Living on the midway

It was a warm muggy morning as I am walking downtown going to the library to turn a book in and get online and flirt in chatrooms. I am peacefully walking the K street open_ air mall in Tulsa Oklahoma when I hear someone yell HEY!!!! I looked up and there was a man across the mall yelling, asking if I wanted a job? I yell back, doing what? We move to the middle of the thoroughfare to easier communicate. We introduce ourselves I said I am James, yes I am interested in work. That is when Red said he worked for Reed Exposition Midway out of Houston Texas. He and KC were sent by the boss to recruit people to work. I asked what I would be doing? Operating a ride said Red. I asked about lodging. Motel rooms he said. How many people in a room I asked, 4 to 5 said Red. I wanted to leave Tulsa anyway so I joined the carnival.

My first day as a ride guy for Jimmy Reed was in a Kmart parking lot. I had to spend the weekend in Tulsa working The Castle ride which wasn't so much a ride as a run through jungle gym/ball pit. All I did was collect tickets and make sure that no more than 20 kids were in it at any given time. After the show closed for the night I got to learn the truth about the motel rooms and the type of people I was working with. It turns out that they shoved as many people as possible in each room. And you were lucky if you got a piece of floor that you didn't step on if someone got up to pee. And if you knew what the people who set up, operate and tear down and move all the rides did in their free time you would never get on another ride ever.

I made it thru to slough night. That is what they call to tear down and move night. Each operator was responsible for helping tear down 2 rides unless you worked on the Century wheel. Then you were only responsible for moving it. I was surprised at how fast the whole show came down and was ready to move. Then the next morning I was finally leaving Tulsa. Then ext place was Fort Scott Kansas.

Fort Scott was a little county fair and was absolutely great. Now I joined the show with nothing but the clothes on my back and they were getting pretty ripe by now. I met and befriended John we both joined in Tulsa with nothing but what we had on our backs. John and I made a deal to help each other out so on Tuesday we got our pay which 225 a week on Tuesday we got 175 and we got 10 dollars a day for the rest of the week. We went to Wal Mart and got set u for the next week to come. We bought clothes, a tent, an ice chest, sleeping bags and pillows, food, beer, ice, and a little grill. John and I set our tent up right under a big Cottonwood tree and had a nice little camp set up and a storm popped up and we sheltered very well in our new tent. The storm passed and we got ready to open, went to our assigned rides to open and people started to show up and the parking lot was right where we set up our tent. Working at my first county fair it was a lot of fun. I worked on the first day of the fair I worked the kiddie ride The Castle.

The next morning we get up and there is just the cutest little event getting started. They were mini tractor pulls. They were riding lawn mowers on steroids!!! John and I and sat watched lawn mowers with 2, 3, and 4 Harley Davidson motorcycle engines on them yes it was fun and funny to watch. Sitting on those old wooden bleachers watching mini tractor pulls at a little county fair in small_ town America was just what the Dr ordered. Later in the day I was pretty well lit from drinking a lot of beer I here a big commotion on the other side of the midway and it is Jimmy Reed just going off on one of the ride guys and he fires him. I was a bit afraid and intrigued at what I was seeing happen. I didn't want to be stranded in Fort Scott Kansas. It seems that guy who was fired gave me a promotion. That evening I started working on the Century Wheel, which is where I learned about carny school. The big rides are where your best game operators. Jointies is what we called them because they worked in_ game joints.

I personally wasn't able to work in the games because I couldn't look at the kids and do what was expected of a game operator. I was ok working the Century Wheel. For that first season, I kept my head down and did my job, and had fun. I made friends and did a lot of drinking and my share of drugs. We had done all but one of the big shows up to point and the last big show was The Fiesta in San Antonio Texas. San Antonio is a cool place. The Fiesta is a huge affair set just a block from the Alamo and about 2 blocks from the Riverwalk Approximately 1.5 million people attend The Fiesta. After San Antonio. We worked a couple of parking lots before going to winter quarters

Winter quarters were just a big fenced in lot with a few outbuildings and a shop. The main purpose of wintering to ride maintenance and painting rides. There are 3 outbuildings and Jeremy and I had an argument that turned into a big ass fight

To be continued