Rob's State Fair Ramblings, Day 10

And just like that, the 2019 Kansas State Fair has come to an end.

I came out after church today, arriving at about 1pm. My plan was to eat a Tacone today, and after 1 building, I was pretty hungry, and went to get my Tacone. A Tacone is sold at Rotten Rodney's, and is a flour tortilla fried into the shape of a cone. It is then loaded with all of the taco fixings. For an extra 50 cents, you can add jalapenos. The Tacone runs at $6.50. The people that run Rotten Rodney's are quite friendly, and this day was no different, despite the fact that they were probably dead tired. In fact, most of the vendors were looking like they were sooo ready to go. Many of them have been there every day, all day.  Today, I also decided that I wanted to treat myself to some comfort. The lady at the Shiatsu booth has been asking me all week if I wanted to try out the foot massager. I decided to give in today and gave it a test run. I was not a fan. I spent about 10 minutes with my feet stuck in this machine, and the plastic knobby things inside were grinding against the bottoms of my feet in a most uncomfortable way. Some people might like it, but I didn't care for it. Then she wrapped some things around my calves kind of like blood pressure cuffs. Then the unit started to compress my feet and calves. That....I liked. However, the pain I felt in my feet, plus the $250 price tag led me to move on. I decided to look for a massage chair. I knew that would be relaxing. Wrong. That was worse than the Shiatsu. It again involved knobs grinding into the bottoms of my feet, plus uncomfortable knobby things painfully rolling up and down my back. I asked the guy to please shut it down, I wanted out. Alas, my quest for some relaxation and comfort for my body was to come up fruitless.

As I was walking through the Grandstand, I came upon a booth that was drawing caricatures. I haven't had a caricature done of myself for many years. I felt it was time. They asked me my name and what my occupation was, and they took it from there. See my Facebook page for a photograph of this drawing which I think is pretty great. I think I need to make this caricature thing an annual tradition.  It was about this time that my sister got in touch with me and wanted to have a sibling day at the fair. We have not done this before. She really wanted to try a cow patty, a food that I talked about earlier this week. She opted for the calf patty (half order) and she really enjoyed it. I was still pretty full from my Tacone, so I chatted at her while she ate. I explained about the massage chair, and she said she would take me to a booth where the massage chairs were better. These chairs looked very similar, but I was hoping that the experience would be better. Wrong. The knobbies on the bottom of the feet were very gentle, and it felt good, but here came the back knobs. Again, it felt like grinding against the bone. It hurt. I asked the guy to program just feet and arms. He punched in some buttons. It started massaging my feet...it felt good. Then the arms...it felt good. Then here came the back knobs...that was enough. My sister enjoyed her chair massage, but I guess massage chairs are not for me. I prefer a human who can hear what I have to say and adjust as needed, instantly.  Then my sister was ready for a funnel cake. She took me to her favorite funnel cake stand. This stand is located by the roller coaster Bullet Train. Funnel cakes are $7.00, and $1.00 extra per topping. We got a funnel cake topped with Bavarian Cream and strawberries. Wow, was it heavenly! I now have a favorite funnel cake.

About then we met up with my nieces (my sister's daughters) who were also having a sibling day. I chatted with them for a bit, and then went to pick up my ribbons. They were releasing them by this time, and I was pretty excited to open that envelop and see that blue ribbon in there. There was also a check for...are you ready for this....a whopping $7.00! I plan to put that into my savings and retire. The critiques by the judges were also enclosed. I guess my other cookies were dry, tough, or non-uniform. Funny, no one else who eats my cookies thinks that.
I went back to where my family was and chatted with them for a while longer before it was time to go. My sister had a yard to mow, and I had groceries to buy.

Before I left, I took my traditional farewell walk around the grounds, the midway, and other streets that I'd visited during the week. As I circled around the buildings, they were all buzzing as people carried out boxes of supplies, papers, etc. They were in full-tilt unload mode. It always makes me sad to see something so fun come to an end. By now, some of the rides are being disassembled and loaded back onto the trucks. Many will work all night getting these rides taken down. By Monday afternoon, many of the rides and concession stands will be on the highway, headed for their next destination. Central Wisconsin State Fair in Marshfield, WI.

I think what I will miss most of all is seeing people smile, whether it's a person a know, or a total stranger laughing and having a good time. I love running into people who I haven't seen in a long time. It's a surprise, seeing someone who moved to another state, but there they are, right in front of you! I enjoy seeing my kiddos from the children's organizations that I work with. Getting tackled around the legs by a kid who is so glad to see you. I love being the fair answer-man. Being able to direct people to where they are looking to go. I'll miss blogging the day's events for you. I plan to continue blogging here, if you're up to reading my Ramblings. I won't blog every day, but once in a while I'll put my thoughts into a blog post and put it up on Facebook. You can also opt to click "follow" me on Facebook and keep up with me that way. On this last post of the State Fair, I need to know how many of you have been reading. Please like, comment, and share to give me a gauge. For the record, the posting that received the most likes and comments was my pic with Governor Laura Kelly. 

Thanks for sharing my adventures with me. I hope you enjoyed reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them. Thanks for reading, and God bless you!