Demo

Her husband broke his drive shaft. I was sitting in the bleachers next to a woman with a body like a pumpkin, with a head like a basketball attached on top. Three generations of southern Illinois femininity were represented. Her mother was next to her, with the daughter running around the area or sitting in grandma's lap. The older two would cheer and taunt and rant and rave, all at a screaming pitch, as the action unfolded. They knew all the drivers, the cars, the behind the scenes secrets. I had to keep asking them about the rules. Or why who was doing what. The noise was deafening with exhaust, mud, grit, and grime filling the air. Smoke was pouring from almost every car, with fire and flames visible half the time. The arena was wet, so the cars would slip and slide as they applied full power, most in reverse. Looking for a victim, they would roam around between wrecked vehicles that were done for the night like a fly trying to decide where to land. The harder the collision, the louder the crowd would cheer, with the sweet young thing next to me coming out of her seat more than once. We were at the Bond County Fair, just a short walk from our bed and breakfast in Greenville, Illinois. Laura had never seen a demo before, what they call a demolition derby around here. I had begged the ticket lady for a reduction in price, normally $15 each. She let us in for $5. We only got to see one heat, but it was the feature, 24 cars that were the finalists for the $1200 first prize. Earlier we had watched a horse competition, where the riders rode full tilt around some poles. There were 4H competitions, livestock everywhere, kettle corn, funnel cakes, snow cones, cotton candy. All on a night so sultry most of the shirts you saw were soaked through with sweat.
The ride to town was 70 miles of heat on country roads. We had left Springfield at 7am in a fog bank worried that cars couldn't see us. It was so thick I thought my sunglasses were fogging up, but it was all in the air. It's pretty obvious that most of the money in Illinois is spent up towards Chicago. The roads are in pitiful shape for the most part, with broken up shoulders or none at all. We have to keep stopping to ask locals about the route, because signs at the intersections are considered unnecessary. Around 3pm when we rolled into town the temp was probably 95, the humidity matched. Laura went into a hair salon, then a thrift shop, to ask about a place to stay. They both recommended a new B&B called Chartreuse in town that just opened this summer. We found it, a 1930's house that the owners have completely remodeled. The room we stayed in rivals a Ritz Carlton suite. Two sisters own the business, with one calling the other Martha Stewart. It's easy to see why. All the details are thought about and taken care of. It could have been the 70 miles we rode, but the bed is about the most comfy I have ever slept in. The only drawback of going to the fair was that we didn't get to spend more time at the house, it's so nice you just want to stay around and veg. I put a link on the blog, so if anyone is traveling in this area east of St. Louis check it out, we might come back with you. One thing they do need in this town is a restaurant or two. The only thing that wasn't fast food was a diner on main street. The special we had was a funny combination of fried walleye, potatoes and gravy, macaroni and cheese, and stewed tomatoes. The tomato concoction was juicy, so of course it ran underneath everything else and made it soggy. After our walleye feast in Iowa we thought this might match, but the fish wasn't the same. It had the consistency of a condom, very hard to eat, and the tartar sauce was too scary to put into your mouth. We wished we had eaten at the fair, but it was too late for that. The best food we had all day was the piece of double chocolate fudge cake Cheryl cut us when we got home at 11pm. What service.
Today we will ride to Nashville, Illinois, about 40 miles south of here, to stay with Bob and Randy, our Iowa buddies. We're hanging around after breakfast just cause it's hard to leave, so it will be hot and sunny on the road. It's very true that it's all about the water, we will drink and refill all we can.
I'll never forget my round companion from last night, or the nice B&B here in Greenville. I hope her husband gets his drive shaft fixed so he can enter another demo. They live a little differently down here in southern Illinois.