“These are great, but I’m not a farmer.” We’ve heard this more than a couple of times tonight. Another was “I’ll have to send my husband is, because he’s a farmer and he’ll understand.” So we’ve come 502 miles to find authentic, rural Americana, only to find that it’s we who seem to rural and authentic. If movies have shown us anything, it’s that a road trip always leads to getting to know yourself better, and this must be our third act denouement, where we learn that our memo books look like (or really are) the real deal. But we’d tell people, “You don’t have to be a farmer. You can use them for anything,” and that’s seemed to work pretty well.

The demolition derby got started a bit late, with the announcer getting on the PA system every once in a while to tell corny jokes and let everyone know that they were still getting some kinks worked out. What kinks you need to work out at an event where the point is to forcibly disable things, we’re not sure, but the wait wound up being good for business, as much larger crowds started filing in around 6:00. Like throughout the day, most of the people who stopped by our building were there for the 4-H vegetables, but they’d swing by after checking out grand prize winning stalk of corn to see what we were all about.

Once the derby finally kicked off, the arena being directly behind us, the building started rattling and sounding like you’re sitting next to a couple of 747’s engines going at full bore. Strangely, we never heard any distinct car crash noises, though at one point something big and loud smashed into the side of our building, maybe something flying off a car, and that put us on edge for a while.

Another volunteer for the Friends of the Onawa Library showed up for her spot to run the booth. She talked to us a bunch about the area, explaining the Loess Hills and how no one over 65 has to pay state income tax in Iowa, which is why so many people like her have retired here. She told us that they were planning to close their booth down early, so if we wouldn’t mind watching after it once they’d left, they’d appreciate it. We told them we’d collect any money for book sales (25¢ for paperback, 50¢ for hardcover) and drop it through the mail slot on our way out of town.

After the burly man carrying (and regularly using) a backscratcher came in to chat and Daniel spotted a farmer in overalls who had large diamond earrings in both ears, our friend the 4-H kid, showed back up again. “So you sold anything yet?” he asked. “Yep,” we told him. Then he talked to us for a while about why he didn’t want to exhibit meat goats and why he prefers to show sheep. Sometimes it would get bit technical and he’d lose us, but we tried to keep up.

Around 9:45, the sun nearly all set, we started packing up. It’d been a long day, but a fun time. We’d met a lot of great people, learned some about the town with the widest main street and the birthplace of the Eskimo Pie, and sold a few of our new County Fair books along the way. By 10:15, the fair was all shut down, we’d loaded up the car and were heading to the one restaurant still open: the BBQ place next to the interstate attached to the truck stop. Covered in a mix of bug spray, sunscreen, and sweat, we were exhausted, but very happy we came. After a well-deserved night of sleep and 10 hours on the road tomorrow, we’d be home.

Video soon.

It looks like we may have survived the heat. The building we’re in has two open doors, but configured in such a way so that no breeze can come in. Instead, however this works scientifically, it seemed to trap the heat. We started taking turns going outside to stand in the sun to cool off.

Throughout the afternoon, we had a number of people pass through and say, “Man, they gave you the hottest building!” One of regulars is a boy of 9 or 10, wearing a 4-H shirt and boots, who would come in and ask us pointed question about what we’re selling. “Why does your sign say ‘Iowa and Nebraska & 48 Other States’?” He’d leave, but be right back with more questions in 10 minutes. Last we saw him, he’d made friends with a handful of girls slightly older than him. We figure we’ve been replaced.

The other regular is the small, lawn tractor-driven train that passes outside the door every few minutes. It pulls empty, halved oil barrels on wheels that have been converted into single cars for kids. Every once in awhile its conductor asks them to wave at us and they do.

Every now and again, we’ll take turns wandering, mostly around the animal pens. Had no idea there were that many different kinds of rabbits.

So the sun is dipping now and the clouds have come in, so it’s much more comfortable. We’ve both had our Knights of Columbus meal deal (hamburger, chips and a drink: $3.50) and we’re gearing up for the demolition derby crowd that should be arriving shortly.

More soon.

