Tales from the Road Ch. 02

Two stops down the route we were near a shopping center, and there was a Wal-Mart at the other end. We were going to get the biggest cooler they had, but it wouldn't fit on the floor of the semi and still close the door. It was three inches too long. We had to get the next smaller one.

Ro asked around at the various concessions and came up with a couple of plastic jugs to stick inside the cooler. Two with holes poked in them, one stayed solid for bread and stuff that couldn't get wet. The ones with holes let the ice water in but didn't let the ice cave in around them.

Yeah, I was learning a lot about camping without ever going in the woods.

And life went on.

Some of our little used stuff got packed in smaller bags and put in out of the way places in the trailer. We could do a little walking and possible sight-seeing and visiting booths in the morning before we had to get the rides up and going. When I was able to park the truck a little further away from the rest we spent mornings in bed.

The next turn for us came at the Montana state fair. We got in a day early and set up to do maintenance, painting, etc. Each ride took turns with the pressure sprayer. Getting things reasonably cleaned off, then brushes and buckets for the heavy stuff. Ro looked damn good in a wet t-shirt. Not soaking, but wet enough to let some nice lace show through. Her long shorts clinging to her ass just enough to let a bit of her narrow panty line show kept me stiff most of the afternoon.

She was not happy, "I can't believe you didn't say anything!"

"So should I have said you look good enough to eat into a screaming orgasm, or that I was going to drag you back to the sleeper for a few hours?"

"I... You..."

"Honestly Ro, you looked so hot like that it was really distracting."

I was being given the eye. Ro was not of the opinion that she was a good looking woman. "No butt and no boobs!"

But I would pull her close and get a good grip on her ass and squeeze and play. "Mmmmm, I don't know about that. I seem to be able to get a nice grip on it." Then I'd push her shirt up or aside and go for her tits. She wasn't huge, but she wasn't flat chested. And nibbling on those long firm nipples seemed to kill the argument at the time.

I began to reach for her wet tits grinning and wiggling my eyebrows. She would bat at my hands, then look around to see if anyone was nearby. If not, my second attempt usually got me a nice handful to squeeze a bit and a decent kiss. Today we were behind the ride, so I got some nice squeezing of ass and tit before we came up for air.

She walked toward the truck, then stopped and turned quickly to shake her finger at me catching me watching her ass as she walked away. She was headed off to get her little stove set up. Today she was doing burgers for the guys working my ride along with a few others that kicked in for the beef.

I scowled and she grinned when she came back, she had put on a dry top.

We did a bulb check and then some touchup painting after lunch, then called it quits for the day.

We walked and looked, another company was setting up next to us, and a number of the concession trailers were getting set up. I looked, and that one looked familiar. We walked closer, and I grinned, "HECTOR!"

He spun, then grinned and walked up to me arms wide, giving me a big hug. "Jerold, mi amigo. How have you been?"

"Good. You?"

"Keeping busy, making donuts."

"There goes my paycheck."

He chuckled, "I'll bring a starter bag down later to your big egg beater."

I sighed, "No Scrambler, I'm on the RoundUp."

He looked surprised, "What? What happen' amigo?"

"Different show. They have a new Scrambler. Two guys and two hours, and that's if they take their time." Well technically three, but that third was just for the time to pull or insert half a dozen pins.

"Sorry amigo, you looked like you liked that ride."

"I did, it was fun. The newer rides are a lot easier to set up, but sometimes the old ones are the best."

He looked like he was going to say something, then Consuela hollered out. He waved to her and we shook.

Ro hooked my arm and grinned, "Donuts huh?"

I groaned. "I spent way too much money and gained too many pounds on Hector's mini donuts."

She grabbed my ass, "Good thing you have a new exercise program then isn't it?"

I pulled her to me and grabbed hers. "Yes, it is," then pulled her head to mine for a long deep kiss.

Consuela hollered out something in Spanish, Hector laughed. It was probably something to embarrass me, but since I didn't speak the language, I just went back to kissing Ro. Consuela cackled.

The midway didn't officially open until tomorrow, but we had a soft opening for the attendees. Starting around three in the afternoon and shutting down around eight. It was slow enough we shut down a little after seven.

