One of my side ventures when I was traveling was a trip to a Mother Earth News Fair in Wisconsin. I saw it advertised in the magazine and decided to check it out. When I called to purchase tickets, I asked about camping spots. They told me they had sites on the grounds, so I booked one for Thursday through Monday. That gave me plenty of time to explore the area before attending the fair Saturday and Sunday.

As usual, I got lost several times and arrived at the fair grounds around five or six in the evening. Expecting a park-like campground, I discovered my site was part of the fair grounds and designed for exhibitors, not fair goers. Luckily, there was still a maintenance man at the grounds when I arrived to let me through the gate.

Meanwhile, I had been hearing threats of possible tornadoes on the radio. Coming from the east coast, I had no experience with tornadoes. Calling my daughter, who had lived in Nebraska for the previous six years, I was able to receive some advice. She told me there should be well marked shelters and, if I heard a siren to head there; pronto! I found the marked shelter in a bath house but, luckily, never had to use it as a shelter.

Saturday and Sunday I enjoyed the fair and decided I would attend more fairs. Over the next year or two I traveled to fairs in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Texas, Oregon and Kansas. At these fairs I camped at state parks instead of fairgrounds and was able to take advantage of the state park amenities.

Real life caught up with me and I realized it had been five or six years since my last fair. Then I saw a fair advertised in Lawrence, Kansas. I purchased tickets and booked a spot at a nearby state park for my camper. This time I talked my cousin from Missouri into meeting me for a weekend outing. She met me there and enjoyed the fair as much as I did. Because it had been more than 40 years since we had seen each other face-to-face, there was plenty to catch up on back at the campgrounds. We are planning on attending future fairs in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.