Carnage at Indy....

Normally I wouldn't do 2 posts on the same topic - but hey this warrants it. If you are not interested - skip the text and check out the photos - unbelievable we say.....especially when you are in the middle of it all :)

So we went to the Indy 500 - awesome.....loved it. Was a little bit OTT at the start - lots of national songs and military parades and things - including a stealth B52 bomber flying over and millions of balloons, but once the engines started the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end - and it's very cool. Loved it - would go again (although they need music at the track which is not a 90 year old local they wheel in). Shame Scott didn't quite get there but ah well was fun anyway and we were pretty close to the action.

To be honest - the blog is really about the carnage after the race. We all head back to the campground and 80% of people pack up and leave. The hard core ones stay (that's us). You should have seen the sight. Talk about the era of convenience and "use once and biff away" - literally 1000s of items left behind - broken gazebos (probably in the 100s), chairs, tents, coolers, couches - you name it. So then the 'scrappers' move in - collecting everything - cans - bottles, rubbish and set fire to things to retreive the scrap metal.

Apparently the tradition is whoever is left behind goes around and collects stuff and then burns it all in a giant bonfire - we had fire engines turn up as one fire got out of control and then someone set the port-a-potties alight......portaloos for us.

What about a bbq anyone

At least we are out alive and now in Nashville - for a good ole' knees up and plans are to be in Memphis for Mike's birthday - how apt!!!!

The burning port-a-potty courtesy of Mike's phone!

B52 stealth bomber - looks like a bird

Scott in action

Coming round the corner - had to wear ear plugs

yea

two abreast restart - first time in history

start of the carnage - there is that poor xmas tree and the one abandoned port-a-loo (some people have their own personal portaloos or drag them to their 'area')

 camper anyone?

just some stuff lying around

what about an airbed, tarp, chair, wood - hey it's all yours

welcome to our very own personal landfill

hey - who needs a couch - got $1 worth of scrap metal in it

one scrapper and his collection of gazebo poles - they are pretty stupid things and when you have a walmart....

stuff - prob someone's tent

Indy 500 - 2 westies and 1 hutt chick

Warning - drunkeness descriptions

Ladies and gentleman - start your engines..... watch for the three kiwis on the 4th turn - will have flags

Ok so I am going to do my best to describe this - but really you just have to be here. We get to Indiana - madness......

We decide to park at the speedway - you know - get into the thick of things - atmosphere and all that. WELL.....we park in lot 1C. Think Glastonbury in the mud, think Woodstock for tents and RV's, think Munich beerfest - and then times it by 10. We pull up - and immediately get stuck - towed out by some dude in a ute with a large chain. Think mud - lots of it - everywhere - which I waded through to find a towie.....think 350,000 people at the track and surrounds......

We find a park = looks harmless enough. Now picture this - concert - drunken beerfest - anything you like - times it by 10 and you have our camp site. 24/7 party - everywhere - all day and all night - for 3 nights. Fireworks constantly being lit - all around us - randomly, drunken people being hauled off and arrested in golf carts outside our site, naked drunk people everywhere (most should really be wearing clothes, really) constant country music mixed with metal...you name it its happening - around our bedroom most of the time! Random stages set up in the middle of grass, most RV's have their own home made speaker system and light show. We are in the mush pit of giant muddy campground parties....the best thing we did was tie a mop to our broom and fly a giant NZ flag off the top of the van - people are nice to us now - and have found many a person that knows rugby, All Blacks - and one chick from Welly....

