I didn’t know this was a thing until I was already here, but the event that Meg is vending at this weekend is a hot air balloon festival at the local airport. I didn’t make it yesterday for reasons I’ll get into later, but thanks to the predicted rain holding off today, I visited and explored the place soon after it opened.
After not finding the incorrectly marked entrance and a couple of sheriffs pointing the way, my first stop was the large vendor tent, where Meg was set up. She, along with local artists and makers of stuff, had plenty of space to sell their wares, far more space than I’m used to seeing. Then again, the entire festival is on what is normally an airport taxiway, so there’s lots of space for everyone to spread out.
Along the taxiway itself is a wide variety of food trucks. It was mid-afternoon when I arrived so I didn’t feel up for a meal, but I did get some wonderful homemade ice cream. It was pretty quiet, being so early in the day. A couple of balloons were getting inflated, but no flights or tethered rides were taking place. Only the biplane was flying around, and that was a bit too expensive for me.
One interesting thing I spotted from far away was the Weinermobile — sorry, the All Beef Beef Frank Frankmobile, which is absolutely not the Weinermobile, even though we all know it is. Because it was so quiet, I got the photo opportunity, as well as the guided tour. It’s all a marketing gimmick, of course, but it’s pretty cool to see in person, especially considering there are only six in existence.
All in all, it was basically a small town festival in a very big space, with hot air balloons — later, not at the time I was there. I stuck around for about an hour, then made my way back to the house after I’d seen everything.
One reason this visit is working out so well is that I’m here to let Meg’s dog, Lizzie, out a couple of times while she’s off selling stuff. Meg also has six(!) cats, so Lizzie is extremely used to them. She and Lister get along just fine, because she knows not to get all up in his face and excessively friendly the way most dogs do. Lizzie is such a chill dog. If I was to have a travel dog, I’d want one like her.
The reason I didn’t go to the balloon festival yesterday is that my iPhone 13 Pro once again crashed and refused to turn on. I spent a few hours not only pressing the hard reset key combination a hundred times, but also charging up my old iPhone 11 Pro and, while on Wi-Fi, setting up a few apps I needed, like Sygic for offline navigation. That way I could at least still navigate around the area. I took it to a local “Verizon store,” only for them to tell me they couldn’t help and I had to take it to an actual corporate store, because they were only a reseller. Funny, everything about their store says Verizon on it.
After several hours of stress, my new phone came back to life, and is working “normally” since then. I use quotes because “normal” includes its sporadic routine crashes and resets. I’m relieved, but also cranky, because now I know this phone could leave me in a lurch for several hours until it maybe decides to work again. What if I was actively navigating through the middle of nowhere, South Dakota, with no Wi-Fi? I’m going to keep Sygic updated with all the state maps I’ll need, just so I’ll be able to maintain navigation if this happens again.
Ultimately, though, I need to get this phone replaced. It should be an open-and-shut case through Verizon, but I’m not sitting still long enough for them to mail me a replacement phone until I reach Oregon next month. A friend who is a Verizon reseller urged me to avoid a Verizon store because they won’t help and will only frustrate and anger me. He made some alternative suggestions from his experience, which I will be trying, and see what we can do.
I’ve also spent some time plotting out possible overnight stops for my trip farther west. Before long, I’ll be back where lots of free camping in national forests and on BLM land will be available, which is how I prefer to camp. So far, I’m on a decent schedule to arrive at the Rocky Mtn Roll on time, including some stops I want to make along the way.
Smokey Da Van 