I may coin a word) to see friends from last year and the year before. So many of them stopped by our stage area as we set up to say howdy. James made the most friends of all of us and was so delighted to see them.
Well, outside that my software for video editing was waiting for us in the mail at Beechbend and so was a new costume for Olivia. The software will no allow me to get the Canada and London videoblog taken care of.
Talk again soon. God bless.

Last Day in London

Our last day in one of our favorite little towns in America.The sun was out (but not too hot), humidity was low, and the crowds were nice.
Before the show we finally got to go to Weaver's Hot Dogs. We missed it by ten minutes a few days ago so it was nice to finally partake in their delicious hotdogs. We got nice video of the experience and will post in in a week or two.

Where is Alf?

Below we do our yearly pose in front of Weaver's. In spite it being a hot dog joint Victor and Amelia had grilled cheese sandwiches. Olivia, still having a little fever just had a drink.

The TV in the restaurant had a Harlem Globe Trotter Game on and Titus loved it! He nearly choked a couple of time laughing while eating.

A Kentucky Toy Hauler....it was truck and tractor pull night and these folks took an old school bus, painted it red and chopped off the rear to carry their "pulling truck".

Jim poses below with the carnival owner and Jimmy, one of the fair directors.

Some kind of fly....can you name it?

This picture is painted on the entrance to the Ferris Wheel. Some people said it looked like me. Guess I am famous.

Jim and the last show.

Pack up went really smoothly after a fully packed show...every show. The ground was still moist and muddy from the rains but not terrible. Olivia slept most of the day due to her fever and sat out for all but a quick appearance in the last show. One man who wanted so much to see our Foy tribute was disappointed we cut it out of the last show (Olivia being sick and the ground all icky). So in the middle of the show we went ahead and did the Foy routine in our regular costumes. It seems putting it in the middle instead of the opening really made a difference. I think we will do that the rest of the season.

I know there is more to add but it is past 2am so i will have to think of them and write them tomorrow. We are off to Bowling Green (BG) tomorrow and will set up tomorrow eve for shows starting on Monday. We wil lhold a little family church service when we get there since we can't attend a church tomorrow.

God Bless.

Reviews

Today is our last day in London, KY. Like Duncan Hines did in the 40s and 50s I strive to do for 2010.
For all of you on the road and want to know, (outside the chain joints), what is good and what isn't.

For food this week outside Mami's home cooked or RV-cooked meals we had the Waffle House, Sanders Cafe, KFC, and Weavers Hot dogs.
Waffle House......about as southern as you can get. Heavy Kentucky accents and home town folks. The food is and never will be five star. But it the place to kick back, chew the fat, and have comfort food. Granted, it's not Cordon Bleu. But they make good waffles and decent b-fasts. We did not try the lunches so we can't judge those. They are also open 24-7...great for a bite a midnight. Their coffee is weak.
Sander's Cafe-KFC.....It's KFC, but it's their flagship so the food does seem to be a little bit better than other KFCs. You basically are eating in a museum and that makes for great fun. The folks there are really nice . When video taping for our blog they were very accommodating.
Weaver's Hot Dogs....Best food in town. We visit here every year by recommendation of every one in town. Beanless hot dog chili tops a pretty darn good dog. The walls are covered with pictures of famous (all levels of fame) Londoners. The place is also a museum of types. It's located in an old red brick building on the main drag which only adds to it's charm. It has always had a line every time we've gone and their hours speak for their fame 11-3pm. (If you are good you can do a full days fill of the til in four hours.)
Budget Host Hotel......for what they are charging the fair it is not worth it. It is about the same level as a Motel 6 with ants. Yes we've had ants...not an army but several scouts. The folks working here are very nice. But the hotel is old and needs a renovation. I think if they were say 10-20 dollars cheaper they would rate well for their category. The pool is in need a good scrubbing. It was this hotel that has caused us to rewrite our contract to stipulate specific hotel needs. it is a fairly quiet hotel though and the rooms are clean, albeit except for the ants that visited us three days in a row. Unlike motel 6 they offer a continental b-fast that amounts to no more than Tang and cookie-like things.
The Laurel County Fair.....it's not an ag fair so no cows. But it is a full fledged truck and tractor-pull, carnival, live entertainment, beauty-contest, vendor-sales, and good food fair. Awesome people working the fair. As far as the attendees, you get the full colorful spectrum of Kentucky. They are a splendid people. We have made so many friends and many feel like family! It's an average sized American Fair...that means it's small. But the cost to get in is reasonable and you can easily spend a full day out there. Like fairs of yore it has a familiar feel where friends and family lounge about as the kids frolic. The carnival operator there is a very kind man and his local hires are not pushy.