When you camp at Indy we have found out the following important things:

1. Bring your lawnmower. Everyone brings a lawnmower and mows their site (hilarious trust me) so not to be left out, we made friends with our neighbours across the street and borrowed theirs....
2. Bring your corn hole game. two pieces of wood with a hole and some small bean bags and you biff them into the hole - everyone has one
3. Bring a trailer load of wood - you must have a fire - lit anywhere - on the grass, dig a hole, fire up the barbie - whatever just have some random fire burning somewhere
4. randomly let off fireworks, which you buy wherever you want
5. Have a fluro flag pole and fly enormous giant flags mainly US flags 
6. Bring decorations - think 7's costumes for RV sites - anything goes - tinsel Xmas trees, fairy lights, pirate stuff, tinsel palm trees - whatever.....
7. Make random signs - eg free mammograms - insert XX here - the crasser the better
8. have your own wheelie cooler (chilly bin) thing - wheel it everywhere you go
9. buy any alcohol in a can - then you can take it to the track with you
10. Throw your rubbish anywhere - pile it up = chuck it round - hey who cares! (Except us who in the midst of carnage have the cleanest campground ever :)

Ok - phew think that's it. As I write this - I am surrounded by the biggest party in a camp site I have ever seen - kind of like American pie - college parties gone horribly wrong and mixed with the beerfest.....anyway - big race tomorrow - go Scott go (most don't realise he is from NZ....)

We hung out at the track a bit today to check it out before race day - awesome....

PS thanks to Suzy's friends Shelley and Joyce who came and picked us up and took us back to their home to meet their lovely dogs and cat jack and gave us an insight into the suburb Speedway way of life....they also supplied us with firewood - thanks guys :)

if you don't own a tent - no worries - just bring a teepee

carnage - check out the pile of cans

blurry as under cover - but a typical camp site

the lounge

camping - Indy style

just you know - the usual - prob some random fire

setting up camp - I know the fence and the mop look ridiculous but trust me if you don't fence off your site - people camp right next to you - hence our "fence"

Cool year to be at the track - 100 years

Decide to tie the mop to the broom and fly the flag off the top - seriously it's like our protector

I borrowed the neighbours lawnmower - everyone does it you know

just one example of a sign

The winner's area - Mike waiting for a drop of milk

A few conversations....

So an American waiter says....

"You guys are from NZ?, cool I am off to Australia at the end of the year"
We say - you should go a bit further and make it to NZ its well worth it
He says "yea I would love to, can I catch a ferry or something?"

The next conversation goes with old man in a shop.....
"Where are you from, you speak funny"
I say I am from New Zealand
"ok, what part of the island?" (At least he knew there were islands)
I say I am from the North Island - Wellington
"great song, that Waltzing Matilda, saw it on a movie once"
I say - that is an Australian song not a NZ song
"yea, it was sung well, the actors in the movie were......xx and xx and so and so - but that Waltzing Matilda - great song"

Give up at this point

'Auckland goes to the beach' - Omaha, then knotsville

So everyone won money at the casino - even with the missouri river flooding the basement underneath us. We slept poorly in the carpark - not a good idea to park near truckies and a rail line.....we are on a mission - to get to Indianapolis to the Indy 500 so off we drove to knock off some hours. Ended up staying in knotsville, Iowa - which we have renamed hicksville - kind of in the middle of nowhere...we did loads of washing and it didn't dry so the inside of the RV looked like some kind of weird laundry. Nice spot though - in the trees - trains in the distance not inside the back window - peaceful sleep. Early start to get to Indy.....and to sneak through tornado alley....we have driven in some atrocious weather and then followed the truck below, not sure we want to be following them. Headed through Illinois on route to Indiana. We have been keeping a loose eye on the storm radar - just in case!

Hoofing it with the big boys at the truck stop

Not sure we want to be going where they are going

Playing cards for $

The infamous Wall Drug and the world's only Corn Palace

So after Mt Rushmore we did a few wee stops to two random towns, both must-sees according to Lonely Planet. The first was the famous Wall Drug situated in a town called Wall. These guys advertise via billboards million miles away even in other countries. Their billboards advertise 'free ice water' and '5c coffee' - note: the 5c coffee tasted like 5c coffee. What's this about? Well in 1931 this family decided to attract tourists to their shop by advertising free ice water - and it worked - it draws up to 20,000 people on average a day including us suckers. It has other features now like a giant T-Rex that snorts at you and a monkey playing a piano....weird


So off to the next town called Mitchell that has the world's only Corn Palace. Local farmers grow the coloured ears of corn each year and it is redesigned with new corn cobs and different messages and patterns every year since 1892. Apparently it started to celebrate agriculture and productivity via a festival and someone decided to put corn on a building - even weirder.....

