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| Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer & Mona Petro |
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| Springfield, IL |
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| Winners |
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| Pizza-On-A-Stick |
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| pretty much says it all |
August 2011 Illinois State Fair Highlights
While visiting the Capitol Building in Springfield, IL last week, we had the pleasure of meeting Brian Schweitzer, Governor of Montana. A wonderful fellow, the Governor chatted with us in the parking lot amidst a light morning drizzle just before we headed out for Race Day at the Fairgrounds. (Governor Schweitzer was kind enough to pose with Mona for the above snapshot.) And when asked if he personally liked to bet on the ponies, the Govenor took a moment, then answered with a mile wide grin...
"Well, let me put it this way...," he said. "If I lose, my wife gets mad at me. If I win, she wants jewelry. Let's just leave it at that..."
And I did. What a great guy. He has my write-in ballot for 2012.
Anyway, I was lucky enough to cash one winning ticket myself that day. There's only one thing worse, I've found, than not buying your wife jewelry after a good day at the track--and that is, buying cheap jewelry ($249.20 buys a lot of turquoise but not much else). So in spite of the Good Governor from Montana's sage counsel, I subsequently parlayed my bankroll into and afternoon of Elephant Ears, Pizza-On-A-Stick, Deep Fried Twinkies, and one-too-many gut spinning amusement rides. (Oh yeah, and one last 6 Horse Exacta/Tri Box Super Wheel in the 9th that did not come in. Oh well...)
Can't wait to go back next year (and also plan that long overdue road trip to Montana).
Geno Petro
follow me on http://twitter.com/genopetro