NAILED!

I don't know how I could've forgotten about what had to be the biggest "event" of yesterday. In it was a lesson as well.

While performing the human blockhead, the stunt where I pound a nail into my nose, I misaligned the nail for the first time in thousands of performances and I hit the nail. I noticed it didn't budge and I felt a dull thud in the back of my nostril, but no pain. I thought to myself, " I should have a bloody nose." But I was happy that it didn't bleed.

I corrected the angle and pounded the nail the rest of the way in. Then as I was talking I felt a warm trickle come out my nose. My mouth was filling up with the unmistakable taste of blood too. An audience member was the first to notice and yelled out, "you're bleeding".

I said "Hmm, I am!"

I took the nail out...it was like turning on a faucet. It flowed freely and abundantly. Fortunately I was on grass. I quickly introduced James, who by this time was on his way out instinctively knowing I was going to bring him in as an emergency cover. As I cupped my hand under my nose and mouth I spit out the crimson words, "As I go and plug this thing, please welcome Jugglin' Jim".

I performed the rest of the show with a wad of paper towel up my nose.

Do you know how hard it is to blow a fire-ball with one nostril plugged. Once the fuel is in your mouth you need your nostrils to bring in the air to blow the fire-ball.

In the end I think we did a bloody good job!

Oh, the lesson....when doing a potentially dangerous stunt never relax up.....that's when something bad came happen. Thankfully I am ambi-nostirlous...today I will use my left nostil.

Rain Rain and some more rain

So, the heat wave is over...that means that low pressure system moved over and let those high pressure clouds come flowing in...and flow they did. It came down in buckets. Friday is the most important day at this fair and, though they stayed open, their main event was canceled (tractor pull) and they lost a ton of money. It rained through our first two shows and was sticky and muddy for our last show.



Prior to the show and after our hair cuts we went out to Corbin, Ky just down the road to the birthplace of KFC. It's an annual thing for us, and Mami's first time. It was fun. I got some great video for the video blog coming in a week or two.

Yes it is raining while we perform....audience of 12.

I did my hillbilly costume and the kids just wore their street clothes.

Imagine doing a show in the rain. Yes people came and watched. The second show had 25 or so audience members. We stuck with side show stuff and tricks or routines that can't get damaged in the rain. Not looking forward to pulling the trailer or RV out of the grassy area on Sat. night.

By the time the last show came around it was dry...well it wasn't raining. But the ground was soaked and muddy. We pulled a full set of bleachers and a few standers, but nothing like a Friday night should be.

Bug of the day...another moth.

Besides our visit to KFC, the haircuts, rain and the mud the day was pretty normal...if by normal I mean completely insane. Oh, I nearly forgot, Olivia ran a 102 fever right before the last show. She, Amelia and Victor had gone on rides just a few minutes before so we are hoping it was just the spinny rides taking their toll. But we picked up some motrin for kids just in case...will keep you appraised.

Friday early Report: RAIN? (update)

Below is a post I made this morning.....here is the update.

The Thunderstorms are here and the rain is coming down in sheets....it it 2:05PM at this writing.

Had a scare when we left to get our hair cut. My wallet was missing. As the kids tore up the the hotel room Jim and I drove to the fairgrounds to do our daily animal feed and check-up on the equipment. I found the wallet on the RV floor. PTL.

