Almost a RIOT!!!

You never know what's going to happen in IceCreamville at the Indio Rally.  Things have gone exceedingly well for several years and I expected that to continue.  WRONG!!  The first day went well ... Larry the Ice Cream Driver showed up on time and everyone loved the new chocolate covered vanilla bar ... at least I didn't hear any complaints.

Saturday however, was another day and we almost had a RIOT on our hands.  Larry was LATE!!!  My oh my ... 1200 people in line and no ice cream.  Funny how old folks can have excellent memories!!  You can imagine the comments as everyone instantly remembered when there was NO treat because no one ordered it!!  Yup ... they totally forgot to order the ice cream.  That was when all the Golden Spike people ran home and changed their shirts so we wouldn't be stoned to death!!

I was able to use my phone to contact Schwans that year, who delivered the goods the next day.  That's when somehow, I ended up with the procurement job.  I'm sorry I don't have pictures of the ice cream giveaway ... I pretty much forgot about my camera sitting by the fence!!

I was finally able to contact Larry by phone, to hear there was a CHP rolling stop on the freeway. Since he comes from clear over the hill in Riverside, that made him late ..... 20 MINUTES LATE!!  We ran up and down the lines keeping everyone informed about his pending arrival, and thankfully, people were fairly understanding and didn't riot.  I was trying to cover up the fact that I was having a panic attack!!

FINALLY ... Larry drove in and pandemonium was averted as we literally threw ice cream at the people bombarding the tables.  Whew!!!  Disaster averted for another year!!  Now where's my bottle of aspirin ... or maybe vodka would be better!!

It hasn't been all work, I have actually been able to hit the vendors a couple of times.  For the first time, I purchase a few sparklies to iron on to my western shirts.  I also bought the best pillow in the world ... the last one I will ever buy ... at least for the next ten years.  Not really cheap at $54, but I have to say so far I like it MUCH better than my old ratty feather pillow, the one that has lost half of it's feathers around my bed.

While here, Dan Chance and I also had our oil changed by Jim Fulkerson MobileRVMaintenance.com.  GREAT guy Jim is ... he comes to you and does your yearly maintenance and oil change for a paltry $448.  That's the exact same amount he charged last year.  As long as he's in business, I'll have him do my work here in Indio.

After a quick happy hour, we all headed back to the main building for more entertainment.  They gave out trophies for the parade winners and thanked all the volunteers before the last group began their performance.

The Diamonds Bandstand Boogie performed all the old American Bandstand tunes while the entire crowd sang along.  That might have been a nice thing, except the lady behind me pretty much drowned out the voices from the stage.

They changed jackets a couple of times, blending nicely with the background.  It was kind of funny seeing a white haired guy singing those old Richie Valle and Supremes tunes.  I'm surprised I remembered so many of the words to the songs.

These guys have been together for many, many, MANY years ... playing trombones and saxophones to the accompaniment of keyboard and drums.  They had all the dance moves as well as great voices!!  Lucky for me, the show was over about 8:30 so I could hit the sack by 9:30.  Having that ice cream social behind me is a big relief!!

Today we don rubber gloves and use pick-up sticks to clean the fairgrounds before taking off to the wild blue yonder of Yuma where I can recover from the shock of LATE ice cream.  I hope to be back to normal in a week or two!!