Oh look, more rain. Joy. But thankfully it quickly ran out, and the weather report said no more for the remainder of the day, so I decided to take my chances. I drove into the city to get a bit closer, found a park, and packed my stuff for the day. Then I set off, in hopes of staying somewhat dry. The first stop was the John and Mary Papp john Sculpture Park in the middle of downtown. A great park with some fantastic pieces. As well as some questionable pieces that seemed more like the artist waited until the day before the unveiling to start the piece. Regardless, all the sculptures are larger than life in some way, and feature a multitude of mediums for materials. A great start to the day, and next up, the Iowa State Fair!
To get there meant a 7 mile bike ride. Normally no big deal, especially in some place as flat as Iowa, but the first half of the ride was through downtown traffic. Where cars don’t think people ride bikes, and getting nearly run over is just a normal way to make a left turn. Thankfully, there was enough traffic that I could actually bike faster than the cars. Weaving between the cars, making sure to stay as big and visible as possible, the miles zoomed by. With a racing heart, both from adrenaline to stay alive and adrenaline to pedal quickly, I was out of downtown.
Remember, this is a state fair, not a county or city fair. Meaning everyone from all over was coming in just to see this. I didn’t remember this. Just past the capital, I saw signs for free parking, and silently cursed that I could have parked closer. Hindsight is 20/20. The catch being that the bus to get to the fair was 5 bucks. As I approached the fairgrounds, The sea of parked cars was astounding. People were selling parking spots on their front lawn, and had cars parked so close to one another, it seemed the only way in or out was to crawl through the trunk. Glad I was on my 2 wheels and had a permit for free parking anywhere.
Bike locked (and partially hidden), ticked acquired, I walked in without so much as a glance at my backpack. This was it, and holy cow it did not disappoint…mostly. With fairs and festivals, there’s always the generic venders everywhere, it’s almost a staple of just being a fair. The giant turkey legs, funnel cakes, oversized stuffed animals and deep fried everything. This was no different. But what set it apart was the distinct “country” feel. Rows and rows of red and green (no other colors) tractors from every year and manufacturer. Stables filed with cows, horses, sheep, bulls, and probably more that I didn’t even see.
Stages of all sizes with free shows both captivating and just plain strange. I stopped to watch a comedy juggling show that was rather entertaining. But when I went to the larger stage with twice the dB sound system, I was filled with cringe. A band remixing classic songs and filling in the lyrics with recycling messages. Normally this would be a good thing, and a great message, but the way they pulled it off was just too bad. Like they lost a bet and this was their punishment.
Moving on, there were also two venues filled to the brim with venders. Think of all that stuff you might see if you were to surf infomercials between 1 and 5 am. It was probably on live display here. There were representatives from all of the state saying why you should come visit their area, which I promptly took advantage of to ask questions and get maps for. Otherwise, it was more and more venders from the big boys like Dish and Comcast, down to mom and pop shops, and even every single college in the state. Quite the display of varying booths and attractions to see.
After wandering around for about 5 hours, I was exhausted and decided it was time to bike back home through the traffic chaos and Russian roulette of downtown. Thankfully, the ride was much less life threatening this time as I was going against traffic. It was the end of the work day, so everyone was going towards the fair, as I was leaving. Sweet. But I still had energy left for one last activity, rock climbing!
The local gym was at the edge of the city, and again against traffic, helping me to make haste there. With the usual introduction, and tests, I added another belay certification to my ever growing collection. But to take the tests required a climbing partner, and an old guy by the name of Ed volunteered his life, at least, I think he did. Regardless, he helped me pass the tests, and then offered to partner up with me for the evening. I tried to contain my excitement.
Not being able to train every other day has basically reset my climbing ability, which honestly sucks. To feel my arms freeze up after only a handful (read: 2) routes is such a bummer. But that’s the sacrifice I make to travel like this. But what I do retain is the idea of how to position my body, the mentality of climbing, and the skills of how to approach the climbs. The gym also had a handful of crack routes built in, and I made sure to try every one of them, though I fared worse and worse as the night went on from fatigue and being out of shape.
After several hours of increasingly more and more grunting to get up the wall, I finally called it quits. I thanked Ed for helping me to have a great time and went to stretch. But now I was soaked with sweat, stacked with several days of no shower, it was a bad combonation. On a whim, I checked the bathroom, and lo and behold, THERE WAS A SHOWER! Oh sweet climbing gods!
I scrambled out to my car, gathered my things, and took one long, glorious shower. With clean clothes on, it was rejuvenating, and the perfect end to a great day.