Below are pictures ..before and after our hair cuts....The humidity is keeping my hair from being flowing and fluffy, soft and full of body. I can't explain Jim's hair.

before
after

before

after

80% chance of thunderstorms today. Clouds are laying heavily over London. There is a 30% chnace of it opening up right now....but it hasn't happened yet. By show time tonight (and remember our stage is outside) it supposed to be 80%. The town needs the rain but the vendors need the income. Maybe if it can just hold off until mindight?
Jim and I are off to get our haircut.

Heat Wave

We've been having a heatwave, a tropical heatwave.....how many of you remember that song?
More on that....
First the Bug of the day...

Next I wanted to post a pix of Titus. he is still wearing his Foy knickers from the show. He is backstage watching all of us clean up. We had to store things very well tonight as a storm is comin'!

The East coast heatwave ended tonight at 8pm. It is much cooler. In fact, tomorrow it will rain. The area needs it according to the locals.

The last two days the kids and I cooled off in the hotel pool. Even tried a game of Marco Polo. Sadly a couple of tween "boyfriend-girlfriend" kept arguing during the game that the rest of us just gave up on them. The girl's mama was even there. I can't understand this tween-age relationship thing that society seems to allow these days. Call me old fashion....OK call me OLD!

All three shows went very well. The first was at 6:30 and the sun bore down on us like no body's business. The humidity zapped my energy. Still the crowd was happy. All three shows had full seats. We performed our Foy routine, Impaled and Mami's juggling in the last show again to further develop and audience test. They went well. The impaling of Cynthia caught her by surprise (the timing) and jerked her back a bit. She will not perform it again until Saturday to give her back a rest.

Mami looked great in her new costume and juggled a spatula, plunger and baby doll. Titus charmed the crowd. I think it is good people see special needs folks in shows.

The only bummer for the day is our trip to Weaver's hot dogs. Since we wake late we go to lunch late. We got there at 3:15. They close at 3PM.....funny thing is we were taping the introduction and outside shots of Weavers when we came to the door. So the whole disappointing affair will be in the video blog soon. We ended up getting Pizza.

Oh, I almost forgot. As we were cleaning up I noticed Buttercup's cage was empty. Our snake was on the loose. We all spread out and went on a hunt. His tank was on the ground near the back of the RV...someone forgot to clip the top shut. I found him coming around the front of the duely RV tires with his upper body lifted in "hunt mode" as he came around to Doris' cage. Doris is our 26lb rabbit. I don't thing Buttercup could've swallowed her...mice are the limit of his jaw size. He would've exploded. All turned out well. Tomorrow we pick up his lunch.......

A couple of friends have known since we came here two years ago, Kaitlin and Megan came out again for the third day. They are also Facebook freinds. They spent a lot of time with the young girls ...actually with all the kids. One has a crush on Miles and the other thinks Nick is cute. Awww, to be young again.

Kentucky Day 2

I promised more photos and so I present to you a quick photo essay before going into details of the day.

Yes, I have finally passed through Normal. It was alright but I prefer abnormal.
Tonight was Miss Laurel County a the fair and I noticed this set of Siamese Twins...or maybe a child that was never fully born but grew out of her mother's belly. They had me take a picture with their camera too.

OK,Victor JR and the Girls hang with Perky and his friends.

Our stage...daytime

Nighttime.

Jim hagin' backstage.

Looks like a Canadian Soldier but it is too green......it was over 2 inches long.

Now, today was laundry day. I do the laundry...I am sure Mami appreciates it. First, since out hotel has no laundry room I had to search one out. Then I had to find it. We did, in a slightly run down part of town sits BJ Laundry. The machines were modern but costly...the first costly thing we've found in KY. KY has generally been cheaper than everywhere else in this country.

Nick had his bundle to do so we skipped the Waffle House (that's where everyone went this morning for b-fast) and headed out. I should mention that we eat out for Bfast since we sleep late. Each night we get in after midnight and get to bed after one. Our shows start at 6:30 and end at around 11:30.
While the kids and Mami spent leisure time at the hotel Nick and I toiled. We also had to replace our 15-30amp adapter...the last one melted and blew a fuse in the RV. Got a heavy duty one this time. We also did some general shopping for the day...like three gallons of "sweet tea", a must for a humid day. It was gone before the second show was over.