We started the morning at the Onawa Cafe, which only takes cash, but you don’t need much of it to get giant plates of hash browns and perfectly-cooked bacon.

Once the County Fair gates opened, we hauled everything in and began setting up. We’re maybe the first overly design-conscious vendors in the whole of county fair history. As such, we spent way too much time tweaking and adjusting and saying to each other, “Does this look centered? We need to make sure everything is symmetrical.”

However extra time it took us didn’t seem to matter much. Most of the action at the fair right now seems to be down at the 4-H building, where the animal competitions are going on. We’ve had just a few people come, bit they’ve all been here to either check out the winning vegetables or talk to the librarian manning the booth next to ours. Understandable, because she’s very nice. She came over to say hello after we were set up. “So what’s your booth all about?” she asked. We told her and showed her some Iowa editions. She said, “That’s neat.” so now we have our first official endorsement. I think her name is Nancy.

Business should pick up later, once the sun goes down and the demolition derby starts. Right now it’s hotter and stickier inside the building than out in the sun. We found a fan and plugged it in and that helped. An older guy wandered in, the guy who apparently the fan belongs to, and said, “This thing shorts out, so watch it.” It just shorted out a second ago, so we’re back to sweating.

More later.

FIELD NOTES’ Steve and Daniel left yesterday for Onawa, IA, home of the Monona (IA) County Fair. Here’s their first report from the road:

When Google maps tell you that something is 8 hours away, you’re usually safe to assume that 8 actually means 10. We left Chicago at 9:30 and got in just after 8:00, with just a couple of stops in between. Along the way we saw a rainbow (obligatory rainbow video) and we stopped to take a photo of the Monona County sign along the interstate.

We checked in to the hotel right alongside Interstate 29. Onawa seems like it’s located just smackdab in the midpoint between Council Bluffs and Sioux City and is somewhat larger than you’d expect. Of course most everything closes early (we barely got in for dinner at Suds & Jugs), but even though their lights were out, the storefronts on Onawa’s main street (the widest in the country!) are almost completely full, something that seems like a rarity in the rural Midwest these days.

Before we both dined on Suds & Jugs’ exquisite chicken fingers, we stopped by the Monona County Fair to find out all the details of where we’ll be set up. We parked in the grass and wandered through the rides and the carny-staffed games of chance and into the thick of the fair, bitten by the occasional mosquito along the way. The fair is about a block and a half long. On the side opposite the rides and games, there’s a display of tractors. In between, there are permanently-installed exhibition buildings that house both 4-H projects and vendors. There was a fairly sizable crowd milling around, but most everyone was watching the Outlaw Tractor Pull behind the buildings.

We scoped out the spot they’ve put us in and we think it’ll be perfect. We’ll be sharing a fairly large building with two other attractions: the winning vegetables in the 4-H vegetable growing contest and the Friends of the Onawa Public Library book sales table (which didn’t seem to be staffed). We’re right in between the two, and just across the main thoroughfare from where it looks like they’ll be selling hamburgers, so it’s prime real estate and you can’t miss us. We’ll be setting up early tomorrow and will be there until 10pm, so stop by and say hello.

Steve will obviously edit together a flashy video of the trip once he gets back, but here’s some rough footage if you can’t wait.

We’re packing and shipping County Fair FIELD NOTES as we speak (man, there are a lot of orders, thank you!), but here are two exclusive opportunities to beat the mailman and pick some up in person this weekend:

Just got a call from FN travelling salesmen Steve and Daniel, on their way to set up our extravagant trade show booth at the Monona (IA) County Fair. Right now, they’re getting gas near John Wayne’s birthplace outside Des Moines. Tonight they’ll reluctantly take a pass on Monona’s vibrant nightlife to get an early start at the fair tomorrow. If you find yourself in eastern Nebraska or western Iowa on Friday, stop by our booth and say “hi,” we’re predicting long lines so come early.

Also, if you’re going to the Pitchfork Music Festival here in Chicago to see eight thousand great bands including PAVEMENT and LCD SOUNDSYSTEM, be sure to visit 826 Chicago’s The Boring Store booth for County Fair FN goodness.

