After a baked beans breakfast, Jenny and I stopped at the fair. I talked to the staff about the „campground“ disappointment and…received a full refund! I didn‘t expect that because in Germany/Austria employees would just shrug their shoulders. Glad to have my money back, I wanted to see the derby naturally, so we got tickets!
Then we went hiking around the „Happy Boulders“ – a bouldering area north of Bishop full of vulcanic stone. It is probably the best bouldering area I‘ve seen so far – there was lots of easy, but interesting stuff. Giant holes in the rocks, caves and overhangs made the climbing really physical, but we only scrambled up easy routes with our approach shoes.
From the parking lot, a trail led to Owens river – a welcome refreshment – we jumped in and sunbathed a while before driving back into town.
I got really hungry and we went to a Mexican restaurant – wow, the food was delicious (I had a taco salad with pulled beef). However the oil the cook used must have been too much or too fat – we felt so full and bloated after eating that it was uncomfortable.
The County Fair today was even fuller than the day before – it was Labor Day Weekend after all and lots of people queued up for the Derby. We waited in an endless queue for beer, sat down and chatted to a friendly guy explaining how the Derby works.
The cars and trucks were already lined up with numbers on top. They would compete against each other in five or six rounds, cars and trucks separated.
Inbetween there was an „iced t-shirt“ contest and we knew that this had to be the same style of contest than the „boot race“ at the Rodeo. Five teams were given two t-shirts frozen in an ice-block. They had to smash them against a barrel and whoever was the first to „unfreeze“ the shirt, had to put it on – a guy won the round.
The final car round took place and one car fired up the show – engine smoke and stuck wheels included – a fierce, lime green Fiat (or was it a VW? It was hard to tell from the start as all the cars had been modified and looked pretty banged up without windows and a hole in the roof – the driver‘s escape route).
My first demolition derby – it was lots of fun and I could have watched it forever. At one point, it was over and the audience, holding giant lemonade „vessels“ and popcorn bags the size of trashbags, made its‘ way towards the rest of the fair. America. You‘re fascinating and weird.
Finn Goes West - Hiking & Climbing in the South-Western USA 