The famous Wall Drug Store - which has everything you can imagine

Inside Wall Drug - we bought Paddy's Cowboy Small book here

The T-Rex that comes out and attacks you

The mythical thingey

Play it again Sam

Mike and something that reminds you of Mike outside

The world's only corn palace

the Eagle made of corn cobs

How they make it and this is for Mitchell Day

American Pride!!

The rush to Mt Rushmore

Ok - whilst I am not gambling and avoiding doing some work whilst 'living in America' is blaring on the big screen above me - I might write another post to catch up!

Next stop after the cool town of Deadwood was Mt Rushmore. Think really bad tourist place and you have found it. Whilst the monument itself is actually quite amazing - what they have done to it is sad. Multi-level car park buildings, millions of paving with a walkway covered by 50 state flags and countless US ones kind of spoils the setting really.....Anyway - 14 years to carve this out of rock - mostly with dynamite and dangling on some flimsy wooden structure with one rope and no safety gear - makes it pretty unreal - most Americans get patriotic here - so I found out when I made a flippant comment about Teddy Roosevelt calling his son Kermit. The guy who devised this monument to American freedom and democracy insisted that no one would ever pay to see it - so they charge you for parking :)

We also went to the Crazy horse memorial - another carving out of rock - in honor of a Sioux Indian chief. It rained like mad and cost a fortune - and its not finished - maybe one day in 2095 when it's finished we can say we paid $20 towards that - not worth visiting I am afraid.

Keystone - found a campsite in the town for free - as nothing really opens until June. Met another camper van - finally one that could speak our language - Aussies! So had them over for a drink or two. He races cars in Aus - and has a spare Holden club sport to race - think Mike is tempted :)

That night we had the most severe thunderstorm and hail and knew it was a sign of things to come....

Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, Lincoln

Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, Lincoln, M Day, S Day

mmmmm I had 6 layers on to keep warm

being arty

whilst on the presedential loop trail - looks warm but it rained and was cold

crazy horse - started in the 1940's - not holding our breath

We would walk 3,500 miles (sing to the tune of I would walk 500 miles)

We have done a fair whack of miles now. After Cody we headed to a western town - Deadwood. Cool place - in a valley where land was stolen from the Native Americans due to the gold rush in the 1800's. It's where Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickock are buried and we had dinner (and a dance - yes I know...great band) in Saloon #10 where Wild Bill was shot in the back of the head in the casino. Dead Man's Poker hand - pair of black ace's, pair of black 8's and a 9 diamonds. We saw the chair he was actually shot in whilst holding that hand of cards.

This place was done and dusted but someone came up with the idea of using gambling and drinking and everything that goes with that (for the oldies reading this) to fund the restoration of the town - and boy did it work. $30 million in 4 years restored the town. Perhaps NZ should try this in the West Coast - we have the history.....

If you want cool wild west - this town will do it for you. Hey Kevin Costner owns a bar here and it has some of his movie hit gear in it (which covers a really small corner actually).....

It rained and rained here.....ug- think Hokitika or greymouth raining nonstop for weeks -  at least the $1 old style trolley got us into town and around with a pick up from the campground :)

PS as I write this I am sitting in a cafe in a casino in Nebraska - its 11.30 pm and Mike and Suzy are in the casino playing blackjack - there is a massive screen above me showing really bad western videos and country music is blaring - and we are staying (probably illegally) in the casino carpark which is partially flooded by the Missouri river - but hey the casino goes on!!

Really - are you kidding? I don't think so....

On the way to Deadwood

Deadwood at night - bit dark sorry

A town named after the Dedwood Days....

Cool place this ole' gamblin town

ha ha

yee ha