This show was at the Champlain Valley
Exposition, a gigantic fair in Vermont. I spent the morning driving up -
this was another example of how a blissful lack of geographical knowledge got me
to a Styx show! I hear Vermont and think hey, right next door! Then much later
after a ticket is bought, I get out a map and say WHOA - it's how far? Oh well -
road trip! When I'm driving on an interstate like route 89 through
Vermont, and pass through the scarred rock faces that tell me there used to be
part of a mountain where my car is, it's really amazing to think back to the
days when they were building the highways and how it must have been; digging,
blasting, paving; going around nature where it was possible and forcing a path
through with explosives where it wasn't. How much do I take it for granted that
when I want to go somewhere, I get in my car and expect there to be a piece of
pavement leading from my house to my destination? Well, okay, dirt roads in some
places - this is New England! But still… pretty cool.
I got to the fair in the afternoon. It was hot and dusty and very windy, and I walked around for a while, looking at the animal exhibits and the other booths that were set up selling and displaying things from handmade blankets to acupressure sessions. I walked in front of the grandstand a few times, checking things out and also looking for the other Styx people I knew who were going to be there. I'd met some of them before, so I'd recognize them, and I was wearing a couple of Styx buttons to identify myself to the others. I had told them, if you see someone wearing those buttons, come up and say hi - if it's not me, whoever it is will still say hi to you!
Finally on one of my trips past the ticket window, I heard, "Kathie!" When I turned around, it was Edith, and Karen and her family. Ann and Mark showed up a few minutes later, and we hung out together and waited for the gates to open.