We are in the corner of Illinois neasr chicago staying at a koa campground.  It is nice though you have to like noise, kids, barking dogs etc to fully appreciate a place like this.  It is nice to see families doing things together, camping, etc.

Yesterday we went to Dairyland Park Greyhound track in Wisconsin.  It is a pretty new facility with lots of room and three floors.  Very clean almost sterile feeling after the dog tracks I’ve been to, but it also for some reason, seemed to lack character. It may have been the fact that they herded us all upstairs and the ground floor was shut up.  A nice lady who worked there told us we could go outside and watch the races if we wanted to, but that would mean having to continually walk up and down stairs to make bets and buy food.

The second floor doesn’t have windows as far as I could tell so that meant you have to go to the third floor and look way down on the dog races.  It separated me from the feeling of the racing.  Another thing I didn’t like was paying a buck to park and a buck to get in.  With all the entertainment and gambling available to the public charging a dollar for parking is not recommended.  Casinos don’t charge for entry as far as I know and I don’t think they charge for parking out here, either, though I could be wrong about that.

So they separated us from the dogs and the action and then charged us for parking and entry.  A good way to get people involved in the dog racing is to let them get close to the dogs and hear their feet pounding the dirt as they go by as well as their barks and excited yips.  Stand just a few feet from the dogs and watch them as they parade past and you’ll have much more feeling about the race and the participants.  A lot of it is the betting but not all of it.  It is a sport and entertainment.  The dogs and the gambling are the draw, especially for families, and there were many children there.  how can anyone connect with the dogs or race from three stories up.  I’m sure it was an economic decision to close off the first floor, but sometimes you think you’re saving money while you are actually throwing it away.

And speaking of the track, if you are going to have a dog track, learn how to groom it properly.  Dairyland was the worst track I’ve ever seen dogs race on and I have been to dog races from New Hampshire to Venezuela.  They graded it aqnd roughed it at the same time and left loose dirt in trails around the track so at one second a dog was on loose rough dirt and the next on smooth dirt.  Needless to say they were falling down all over the track, not just the first turn.
I saw dogs fall on both turns and also on the stretch runs!  One had to be carried off the track.  I have seen thousands of races and know they sometimes fall, bump or have accidents, but it shouldn’t be caused by a poorly groomed track.  Learn the right way to groom the track or get out of the business.  Right now it is just short of abuse to have dogs running on such a poorly maintained surface.  maintain a consistent surface.  It is alright to have a loose deep track but it must all be loose and deep, and the same is true for a hard surface.  Keep it the same. 

All in all I think the facility is nice and like I said, clean.  The staff were friendly and helpful.  But remember, Dairyland, the dogs are key to your success and getting the public to connect with them is important.  Keeping them safe and healthy is a necessity.

So today we are going back for one more trip to Dairyland and then staying in Milwaukee tonight in order to visit the Morris Pratt Institute tomorrow.  It is the school where Sweetie is studying Spiritualism.

Here I am with my sweetie in Vermont.  Wiped out the sewer pipe on the camper leaving the driveway due to a big dip in the road (no it wasn’t me).

Heading to Minnesota by way of Hydesville New york (the home of spiritualism movement), Milwaukee, Wisc. (the spiritualist school), Kenosha Wisc. (Dairyland Dog Track) and  in Minneapolis Sweetie’s sister, brother in law and nephew.

It has occured to me that the key to enlightenment for me is being without thinking about being.  When I had the sensation of being the blue of the sky without thinking of it, that was an enlightening moment. 

Right now I have to find someone to reinstall the old sewer valve and seal the pipe.  No matter how enlightened one gets the natural laws must be obeyed, if not slightly bent from time to time.  Natural law number one is we need showers and bathroom facilities in the old camper.

more on this later…