What a mess.

March 30, East Tawakoni, Texas (33 miles, city property next to TJ's store.)
This time it was a big mess, and this circus unequivocally earned the name on this blog. The tent ripped off last night as it was taken down. Exiting the lot this morning a big rainstorm hit right as the circus was getting ready to leave, complete with hail (we decided to wait it out.) The tractor trailer that hauls the cook house not only got stuck in the mud yesterday but wouldn't start this morning. And then the lot today is one more grassy field, like the rest of the area it got drenched just before the circus arrived, saturating it further on top of all the rain it got in the last two weeks. When we got here, last as usual, nobody was parked on the field but a couple of semi trailers, the rest off to the parking lot of the store next door, as only needed vehicles were directed onto the field; each truck had left a deep dark earth furrow in its wake. Performers, of course, have to run in and out of the tent repeatedly, so here we are, securely deep in spongy muddy grass.
The crew repaired the tent in no time, but the mess getting out and in was such that it is 2:30 PM and the big top only now is up and ready; Fridman just got back from helping out. People lined up the field to watch the whole odysseus unfold, as they would a football game; in the end the show was delayed but will go on. The cook house is nowhere in sight; management ordered pizza for everyone.

Spectators.
The tent is patched with the same fabric it is made of, using heat to glue it together.
From left, Refugio and Benjamin work patching up the tent.