Crowd and Conflict
No kidding it was a record crowd this year at the cook-off. Every place was packed to the teeth. To invoke an old colloquialism "every swinin' dick in town" was at the cook off.
I have great respect for the folks that put up all the booths and run things. It was just plane nuts. Nat went Friday and had a great time. We went Saturday night. We got out there too late. Most of the food was gone. It was still a ball. We didn't even wonder around much. Nat and I went to the carnival looking for hot dogs. We found a place, but I just couldn't wait in line. I'm kind of glad I didn't stay because I would have probably decked the guy in line behind Nat. I took off and found my way back to the general area of the booth I was looking for. I found the kiosk that had the list of names and a map of booths. I waited and waited for every one else I got up to it and then someone else came along and i walked away like I found what I was looking for. I came back and the same thing happened again. I waited and returned, and finally got a few moments with the map alone. I studied it and noticed that I was about 30 meters from my destination. I had been walking around right past it. I'm surprised no one noticed me walking around aimlessly. I found my way back to the place where all my friends were hanging out.
I was just lucky that the name of the booth was low on the list. Otherwise I would never have been able to read it. The "You are here" arrow was right at the middle of the map. Otherwise I would have been unable to tell where I was. So many things pointed to the fact that I should have brought my frigging bag. I would have had my little binoculars. I would have had my camera.
Let me explain why I didn't have my bag.
So, did I mention that the place was crowded? Yes, I must have. Well we drove around five different parking lots. Nothing. We tried the parking lots at the site. Nope. Ken found a place on a side street two full lights away from the dome parking lot. Oh, on the other side of the dome. We parked. and Ken drove every one back to the dome and dropped every one off. I road back with Ken and we walked from the Wellness Center to the Cold River booth. I looked all around the reliant Center, I finally found Hepburn street. It is to the upper  right. We cut through the park and walked down behind the apartment complexes. Fortunately, Ken got a ride back to the cars from Niki. He and Niki came back and got every one at the gas station.
Ken and some of the others wanted to go to an after hours club. Thank goodness the folks we gave a ride to (Elias and Wisper) Just wanted to play the fogy card like us and go home. That is not the end of our adventure.
As Nat came around the back side of the mall, she noticed blinking lights in the distance. She said "It looks like they are right in front of our house." She cuts a left a block early and we snake through the neighborhood. As we pull around the last corner, our house in sight, there are the lights. They are indeed right in front of our house. We both thought for sure it was the racers again. A young boy died a few months ago just a block down. That would not be the cause this time.
Nat and I walked over and asked some people about it. There was a stabbing and possibly a shooting. You know how these things go through the old telephone game. Nat found a great little article about the whole thing this morning. Life Flight flew at least one away. There were at least four ambulances. There had to be a dozen cop cars.
It took me an hour or more to wind down after Nat and I decided to come in for the evening. She and I wondered what probably started the whole thing. Then, we went to sleep.