We here at Field Notes have been lucky enough to have done some cool co-promotions with some pretty cool people. We did a special run of notebooks for our pals at Threadless and just recently did a fun collaboration with the crew at Sound Opinions. Plus, we’ve had a blast working with Oakley, Microsoft MIX, Gowalla and J Crew too.

We are super excited about our latest collaboration, a special edition for a summer store promotion for the Levi Strauss Company. The result is a custom 3-pack with a red, a white and a blue notebook on French Construction 100# cover with a double-hit of metallic silver ink. They are gorgeous, if we do say so ourselves, and they’re only available in Levi’s stores. Find a location near you here and stop in and pick up a pack to add to your Field Notes collection.

UPDATE: A Continuous Lean visited the new Tailor Shop at Levi’s flagship store in San Francisco and took tons of great photos. Thanks for the FN shoutout!

As our mailing list already knows, new summer COLORS are on sale! Above is “Alaska,” one of the FIFTY editions available in our “County Fair” series, sold in 3-Packs, via subscription, or as a 50-state box set. More details about the books and how to order can be found here.

Wanna be first to know in the future? Join our mailing list in the top of the left column over there? See it? Good. All we need is your email address, we’ll keep it like a secret.

We’ve been big fans (and listeners) of Chicago rock critics Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot’s radio show Sound Opinions for many years, so we were thrilled to whip up some custom FIELD NOTES as giveaways for this week’s WBEZ Chicago Public Radio pledge drive. Choose the “Sound Opinions Critic’s Kit” when you pledge, and you’ll get a 3-Pack of Sound Opinions FIELD NOTES, and a custom Sound Opinions pen and pencil. These are only available through the pledge drive.

If you’re outside Chicago, remember that WBEZ produces and syndicates Sound Opinions on dozens of other stations nationwide, and webcasts and podcasts are also available. Check in with Jim and Greg at 8pm Fridays (in Chicago) or on your local station or online. It’s always a great listen, and this week is a great time to call, pledge, and score some very limited-edition FIELD NOTES.

We wanted to say congrats to David and the fine folks at DijitalFix as they open up their second location, this one in the Lower East Side at 9 Clinton Street, NYC. Be sure to stop by the opening bash this Friday, June 18th, the fun starts at 7pm. The checkout counter in the photo above was designed and made by David and is made completely out of shipping pallets. Thanks for featuring Field Notes so prominently! We’ve added a bunch of really great retailers to our retail family, a big welcome to Cranky Yellow in St. Louis MO and The Coffee Ethic in Springfield, MO. We have our first retailer in the fine state of Maryland, Bertram’s Inkwell in Kensington. Moving on over to Austin, TX, say hi to the nice folks at Bows + Arrows and then on up to the Screaming Sky Gallery in Portland, OR. Heading back to the Midwest, we welcome Lunalux in Minneapolis, MN and last but certainly not least, FlyBird in Oak Park, IL.

So it’s 1975 or 1976 and good Americans are celebrating their Bicentennial, right? A high time. 200 years young. And the family farm is going strong, with tough times on the horizon in those ’80s.

Here’s a little snippet from the back of this memo book to get that agrarian blood pumping:

“Leap ahead into America’s future.

Her Flag still flys (sic) high and proud. There are many more Americans. Typically, they are hard at work enjoying their homes and families. They have plenty of wholesome top-quality food. They remain free.

But what incites them to accept the call of a future America’s demand for food and fiber?

It is in their Creed: “I believe in the future of farming, with a faith born not of words, but of deeds — achievements  of agriculturists…I believe that rural America can and will hold true to the best traditions of our national life…”

And it is their Heritage. Men who molded America came from farms and plantations — farmer statesman of the past like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. They understood the challenge of change. They fought for their beliefs. They took risks. Their flaming spirit served as a high standard which generations of Americans have endeavored to emulate.

Future Farmers today are inspired by these same heroes of our Nation and her agriculture. The vigor of their youth drives them onward. FFA members are A FUTURE FOR AMERICA!”

There you go, people. The entire Field Notes enterprise would like to take this opportunity to tip our hat to the American farmer. Thank you.