When leaving the fairgrounds after taking care of the wire problem and feeding the animals we ran into a hillbilly road rage dude. I pulled out onto the two lane narrow highway that runs in front of the fairgrounds. Looking down the road there was a black car with a dog hanging it's head out the window about 150 yards down the road when I pulled out. As I did he accelerated then started weaving hard on my tail and tail gating. I stomped on my breaks to let him know to back off. He just persisted so I pulled off to let him by. Instead he pulled over by us and let a torrent of f-bombs flow as the shirtless mid twenties hillbilly lied and said I cut him off and he had no breaks, and a number of other f-bomb laced accusations. I began to step out of my car...I was tired and the stress of the RV idle problem the day before and the plug meltdown, and the whole family traveling together, and the heat wave was playing on my nerves. For nearly a whole second I wanted to fight. The other driver seemed to want one too and he stepped out of his car. Damned rationale stepped into my head and I realized this was a bad idea. I wasn't afraid of getting hurt ( I was pumped up) but I knew it would reflect bad on me in so many ways, so I put my hands up and and told him, "Hey, I was just trying to apologize until you started cussing me out." He claimed he didn't cuss me out and as I explained he had by using the f-bomb so often he just jumped into his car and drove off. Oh, I won't say we had any weapons in the car, I will say I had an 18 year old brawny kid with me, but that's all I will say.
Let's just say I wasn't worried about my own well fare...didn't have to. But, by the grace of God I was able to maintain self-control and there is one hill billy still around the hills of London.

The adrenalin rush was just what I needed. The stress of the past week was gone. So after finishing up the laundry I came back to the hotel and took the little ones into the pool. Victor has mastered the flippy! That's when you run up to the edge of the pool and flip into the water head-long. Olivia is working on it. Amelia doesn't like to get her face wet so it's all kick board all the time.

We did a ton of new stuff today. Mami juggled. We did the Impaled illusion. We did the Foy routine. Titus joined us in the Foy routine. Miles slipped on the ramp the takes Titus up and missed his blocking cue but met the singing cue from off stage. James, though still in pain from the Wheel Barrow incident in SoCal put the wheel barrow back in today. Pray for his complete healing please.

Tonight at the fair was truck tugging night. That is tug-a-war with pick-up trucks. I video taped it so you will see it on next week's video blog. It was very interesting and it drew a good crowd. I even brought Mami over to see it. She found it very strange but fun to watch. I haven't seen something so strange since the combine destruction derby in Idaho a few years back.

Once again excuse the typos and grammer....not going to proof read it. So welcome to my mind. Cheers and God Bless.

Please keep us in your prayers and let us know if we can pray for you. Also please keep ncle Eddie in your prayers as he is not having fun teaching at the camp. We look forward to him joining the show in a month.

