PIREP: Iowa State Fair

If you're looking for a great fly-in destination, it's hard to beat
the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines. It's a true piece of traditional
Americana, with every cliche from pork chops on a stick to funnel
cakes to politicians kissing babies. Throw in high-stepping horses,
bulls the size of Toyotas, carnival rides, baking contests, and every
deep-fried snack known to man, and you've got some idea of what a day
at the fair is like.

This year we "flew the Subaru", which allowed us to partake in the on-
site beer and margaritas -- very nice on what turned out to be a sunny
and warm day. In fact, it was a darned-near perfect day, marred only
by presidential candidates riding rough-shod through the crowd,
surrounded by handlers, photographers, and TV crews.

Over pulled-pork sandwiches in the Iowa Pork Producers tent, the
consensus of the (largely farmer) crowd appeared to be that all these
dumb ass politicians should go back to wherever they came from, and re-
apply for candidate status in about a year -- a much more appropriate
time to be stumping for an election that is still over 15 months
away. Quite frankly, it seems that the only people who care what
they are saying is the media -- everyone else I spoke with agreed that
it is just way too far in the future to even be discussing yet.

Anyway, I digress. If you're looking for a really fun flying
destination, the fair runs through Sunday...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"