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Re: Funniest or most surreal experience?


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Posted by LeviLovR on March 30, 2023 at 11:34:44

In Reply to: Funniest or most surreal experience? posted by Pete on March 27, 2023 at 20:18:19:

I owe Pete an apology as he was looking for stories that were humorous and laughable and the story I posted was rather a downer. Fortunately my wacky wet experiences have been much more positive than negative and this one always makes me laugh although it involves mud, not water.

As many of you know I have attended Mud Bowl in North Conway, New Hampshire for many years. Mud Bowl has teams who play American football in the mud to raise money for various charities. I literally met my friend Tony in the mud during half time at one of those games and the two of us came up with the ingenious idea of doing a synchronized swimming act in the mud as half time entertainment. We originally thought it would be a one time deal but it was such a hit that we did it for several years and I have many happy memories of those times.

Every year before the games begin on Saturday there is a parade that goes through the center of the town down the main street. Each of the teams has to create a float and put on a skit before a panel of judges. The judging is held in front of the old Victorian rail road station in the center of the town and every year there is a different theme for the parade and anyone can participate as there are numerous categories to be judged and winners are given money to donate towards their charity of choice.Tony and I and any of our cohorts willing to take part would march in the parade and do a little routine of our own for the judges. We would sing or dance or do something crazy and we even won a couple of prizes in our category.

Since we were synchronized mud swimmers, the only ones in the world according to Mud Bowl officials, we thought it would be appropriate for us to be covered in mud as we marched down the street. The problem was that the parade started at the far end of the street at one of the local schools and ended in front of the railway station which was right next to the playing field. All the parade entries had to be at the school early for the parade line up. So we would go to the field, get covered in mud and then walk up to the school and march in the parade. Our problem was that by the time we reached the judges the mud on our clothes had often dried and was cracking and falling off - not the effect we wanted to achieve. There had to be a better way to keep the mud wet and "fresh."

Tony owned a pick up truck and one year we devised the brilliant plan of purchasing a plastic kiddie pool, putting it in the bed of the truck, filling it with mud and we would have someone drive the truck in the parade while we would be in the back in the kiddie pool pouring buckets of mud over each other until we reached the judges' stand.

I should explain that the playing field is at the bottom of a rather steep hill and spectators sat on the hillside looking down on the games. It was a natural amphitheater. So on the morning of the parade Tony drove his truck down to the muddy field and he and I and some others took five gallon buckets and filled the kiddie pool with mud. Then he and a couple of others got in the cab of the truck while I got in the back and sat in the pool and we headed off to the school.

As I said, the hill was steep and there was a dirt road heading up from the field to the main street, which is extremely busy. Tony gunned the truck to make it up the hill but when he got to the top he stomped on the brake to stop for oncoming traffic on the street. The truck was sloped at an angle with the back of the truck lower than the front and the centrifugal force of the sudden stop sent the pool sliding so that it banged into the tailgate causing it to come open and the pool, with me still in it flew out the back in a graceful arc and smacked on the ground sending mud flying everywhere. Fortunately I wasn't hurt, but we were all in hysterics we were laughing so hard. We had never anticipated that happening! So Tony had to back down the hill and we had to put the pool back in the truck and refill it with mud. This time Tony took things a bit slower going up the hill and I decided to walk up and climb in the back once we were safely on the main street. That was the only time we used that idea in the parade. I survived fine, but the plastic kiddie pool was a bit mangled and didn't fare as well.

One thing that we really enjoyed that became a sort of tradition for us was after doing our synchronized swimming act we would walk up through the crowd covered in mud and go out to the main street and walk along waving to cars, shouting "WELCOME TO MUD BOWL", offering people "free" hugs. The reactions of people were hilarious. Some cars would honk at us in approval, some people would wave back, some people would point with looks of total astonishment on their faces. Some pedestrians would stop and want us to have photos taken with them. Some of them didn't want any mud on them and others would literally embrace us and didn't mind getting muddy at all. You never knew what kind of response you were going to receive and it was fantastic fun and one of my favorite parts of Mud Bowl.


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