Chip Chip Cheerio, y'all we are in London...Kentucky

The friendliest state all around has always been Kentucky and we arrived there this morning at 2am. Slept until 10:30 and got up to a quickly warming day. It would hit 103 with 73% humidity.
The day started OK until I started the RV ...it started but it couldn't hold an idle. I was sad. After having the worry of a potentially problem on the drive in with the "engine" light coming on (That turned out to be nothing. ) I was a little sensitive to "something" happening to the RV...it is a used vehicle. I figured I could drive it over to the fairgrounds then find out from someone where there is a good mechanic. Doug, the manager, told me there is one man in town who is known as the "mechanic-nazi" (ala the soup nazi of Seinfield days) ...he is a grumpy guy but the best in his business.
I drove the RV keeping my right foot constantly on the gas to keep an artificial "idle" going as my left foot worked the break. Funny thing though when I got to the fair and took my foot off the gas it idled fine. I called a friend from my home church in Cali, Ken (he is a mechanic and owns a shop), and described what happened. He gave me some ideas and things to check. I picked up what I needed from the store and will dig in tomorrow. Through-out the day I cold started the RV and it seems fine.
Then later that day the power to the RV (no the engine but the living area) died, like a fuse blowing. But we couldn't find a fuse box and the 50Amp-20amp plug adapter had melted to each other. Frustration with the RV was the note of the day....the heat and humidity wasn't helping. In a moment of inspiration (whisper or breath of God) I checked the one place I didn't check and on the side of mu bed in the Rv was a panel....in it was the fuse box and one fuse switch was off. Woo hoo!
Still it took a lot out of me and I am pooped.
The boys are tired too. In that heat and humidity Miles and Nick had to unload and set up the show. (I will post pics tomorrow.) Both are as pooped or more so than me. Since James is nursing his injury from SoCal he is not allowed to load and set up.
It was nice to have Mami's cooking, but I must confess I ate very little due to my worrying. In spite of everything working out fine. I finally had her wonderful grilled chicken, rice and cheese sauce about 20 minutes before the last show.
Our shows are a 6:30, 8 and 10:30PM daily.
The girls and victor chased and caught butterflies today as well as made friends with vendor kids and fair directors' kids.
Titus spent most the day out of the sun and went for a few walks around the fair. He was mesmerized by the lights and sounds.
Belle has become a regular member of the family and even comes out for bows with the family. We used Bobbi and cockatoo today. She always goes over big.
I apologize about my typos but I won't be spell checking or proofreading this...as I said I am pooped.
Mami was very happy to find the prices out here are so much cheaper than home or other places we have visited.
We are on eastern time this week and that is making us even more tired than usual.
Until tomorrow.
Cheers.

Day 4-----Canada--- (pre game report)

It's 9:18 Am in Swift Current, SK Canada. We will perform show number 10, 11 and 12 today. We will pack up and head out of town. The drive to the border is around 5.5 hours so we will hold up for the night 200 miles from here. Then tomorrow we will re-patriot ourselves to our beloved USA.

Granted, since we've been here whoever is running the place over there has done a bang up job of making it a little less prosperous. I read our US debt is now equal to what it was during WWII (ratio speaking) in other words our entire GDP for one year couldn't pay it back...that is if all we spent every dime everyone made to pay back the debt we could barely make the interest paymets. I read housing sales are down 30% now since the stimulous tax credit has ended, 125K more folks lost their jobs, and consumer confidence is down this month and last months numbers have all been revised down (like someone put out fake numbers last month for headlinse sake last month.) But in spite of the lousy job our government is doing I have faith in God and the American Spirit. I have met too many true-blue red blooded hard working Americans to believe that all that bad news is going to stop any of them. When it comes to innovation and determination you can't beat the ol' Stars and Stripes. So if I depressed you with the news in review from the week, I am sorry. Grab your boot straps, pull them up, get out there and work your tail off and make this country something our government has proven it can't do. Don't rely on them!!!! Rely on YOU , America. Love your neighbors, support your families, help those in need, trust in God. You do those things and this country will flourish like never before. (this comment paid for kent for president!) ;-)


Due to the heavy travel schedule there sill be no posts here until after July 6th.
If you have Facebook you can find me as Victor Kent...become my friend there.
I will make mobile posts to Facebook along the way.

Third Day---Swift Current

As a humourist I often find humour in things too often....OK...all the time. While in Safeway today I saw a tabloid featuring Al Gore and his current scandal and the police reopening it blah blah blah. It was then that it hit me why he is such a big proponent of Global warming (regardless of the science one way or the other). Apparently his personal life has been hot and steamy...and his former boss's life was hot and steamy that why wouldn't he think the whole world was warming up. The boy was suffering from personal global warming.

On the show report:
The plan was for Miles an Nick to start walking over to our hotel from the RV at the Fair around 9:30 and I would drive out and meet them along the way. At 8 AM I was wakened by Miles' voice. He and Nick decided to do the trek at 7. To their surprise the town was a little larger than they remembered while driving. Both are athletic and fit. They ate b-fast then took the little ones into the pool as I struggled to get up then do two loads of laundry.
Mami and I went to Safeway and Walmart for supplies and food. At Safeway we discovered that if you want to use a cart you have to push a quarter into a slot on the handle. That releases a chain that holds the cart to the next cart. When you are down you reconnect the chain and your coin comes out.

Sorry no pictures today.