I grabbed Ro, and she was giggling as we made our way to Hector's trailer. He was just closing the front doors. I slowed. Consuela cackled and held up a bag of donuts swinging it to get my attention.

It's hell to be that predictable. I dug for my wallet, and she shooed me away with the bag in my hand. Even cooled a bit, Ro was soon agreeing with me on his donuts.

The good and the bad of big fairs is the long stays and long hours. We were in one spot usually for a week, but the fairs had people out and about a lot earlier. Technically we didn't start until noon, but the generator fired up around ten, and the more early tickets we snagged, the less there was for the competition.

Meaning by quarter after ten we were at our rides. We did have a bit of a minimum for the RoundUp, but it was more about balance. If there were only ten people, they couldn't all be on the same side.

That was another thing I missed about the Scrambler. With only three to a tub, it was pretty easy to keep it balanced out. Not that it actually went that fast. The tub rotation made it seem like it was moving fast, but in reality it's a LOT slower than you think.

I did learn the 'secret' of big tits on the RoundUp. It wasn't the size so much as what held them. Most bras and tops and they just flattened. But on the occasion when a woman was wearing something more to squeeze them together, they had a nice habit of coming up. A VERY nice habit. I let one go almost twice as long since her nipples popped out of her neckline. She turned an amazing shade of red when she realized her nipples were hanging out.

By the third morning, it had settled down. We barely had thirty peopled before noon, so we got to sleep in a bit and do an actual noon start the next day. Well, stay in the sleeper anyway. Ro was the first one out of the cab and on a fast walk to the shower. We had all learned, women took the head of the line... period. I could have been standing there for half an hour waiting and be the next man in. One of the girls came up and she got the next spot, no questions asked.

And since there was a bit of a line, I went wandering. Checking out the competition. A fair number of newer rides and variations on existing rides. Just enough change to not be infringing on patents. Hell, the Sizzler and many others are take-offs of the original Scrambler.

The interesting part is looking at the rides from the back side, if they have a backside. Ferris wheel, Scrambler, that type, they are all out in the open. But you look at the back of a RoundUp or a Tilt-a-Whirl, and you can see the condition of the ride. You see if the mechanical and electrical stuff is tight and neat, or just holding together. Most were pretty good, but there were a few that were not something I would put my kids on. They supposedly passed inspection, but still.

I wandered back up toward our end, and saw something that looked familiar. There was a gap in the rides, and behind it was a short semi-trailer. I looked a little closer and chuckled.

The trailer was not in too bad a shape, and the back doors looked pretty decent. But there were two dead giveaways. There was about three feet of I-beam sticking out the trailer at the top center of the doors. The beat up lower door frame under the doors was the other.

"Can I help you?" was called out from behind me.

I turned to see a rather chubby middle aged man walking toward me. "Na, just looking. Wondering why it wasn't set up."

"What wasn't?"

I put my thumb over my shoulder, "The Scrambler. Something wrong with it?"

He looked at me a second, "What makes you think that's a scrambler?"

"Mmmm, could be something else, but the I-beam and beat up doorway are a pretty good clue."

He was looking me over. "Know a little about them do you?"

I smiled, "Way back when I started out on one. They can be a real bear to set sometimes."

He relaxed a bit. "Who makes it?"

"Eli Bridge."

"How fast they spin, fifteen, twenty RPM?"

I smiled, "Not even."

"Well?" he said crossing his arms.

"Book or actual?"

He nodded.

"Book says two point five. Best I ever got after a fresh greasing is two and a quarter on a flat parking lot."

He chuckled, "Okay, I give," and stuck his hand out to shake.

"So why don't you have it up? What's broken?"

"Damned if I know."

"Huh?"

"The guys operating it took off a few weeks back. It belongs to my boy Dominic. He bought it from a show that closed up and the operators came with, but jumped ship two weeks ago. It's not in the greatest shape, but not bad. It's just the sweeps are real sloppy. Come to a quick stop and they flop a bit. Nobody wants to fight it."

I grinned, they just didn't know the ride.

"What?"

"Mind if I crack the doors?"

"Not at all." We stepped to the back and popped them open.

I looked in and peered into the dark trailer. I could only see the bottom of one of the sweep pivots, but I knew what his problem was. And he needed bodies that could operate the ride. I was still grinning.

"What? What do you see?"

