The Great Adventure, Part 5: Another Interlude.

DIARY

I'm going without journal entries now, so these last few installments are liable to be abbreviated.

Julie drove Jess and I to Zanesville from Columbus, and we felt dazed by the orderly straight lines on the road and the multiple lanes teeming with traffic. This was Monday. We ate a quick meal and walked the block-and-a-half to the Muskingum County Fair.

The Muskingum county Fair is a fair in the great, and I had believed lost, American small-town traditions. With roller derbies dominating the track at center and adjacent bleachers, the four of us passed the rides and then walked the periphery, passing between lanes of games involving pellet guns, balls and baskets, plastic fish and stand-up dummies, kiosks selling elephant ears, funnel cake, sugared peanuts and almonds, hot dogs and cottage fries, cotton candy, corn on the cob, and Brats. Mr. J treated us to Hot Dog on a Stick, and then fries and a Bloomin' Onion. We sat and talked about the highlights of the trip (a man sitting on the same bench several feet down noticed, startled, when I described the fist-sized spiders of the Monkey River). We finally turned back home, passing the craft exhibits on the way back, featuring collections of vegetables, pies, quilts on the one hand, and G.I. Joe figures and Elvis memorabilia on the other. "You can submit anything," Jess explained. "By submitting something you get a discount pass." Now it made sense.

Jess and I slept in that night, and the next morning we returned to the fair for a more comprehensive look. This time, we wandered through the livestock exhibits, starting with swine, moving through the sheep and goats (I was particularly enamored of the goats), and arriving at cattle. Jess explained the difference between a bull and a steer, which was news to me. There were beekeepers with notes on the different kinds of honey derived from the pollination of different plants. One of the beekeepers was the man who had overheard us the day before, and he asked questions about Belize. Finally, we moved onto the rabbit exhibit, met up with Mr. J, and went to the center arena for a lumberjack exhibition. The lumberjacks raced through cords of wood with shining chainsaws, hurled axes at projected stumps, and filled us with propaganda for various woodcutting devices.

In celebration of Jeff's birthday, Jess prepared a lasagna, and after we ate, we drove out to Cambridge for a visit with Jess' parents. It was dark by the time we arrived, but we sat up for several hours with Becky and Bill, talking about life and plans for the future, our many adventures in Belize, and also discussing religion. Ebony had a tumor which was starting to trouble her walking, but she'd been scheduled for an operation within the next week. Ginger, who is almost as old as Jess is, was also having some trouble on account of her age, but they both greeted us as we arrived and left the next morning.

After a very restful day-and-a-half in Ohio, Jess and I had to return to Chicago for a week of real sweat and effort. And then the move. Jeff drove us out to Columbus, playing the Supremes as he went. We said goodbye at the airport, boarded our Southwest flight in anticipation of pop and peanuts, and flew into Chicago for the last time.