Another red neck moment

The grandstand filled up with people from all over. Eager Boy Scouts peddled pop, popcorn and earplugs. EarPlugs?????

And over the muddied grounds of the inner tracks, those farm trucks I keep seeing across fields all over Illinois, were polished and sputting, ready to compete. There were these huge flatbeds called Iron Man, the purple had a 5000 LB weight that would swing from one end to the other as eager tractor racers tried to pull the flatbed towards the 300 yard line. Often times, the hapless tractor would get bogged down at the 250 yard line and the racers (who woulda thunk these huge heavy tractors could fly with their front wheels in the air like a motorcycle instead of the monsterheavy weight, like the hippo dancing in fantasia) were competing like crazy to top the one before them. Ear plugs??? OMG, the next set of races were these Hot Rod exposed fire breathing black smoke spewing NOISE RIDDEN tractors with aggressive names roaring to the point of sonic boom each trip. The ear plugs were definitely needed. i used the old fashioned two fingers in my ear trick because it wasn't worth a dollar to get two pieces of plastic to cover my ears for a few seconds at a time.

Another bit of Americana for me.

Jeff Foxworthy Would Be So Proud

It was a surreal experience. I went to what i thought was a traditional American Pig Roast, as opposed to our Lechon frenzies, and I was expecting a big pig like our lechon and American sides, the American sides were there,bbq sauces, mustard, hot peppers, cole slaw, potato salad, pickles,a yummy cool whip with cherries, walnuts and coconut thingamaglob which I actually liked (2 servings since no one was touching it, maybe cuz it's a usual fare for them) lots of sweet roasted corn, right off the grill (sanay ako sa corn naka tatlo pa nga ako). But where's the pig? Why are there crockpots with some shredded gunk? Alas, poor pig, you became pulled pork...

But....looking around the 150 or so people, er, was I the only Asian? Oh hey, there's a token black dude (security guard for the venue) and 3 sets of sheriffs with barely concealed vests....and tons of loaded, well kept shiny big monster Harleys, and lots of tattooed men of all ages in various shades of black, harley t shirts with too many sayings I cannot remember any sa dami, and women in all shapes and sizes, all of them holding red plastic beer filled cups (there was a beer station, they ran out of bottled water but not beer). Two sun darkened men probably in their late 50s dancing all over the place shirtless (and I am ready to barf or die laughing) even getting onto the stage just to jiggle their fat bellies and let the alcohol make them believe they were still in their early twenties....I stuck a stoic look on my face so as not to draw attention to me....
tattoos, studs, girls with their jelly bellies peeping from their short blouses and tees, where was I????

To get there, it was a dirt road hidden away from the well paved highways of the area.
Brooooom brooms went the bikes as they showed off their rides....hey, was that my lawyer there with a bad ass expensive harley? hide hide maridel.

The bands were playing a mix of electrified country and some stones, hey there's achy breaky heart....but unlike pinoys who jump up and dance, only a few were bellying their dance moves aside from the two over grown teeners.

I've seen scenes like this before, on TV and movies, but here I was gob smack in the midst of the whole surreal party. But for a good cause, MomsCookies.org raised over 4 grand to fund cookie baskets for our troops out there (bring them home).

and as the light grew dimmer, and the mosquitoes were out in full force, it was a great relief to leave this magical(?) americana, thank goodness we were in Illinois and not somewhere else where I could've been part of the Pig roast.....