I grinned, "I know what's wrong with the ride."

"From just looking at it, bullshit."

I shrugged.

"So what's wrong with it?"

"What's it worth to you?"

He got a scowl, "Not a damn thing if it doesn't work!"

"What are you offering? I get it going and you scoot down the road on me."

He settled down a little, he knew I had a point. "So what do you want?"

"Who's going to run it once it's working?"

He got a little smile. "That's what you're after, a job?"

"Depends on what it pays, and I have a girlfriend with me. She's done ticket booth and ticket taker on kiddie rides. Helps with set up and tear down as needed on whatever I'm working."

"Package deal huh?"

"Yup."

He looked between me and the open trailer doors. "You can set her up and make it run?"

"As long as there aren't any major problems with it beyond what you told me, sure thing."

"How about we set it up in the morning?"

"With two experienced guys and two locals, setup is around four hours. I need at least three, preferably four if none of them have worked this setup, and one of them has to be able to pull the truck back and forth."

"I can swing that."

"So then we are back to the job. Well, two actually."

He rattled off a number lower than what I was making now. I shook my head and started to turn away.

"Okay, okay." He bumped it to a fair amount more than what I was making now, and much more than Ro was making.

"And where do we sleep? That truck has no sleeper."

"The guys that were running it slept in the trailer."

"Unless it's full of Scrambler."

He chuckled and grinned.

"And I have a woman with me. How long do you think that's going to fly with her?"

He actually grinned at that. "Fine, first truck with a sleeper opens up and you get it. That work?"

"I think I can sell that. Not wanting to kick someone out of their home and all."

"Deal," and stuck his hand out again. "I guess since I just hired you I should ask your name."

"I'm Jerold, my girlfriend is Ro."

His eyes bugged out and he let out a string of Spanish, I only got one word. 'Hector'.

"What?"

He grinned shaking his head, "Hector said I should find you and bribe you with donuts."

"Oh god."

He chuckled, "And they're damn good donuts, eh amigo?"

I just smiled. "I hear the generator starting up. I'll see you here in the morning."

I went up through the kiddie rides on the way to the RoundUp. I found Ro, scooped her up with a hand on her ass and twirled her around making her shriek. I held her tight and gave her a big kiss.

There was some hooting and hollering from the other ride operators while she was pounding on my shoulders to put her down, and Ro looked like she could kill me.

I gave her another kiss to forestall the tirade, then pulled back to her ear. "Come see me tonight on your break, we need to talk."

She pulled back, her mouth still open, the words she had planned to let loose on me hanging there. She glanced around. "What?" she said softly.

"Not here, not now, but tonight."

She got a little smile, "Good?"

I nodded, kissed her, turned her around, gave her ass a not so light swat, and headed for my RoundUp. She screeched, I kept walking. I half expected to be tackled from behind and beaten to a pulp, but she decided to let me live.

Around four I saw a somewhat perturbed woman coming my way. The guys chuckled, they'd heard about my 'assaulting' Ro. I was guilty, I just hadn't been sentenced yet. What really confused them was I was grinning all night.

She stood outside the bicycle rack with hands on hips. The guys thought I was a goner.

I slipped out and went around the back of the rides. Ro was right behind me.

I stopped quick and took her in my arms and kissed her hard. "Have I told you lately how much I love you?"

"It's been at least six hours."

I started to reach for her ass.

"Time to pay the piper mister."

I grinned, "Want a nice big raise?"

That stopped her cold, "How?"

I related my conversation this morning, she was interested.

"But how do you know what's wrong with it?"

I chuckled, "Because I made the same mistake the third time I set it up, I just had Matt to tell me what I did wrong."

"So what's wrong with it?"

"If it is what he says it is, the bottom retaining rings are on upside down."

She looked at me, "You're shitting, that's it?"

I nodded. "The center shoulder is slightly off center. It will go together flipped over just fine if not a bit easier, but it doesn't keep the drive gear up in the spindle teeth all the way." I gave her another nice kiss. "And with both of us there, it should be a breeze."

"But I've never set one up."

I grabbed her ass and turned her, "Come with me dear."

She jerked away, but followed me. We went down to the Sizzler, and I dissected the ride as if it were a ground mount. I also told her that I would hand her the retaining rings to be put in when I told her to, and what to look for to make sure they went in the right way.

