Lawn Mower Race, Ice Cream Social, Etc.

There was a busy schedule of activities at the park yesterday. Aside from the usual canoe, kayak and paddle boat rentals, there was a chocolate theme in the AM, where various chocolate activities were run: a chocolate finger painting activity and a chocolate slip-n-slide competition for kids - yuck! I was resting for my late afternoon duty and didn't get to see those, but the afternoon and evening had some interesting activities. Starting with a lawn mower race at 4 PM. The area behind our boat storage is a huge, grassy and vacant area that was prime for this activity. The track was all laid out:

and the entire track was surrounded with people ready to watch the races from their carts:

I was able to get a good spot in the pit area (wearing a camp uniform has its privileges) where I could watch everything until I had to clock in for work at 5 PM. I watched the practice runs and got to see the racers performing their tuneups before the start of the races:

While waiting for the start of the races, I spoke with one of the racers - all retired individuals, like us - that travel all over the northeast to put on these races for camps, carnivals and anybody that wants to pay to have them come and race. They take it seriously and some of them travel with several machines, and race more than one, depending on the category of engine for each heat. They race for points, bragging rights and trophies - which they give away to the kids after each race - and don't receive any money. There are regional organizations all over the country, and they compete at the end of the year for national recognition. Here is a shot of part of the pit area:

Finally, just before I had to leave to go to work, the races started:

I wish I could have stayed to see them all, but you get the idea. These lawn mowers are souped-up and they scream around the turns and straightaways. Sometimes they roll over, and there is an ambulance nearby in case of injuries. These racers are all friends - except during a race - and they are very careful about not interfering with each other. It was interesting and fun.

Around 6:00 PM the thunderstorms moved in and ended all of the outside activities for the night, except for the ice cream social that was held in the pavilion from 7 PM to 8 PM:

The rains kept many people away. We received several storms, right after each other and lasting most of the evening, although the total rainfall was only around .75".

The rains also had an impact on my night time duty in security. Most people were inside and it made for a quiet night. Josie worked from 1 PM till 10 PM last night with an hour out for dinner. That was one of the long days for her, but still doesn't make up for the shortfall in hours we are experiencing the rest of the week.

There will be no further planning for our next chapter until at least Monday, when the Amazon H/R people return to work. We hope to finalize our plans with them in the morning so that we can notify the people here about our departure. We hate leaving any job before the end of our commitment, but they haven't fulfilled their commitment to us and we need to watch out for ourselves. It may turn out that last night was the last night I need to work the security duty until 2 AM. I hope so...