Down Town Dairy Land

I was very happy to be safely parked in downtown Hanford.  I was ecstatic after the first thirty rigs came in.  You see the first time I ever came here, all I had was a 110 plug-in.  Luckily there wasn't a heat wave going on.

THIS time I came in even earlier at around 11:00 am and got my pick of spots since no one was here.  Next time I'll be in by 10:00.  Here's why.  They tell everyone to come in Monday.  SUNDAY is kind of for the mucky mucks.  By MONDAY, all you've got left is lots of grass and no 50 amp boxes.

I sat back and watched the action as rig after rig came in looking for parking spaces.  Two seconds after this guy parked across from me, he was out with the spray bottle cleaning his wheels.  Who does this?  Then he cleaned the steps going into the rig.  Go figure ......

Little did I know, the spot he picked didn't have power.  Yes there is a box there, but no power.  That meant he turned on his generator at noon and ran it all day long ..... and of course into the night 

That's when I got the ALERT on my phone.  STAY INSIDE ... air quality extremely low.  Well no wonder, it's from that generator!!  I don't understand why people don't realize all that noise might bother their neighbors.  Please don't be the noisy neighbor!!!  I've no doubt it will run all day today and into the night again before we leave on Wednesday!!

By the time it was all said and done, 40 rigs came in, parking back to back and door to door.  I have the only spot with breathing room.  Nancy is a very thankful girl.

Did I mention I was on the MAIN DISH list, but brought dessert stuff?  I didn't read the fine print.  Although that never EVER seems to be a problem, I trotted off to Save Mart and bought a huge pan of chicken enchiladas.  What can I say, I try to follow the rules.

I really wasn't sure if my Breville oven (set at 400 degrees) and my AC unit could run in unison, so just to be extra sure it got cooked, I thawed it first.  In three minutes the Breville put out so much heat inside the rig that I switched it over to convection and waited for the sparks to fly.

Nothing.  YAY!!  In 45 minutes, it was done and I didn't melt in the heat.  I took my dish inside.  Yikes ... there were only two dishes on the table.  WHAT?  Someone didn't count correctly when they decided who would bring what.  In all, there were seven main dishes, five salads and at least twelve desserts to feed 80 people!!  There should have been at least 40 dishes on those tables.

I couldn't believe our table was the first chosen.  I took tiny bits of a few dishes, KNOWING there wasn't going to be enough.  I was right for once.  I think this is the first time ever a pot luck didn't have enough dishes to feed everyone.  Let them eat cake was the word for the night.

For those who did NOT show up, you didn't miss a thing.  There were a few discussions about California highways and a few laughs about how I ended up President of our group.  I wasn't laughing.

So just how bad is the air quality in Hanford?  I stepped outside this morning to the distinct smell of DAIRY.  Horses and beef cattle do not compare.  I think it's all that corn chop they eat.  Don't get me wrong, I'm the girl that likes the smell of a County Fair.  It will soon be filled with the smell of diesel exhaust however.  Hopefully I don't die before I get out of here tomorrow.  I'm buying a bottle of Fabreeze to decontaminate my rig.

P.S.  There was no ice cream to be had yesterday and I stayed in with the puppies.  I'll let you know if Superior Dairy becomes a pit stop.