Glaze 2014 Summer Job: Pie Eating Contest and Catholic Shootout, Saturday, 7/5/14 and Sunday, 7/6/14

Saturday, July 5, 2014

Each year on the fourth of July, Virginia City sets up road blocks at each end of town to collect money to fund the fireworks for the following year. Whatever is collected by the city is matched by the state, so last night we watched $8000 worth of fireworks.

Inn mates Daniel and Elise were called upon to man a collection station last night starting at 8:00 p.m. We wrote out a check and walked to the end of town to donate to Daniel and Elise’s till. They were off duty at 9:00, so we piled in the back of Daniel’s truck and headed to boot hill to stake out a prime viewing location.

This was the most enjoyable fireworks display we have ever seen. It was a very professional presentation and the quality of the exhibition was outstanding. Add to that the perfect weather with a light breeze and the beautiful mountains all around, and it was second to none. Each boom echoed off the mountains, and we counted up to ten reverberations with each explosion. The show lasted for about twenty minutes, and there was no traffic congestion when we headed for home.

Chuck began work this morning at 8:00 a.m. and drove Andrew around to collect garbage. After that he floated to every operation to lend a hand as needed and also shuttled one way train passengers. Cindy worked at the Virginia City train depot with Jaimi, and we were consistently busy all day long. It was a long, hot day and we did not get off work until about 7:00 p.m.

After supper, we played a quick game of Smart Ass with the inn mates before retiring for the evening.

Sunday, July 6, 2014

It was another hot day and Chuck worked outside at the gold panning operation. Chuck recently had the idea that we should have an ice chest full of drinks down near the panning troughs to sell as people worked in the heat. Management delivered on the drinks, and we made lots of money selling them this weekend.

Cindy worked at the Virginia City train depot again today. It wasn’t quite as busy as yesterday, but we were not slackers. Cindy met another bicyclist today from Switzerland. Her name is Sandra and she started her lone journey at Jasper National Park in Canada on June 1^st. She is taking a leisurely (if you can call bicycling thousands of miles leisurely) ride through the west and plans to visit Yellowstone National Park, several Utah parks, and the Grand Canyon among other fabulous locations. Sandra is a sports teacher in Switzerland, but her job is not a part of the school system and she mostly works with adults. Her ride will conclude sometime around the end of November.

At lunch time, Chuck picked Cindy up at the depot and we went to check out the weekend long Fourth of July festivities at Nevada City. There was a pie eating contest each day, but our timing wasn’t right to indulge in that offering. Daniel and Duel competed all three days, and Jaimi and Connor were able to take their lunch breaks one day to compete. Courtesy of Daniel, we have included some pie eating photos.

Another fun thing we missed seeing was a shootout between some Catholic boys. There was a group of seventy boys, along with two priests, who visited Virginia and Nevada cities this weekend. All of them (including priests with cowboy garb over their collars) dressed up as old west cowboys and made a movie while they were here. They were a dangerous lot as they were all packing heat. In addition to the shootout, Daniel and Duel served them all shots of root beer when they visited the saloon.

We got off work at 7:00 p.m., and after supper we called it an early evening. However, we did get to talk to our son Christopher who has been in Hawaii for the last ten days. His Navy ship, the USS Ronald Reagan, was docked there but will be leaving tomorrow for another five weeks on the high seas. Please remember him and our other brave servicemen in your daily prayers.