"So we're going to a new show huh?"

"Only if you say yes. It will be more money, and we'll be working the ride together."

"But we have to sleep in the trailer."

"It's enclosed and has lots of room if the ride is out. With the ride in it can be tight, and we have the tent if we need to. Aldo said the guys had some kind of bunk up in the front of the trailer, but we won't know until tomorrow."

She smiled, "You know, I'd just hate not to have to work the rug rat patrol."

I held my arms out and she came for a good snuggle and kiss. "That's kinda what I thought."

"So when do we tell Carroll?"

I shrugged. "We're just helping out until he actually offers us a job. I'd say be packed to move in the morning. I think we should offer to finish out the stop, but I have a feeling she'll want us gone."

"Yeah, she's not the forgive and forget kind."

"Part of the reason she has so much turnover."

"Okay, we prep for a mid-day move, then tell her if that's the way it goes."

"Unless you can think of a better plan." Of course that was said with a slight squeeze of her ass.

"Grrrrrrr."

"Well it's either that or..." I brought my hand up toward her tits.

Ro stomped off with quite the ass wiggle. I dearly loved playing with, sucking, and nibbling on her tits and nipples. But when I couldn't do that, she had a mighty fine ass, and it felt REAL good in my fingers.

Ro and I did some cleanup and pack up during our evening break. We still had a few things in the cooler, and would normally have gone grocery shopping in the morning. But we had something else planned.

Ro made a quick egg and sausage link breakfast. That killed off the sausage links and we had four eggs left, six strips of bacon, and some OJ. Not much to worry about if it went to hell.

We got down to the trailer, and Aldo was grinning right beside Hector... he dangled some donuts.

I made like I was grasping for them. Everybody chuckled.

The royal pain in the ass is the center spindle structure. Letting that heavy piece of iron down the ramps on a hand crank winch is one of the most dangerous parts of the install. Once it was on the ground the truck was backed up and the winch was used to set the top.

Then it was clown car time.

While I was swapping wheels for legs and then leveling the main unit, the other four guys and Ro were pulling all the little stuff out.

Once that was set, then it was time for the 'in and out'. Ro groaned, the guys cackled.

We backed the truck up and set one of the top arms and its support pipes, then pulled the truck forward, rotate the ride, and set the second, then the third.

Aldo was hovering.

Between the second and third top supports, I handed Ro the collars and a rag and told her to clean them up. She gave me a look, and the guys chuckled. But now she had what was needed. She could 'clean' them and put them the right way for install.

We set one end of the lower arm, then used the winch and trolley on the I-beam to set the tub pivots. The top just hung in the top supports. Using the winch to lift the bottom arm up against the tub pivots, wiggling and cussing a bit until Ro got the collars in place and pinned, then on to the next and the next. Two pairs of guys set the tubs and supports and it now looked like a Scrambler.

At this point I let everybody but one go. The hard part was done, and Aldo was still hovering. I grinned. We set the catwalk, the motor, then all the chain couplers.

When we started hanging the light channels, he went to the tub pivots and began trying to turn them. They had a little play just because of the gears, but nothing like I bet he had.

He was looking at me and Ro setting the light channels. "How'd you do that?"

I grinned, "That information only goes to my boss."

He kicked his head back chuckling, "When can you start?"

Ro jumped in. "We'll give Carroll to the end of the stop, but there is a good chance she'll send us packing."

He sighed, "Yeah, her old man was the same way. Whatever happens, let me know."

"We're going to bring our stuff over before the shit hits the fan."

"Understand. I'll have sparky get it hooked up. If not you, then somebody can have it spinning."

The light channels were in place, and we went back and snagged our stuff. We had only been with the show for a few months, but it seems like we were moving twice what we came with. It took two trips, then we went to see Carroll.

"Um Carroll, we got an offer to..."

"I heard," she said with an edge.

"Can you blame us? It's not like Sam and Scooter are going to give up the Sizzler."

"You know this is going to put me tight on drivers."

"I understand, but there is nothing I can do about that. We'll work out the rest of the stop but..."

"No, get your stuff and get out."

"We have some draw money coming," Ro added.

It wasn't much, about thirty dollars apiece, but it was several days' meals.