We got to the fairgrounds by noon and did a tasting for video blog. A couple of days ago we tasted a turkey-salami kinda sausage thing. Today we tried pickled herring wrapped around a pickle spear and three different flavor of potatoes chips. The brand Dutch something or other is pretty much a Saskatchewan favorite. The flavors were..ketchup, bacon and a really strong dill. You will have to wait for the video in a week or so to see how it came out.

At 12:30 the local paper (the Prairie Post) interviewed us and took a ton of pictures during the show. It will appear a week from today. It will be online as well. He took a lot of notes and recordings and pictures.

Our first show was at 2 and went well with a modest sized crowd. The skies had grown dark around 1:30 and the clouds opened up and let loose. That kept people away from the fair until later in the day. Still it was cold today so numbers were low. In spite of that we had good sized crowds.

Our impaled illusions (where Cynthia is impaled on a spike...very visual)...has been going very well. We paid a ton of money a few years ago for it and had to do a lot of alterations and improvements and trials to make it show worthy. It gets fantastic gasps.

Tomorrow we finish the shows at around 7pm and we load up then take off for the boarder. We will go 200 miles and pull into an RV park in Canada around 1am. We were blessed in that the park had no spots open but one spot, which has a trailer on it, could squeeze our RV on. The owner of the trailer is away due to a family emergency. That worked out for our good. PTL

We will cross into America on July 3rd and then continue on our nearly 1800 miles drive to London, KY in two days. We start on July 6. Keep us in your prayers. The RV "service engine light" relating to the Egr or O2 sensors (usually) is still on, even after the 3 8 hour drive cycles it takes to clear computer errors. If all works out we will make it to London and have it checked there.

This will be that last entry until we are in London. I might be able to sneak one or two short reports via the smart phone but that will have to wait and seen.

Shout out to my folks, Mami's fmaily and JC and Clydean.

Cheers and God Bless

Happy Canada Day

It is Canada Day. Kind of like our July Forth or Cinco De Mayo (even though they don't celebrate that in Mexico..and that was only one battle they won against the French who ultimately would go on to win the war and occupy Mexico for several years...kinda like us just celebrating one battle from the Vietnam even though we lost the war). But Canada Day doesn't seem to be as crazy a celebration as July 4th. There was a parade and of course there was the fair and that meant the Kent Family Magic Circus.

First up in pictures is FIND ALF>>>>>>>
In this next picture Victor is painting on that smile...really he is exhausted. He has to follow the mascots and keep them safe...mostly from teenagers.

Below is our stage here in Swift Current...

Our first audience consisted of 9 people when it started but ballooned to around 50 by mid show. They were what we call a "TV audience" they sat there like they were watching TV..hard to get reactions from. But show two was a packed house but had standing room with a few seats open. Show three was SRO (standing room only). They were enthusiastic too. We nailed our acts and we had lots of compliments and many stuck around to talk with us after the show.

SRO

Below is Miles as our Lion Sir Galahad
During the show, while Jim juggled I snapped Miles and Nick off to the side.
Mami as super Penguin-head.


Below Jim with two "students" who he taught the Diabolo after the show.

Canada Day

Canada Day girls

We are staying at a hotel but our numbers are big (10) so Miles and Nick are staying at the RV at the fairgrounds. Our stage backs up to the Cattle barns and last night Miles reported he couldn't sleep due to the mooing cows all night. Nick was fine with it...he's a former 4-H.

Ironically Miles slept through the train noise last week while Nick couldn't. Funny Miles isn't a former engineer.

Mami has been fixing us home cooked meals and they have been great. We are eating well...better than past tours. But she is still overwhelmed with dealing with a disabled son and fixing our meals. At least here with us it is cooler...Our home town has been in the 100s from the reports we've gotten. The older kids have been helping a lot. Still she tries to do too much and gets frustrated. She even got mad tonight.....yup, little quiet Mami snapped. Trouping around takes adjusting to get used to.

Happy Canada Day!

I wanted to wear a maple leaf shirt...couldn't find one.

Got my American Shirt for July 4, the day we return to the States, ready to go.