Indianapolis Motorspeedway - Indianapolis, IN - State No 40

How is the quest for all 50 states going, Kyle?

I just want to give it my best shot, and the good Lord willing, things will work out.

 So what does one do in Indiana?  It's not one of the sexy, exciting states that gets numerous blog posts like Hawaii.  There's no Major League Baseball team to wait for the Phillies to visit either.  There is the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument in downtown Indianapolis.

During PoMiFoS's visit, there was also a FFA convention or The FFA Convention or some big deal for the FFA that weekend.   For those of you who don't know, FFA stands for Future Farmer's of America.  Apparently it's a big deal in rural high schools.  The Official High School of PoMiFoS was rural and there was an active FFA chapter there, but being neither a current farmer nor a future farmer at the time, I did not participate.  I stuck with the football team.  I am no longer a football player and I am still not a farmer though some of the locals in New Jersey may link me to them.  Country music is great, but I am among the least country of my friends.  Regardless of my participation in agriculture or lack thereof, I saw about 10000 adolescents and teens wearing their navy flue FFA jackets proclaiming their home state.  Here is one from Colorado. 

Many of them wandered around Indianapolis on their first trip to the big city.  There were giggles galore and when I was among large groups of them, the hormones were palpable.  Farmers are awkward when they're teenagers, too.  When Little Farmer Johnnie fantasizes about taking Little Farmer Janie to the barn dance and holds out for a roll in the hay, there really is hay involved.  And they know the difference between hay (dried grass) and straw (dried stalks of grain).  

Hay

Straw

And everyone knows, all good boys and girls from the country love watching cars go round in circles.  So does PoMiFoS and where better to do that than the location of the The Great American Race, the Indy 500.  Not surprisingly he majority of the FFA Conventioneers were at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway the same time as PoMiFoS or at least it felt that way.  They filled the lobby and museum of the Motor Speedway and also took up most of the space on my tour bus.  If I were a better storyteller/photographer you'd see some photos of the multitude of navy blue jackets filing past racecars and kissing the bricks at the start-finish line.  Hell, you'd see the bricks at the start-finish line.  Instead you get a photo of the gate and a poorly taken one at that.

There ya go.  Enjoy!

Fortunately, the tour did more than just go to the gate.  I went to the gate myself.  I would have been pissed if I paid $20 (or however much I spent) for just that.  No, the tour was via bus and it took us for a lap, a slow lap, around the track.  You can both the banking in the turns and our tour guide in the picture below.  Doesn't he just scream tour guide at a race track?

At the very least, that face says NASCAR fan.  Of course, I used to be a semi-regular visitor of NASCAR races myself.  At Martinsville, VA we watched Rusty Wallace's last victory, sat in a truck, drank a lot of beer, and played cornhole.. 

Despite the redneck background, cornhole does not involve squealing like a pig.

Back to the more recent past, the tour took us around the track past landmarks recognizable to those familiar with the race track or the Indy 500 or the Brickyard 500.

The Pagoda and the Yard of Bricks at the Start-Finish Line.

The largest media center in the world!  

No, really, largest in the world.

And the Victory Podium. 

Sadly, I did not have any milk to chug upon completion of the tour.

Be sure to take some milk if you go, unless it's really hot.  If you're a racing fan or a sports fan in general, you really should.