Our State Fair is the best State Fair

Yesterday was very eventful.  We set out with four of our grandchildren to take in the State Fair.

Our first problem was that I, the one who never forgets, couldn’t remember closing the garage door.  This resulted in a loss of about 6 miles and 15 minutes.  Yes, the garage door had been shut …

Our second problem was going to the wrong grocery store to obtain reduced rate tickets.  Our informant stated the Tom Thumb was the place, but Kroger was the real place.   Another 5 miles and 15 minutes.

Our third problem was a blowout of the driver side front tire in the fast lane of the freeway (with no shoulder).  The tire was completely destroyed.  We were driving our 4 door truck in order to accommodate the four kids and two adults.  This truck seems to have a problem.  We have only lost one of the original tires by wear with two others; one by blowout (passenger side front) and one that went completely flat sometime during the night while sitting on the driveway because of (as we found later) a belt poking was through the inside of the tire.   So, there we were with a tire blown, our flashers going, people almost running into us before they realized they had to do something and I was trying to change a tire.  Fortunately a Good Samaritan in a really big truck came behind us, turned his flashers on also and helped (actually did most of the work), and I really would thank him personally if I had had the presence of mind to ask his name.  Fortunately my wife had the presence of mind to call 911 so that a police car came up with its lights flashing.  These policemen and women were extremely helpful and very supportive:  Thanks, Dallas Police!!  Well, it was a long and complicated problem, but, with the spare finally in place, the police stopped the freeway and we crossed 4 lanes of traffic to the access road and went to a tire store directly across the freeway.  Another hour lost on that fiasco.  I tried to contact our “road hazard” insurance people, but their response time would have been longer than changing the tire.

We finally made it to the fair.  The kids complained of all the walking, the heat, the congestion and etc.  But, they admitted that a good time was had by all, especially after the dinner (outside the fair where 16 oz. sodas were selling for $3 and the cotton candy for $4, which we bought anyway) at WhatABurger.  Of course, the rides and the guy doing tricks on the bike contributed to the fun also.  Finding a game where every kid won something was a great thing also, even if it did cost about $5 for each prize.  So, tired (there’s a pun there if you look for it) and hungry we faced the traffic and headed homeward.

I now remember why I hated going to State Fairs when our own kids were younger and vowed never to do it again.  I made that vow again, but will probably break it again if the grandkids ask … even though the youngest just had to use and caress several restrooms.

This entry was posted on October 14, 2008 at 4:17 pm and is filed under Drivel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.