July 10: Back on the Road, Day 8

It was cool and raining lightly as Megan headed out of Aitkin this morning-but that's not bad weather at all for running. In fact, Megan made great time on the run, and even had to wait for Dad to show up at the end!

Last night Megan, Dave, and Isaac went to the rodeo at the Aitkin County Fair and particularly enjoyed the Mutton Busting, an event that the announcer described as the only legal form of child abuse he knew of! Apparently, 4-6 year olds are mounted on sheep, then try to hold on while the sheep express their displeasure. The children wear helmets, which Dave said was a good thing, since the sheep sometimes run for the fence, then stop suddenly, catapulting the kid at the chain links. Dave said there were some tears as kids came up with mouths of dirt and lots of laughs. In this event, even the rodeo clown who rounds up the newly unburdened sheep and chases them back to the pen is small enough to look the animals right in the eye. But what this clown lacked in size, he made up for in endless running- around-the-ring energy.

Later on, Dave was in line to get some candy floss and one of the mutton riders was in line in front with his dad, a rodeo rider. The kid complained that the dirt didn't taste too good. His dad replied "Dirt tastes great! Better get used to it kid!"

The highlight of today for Dave (deviating a bit from our blog raison d'etre, our runner) was the buffet at the cafe in Hill City, tonight's hosting city. Dave proudly announced that he sampled all the hot entries on the buffet (including wild rice casserole, of course) and most of the items on the cold buffet. But the plates weren't that large, and some of the neighboring foods got a little close, to Megan and Isaac's dismay as they watched Dave eat chocolate cole slaw pudding.