Friday, July 28

We were on the road by 5:45 am.

We were meeting Chaplain Jake and Jane here for a 7:00 am breakfast.

When the waitress saw me taking a picture she asked if I wanted a picture with all four of us. How nice of her.

Back on the road. We followed Jake and Jane’s suburban.

Cerwin noticed the reflection of our chapel in the back doors of this truck. Notice the lit cross.

Our exit

In place at the Clarke County Ruritan Fairgrounds, Berryville, Virginia.

This was setup day – the show started the next day.

The four of us decided to walk around and get acquainted with the fairgrounds as this was our first time here. It was a warm, drizzly evening. This piece of equipment was close to us and was our first stop.

It was a 1923 block maker.

When I touched this, a corner crumbled because it was wet cement. 🙂 They just smiled and put it back on the pile and started over. No problem they said.

They (father and son) gave us a demonstration. (You can see the chapel in the upper right.)

This was the engine that powered the block maker.

They willingly posed for me.

The father said that Sears sold this – dated 10-1923

We enjoyed some antique shopping in the fairground barns – and watched tractors going by.

Jake and Jane tried out a pain relief gadget.

This man was whittling a cane as he watched a friends antique stand.

I loved watching these old steam tractors driving through the fairground.

There were also antiques under tents and canopies.

A 1919 tractor

This is the father from back at the cement block maker.

He asked if I wanted to sit on it. 🙂

Then when I got off it stalled. He joked that I was bad news. First the crumbled cement block, now the tractor wouldn’t start.

It eventually started, but that became a joke every time I walked by their cement block making machine. He would laughingly call out, “Don’t touch anything.”

This is why it is called a steam show.

Homemade ice cream

Cerwin got peach ice cream. I had my favorite – vanilla.

This tractor powered the sawmill.

Picking up straw.

They made quite a few blocks while we were gone.

Our view from the chapel.

We decided to go to a restaurant since we would be eating fairground food for the next two days. Can you guess where we went?

You got it – Cracker Barrel. 🙂

~~~

More tomorrow night.