The Syracuse Rally

 Part I

We arrived at the Syracuse State Fair Grounds after the short trip from the Watertown area in a gentle rain. After following the printed directions which were totally bogus we followed the Sheriff force and went to the park as directed.

We learned in Phoenix that arriving early had the benefit of better site selection and here it really paid off. The fair grounds have parking for cars that would be OK for the day at the fair but that's it.

We were parked like the pic below ... butt to butt ... but with pretty good space between units and we were at the top of the hill .... good deal. There's a 30A power outlet at the back and that's it ... no sewer or water similar to the Phoenix rally.

A little more on the rain part. On Thursday as the rain got heavier and the later arriving rigs got mired in the mud the organizers had to resort to plan B. The entire infield of the grounds had rigs up to the axles that had to be towed out and some actually didn't get out till Monday.

They worked with a local mall and over 1000 RVs had to be diverted to the mall parking lot ... where at least it was dry and ... shopping?

OK, the program was for Friday to have Wayne Newton and then on Saturday night we would have Reba the country singer. In the interim it was hoped we would shop the hundreds of vendors and RV sales venues and buy lots of stuff ... OK ... we did.

Below  are the required badges to be hung around the neck for entrance for the 4-days and also to let you to be eligible for the "match and win" contest which for some is quite compulsive. I think you can win either a T-shirt or $1000 or something between.

The main event for Friday evening was Wayne Newton, but as we got our seats we sat and watched the folks go by this dude caught my attention ... no matter how I stretch my imagination I cannot get to the "why" part of this outfit ... I'll let you fill in the blanks.

And then to the night's entertainment. Actually the guy in the above picture was more entertaining ... but not too fast.

And Wayne Newton.

One of the reasons we came here was for his rendition of  Danke Schoene from the 50's and 60's. Sorry.

Sometimes there comes a time that an entertainer needs to put aside the ego and retire and this is a classic example. There were about 6,000 folks in the crowd that had hoped to see some of the former entertainer on the stage but we were all disappointed ... really sad.

This was a bit of poor research and planning on the part of the planners but was more than made up for during the next night ...