I did carny work for one day. It was all that we were hired for (long story). Probably got paid pittance. But it was worth the experience. I helped assemble a Scrambler and soon thanked my lucky star (I only got one and it don’t shine none to good) that I was NOT doing one of the big rides. This is tough and dangerous work.
I deeply treasure my decade of summers out there. As I’ve grown older, I’ve really come to appreciate the learning experiences I had out there.
As for a scrambler, I’ve set a trailer-mounted version up almost entirely on my own before - Just needed a second person to install the six removable buckets. 
2 Likes
Wait… 6 buckets? Don’t sound right. Pretty sure any Scrambler (I capitalize that now out of respect, not anything else) I’ve ever seen had 9. Three on an arm. 12 doesn’t seem quite possible.
1 Like
1 Like
Welp, Imma gittin old, I reckon. That looks likes what I remember, excepting for the blue. And the fins or whatever. Any Scrambler I’ve ever was silverish.
[I should lay off the hick talk, but it’s practice]
1 Like
You’re probably thinking of “ground mount” scramblers - the ones that don’t have a trailer - they’re almost always silver, and a BEAST to setup, because those centre structures are heavy.
The trailer-mounted ones are much easier to setup, but more expensive, so most midways opted for the cheaper, more labour-intensive ones.
2 Likes
Well thank you. I was damn fucking sore the next day and probably beyone. And really I was a skinny little wimp. I only started that little adventure because it was something to do, I was curious, and the big one: cig money. Ok, how this happened. I was at the rehab from hell. You want to here this?
1 Like
There’s a large number of folks who choose that lifestyle for the same reason - it’s good, honest, but hard work, and you can enjoy a job well done and some spare cash in your pocket, while seeing a new town each week
1 Like
Well, I certainly met a carny there. Liked him quite a bit. But, this was the rehab from hell. First, it was in the middle of nowhere Texas. Because that’s where the Army put its Nike missile base. The base stood pretty much intact, but with the silos concreted in. So this was a rousingly (spell check sez that should be ‘confusing’ which kind of works) good place to put a rehab, though the guy running it whose name, but not person, I forget. It was run by him by scrounging crap, slightly but not quite shady doings to get the place to run. This place cannot have ever been licensed. Call it a rogue rehab. Any rate he knew someone that ran a carnival that came thru every so often and he would sometimes ask for volunteers to work as set up carnies for a day. Better to try it than not and there wasn’t pressure.So that’s how that came about. Wouldn’t trade the carny experience for the world, but I sure as HELL would not do it again. Esp. at my age.
Would certainly like to chat with you more.
1 Like
This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.
