Tonight on New Hampshire Crossroads, behind the scenes at a traveling midway in Rochester.

A death-defying flight with the renowned Blue Angels.

And a bagpipe demonstration from high atop Loon Mountain.

Hi, I'm Eloise Daniels, and this is New Hampshire Crossroads.

Theme Music Presentation of New Hampshire Crossroads is made possible in part by Shaw's Supermarkets.

Keep New Hampshire beautiful.

Recycle your aluminum cans at Shaw's, where you're someone special.

Autumn in New England is a season of reminiscence.

The church steeples, the crisp blue skies and brilliant foliage all remind us of our austere Puritan heritage.

But not all New England traditions are quite so pious.

Autumn in New Hampshire also means a wild indulgence of the senses.

Townsfolk in the Granite State suddenly find themselves awash in a sea of fried food, alarming rides, and tempting games of chance.

After all, who could resist Midway Madness?

Music On the road again Just can't wait to get on the road again The life I love is making music with my friends And I can't wait to get on the road again On the road again Goin’ places that I've never been It's not like it used to be.

I can remember when I first started this business with a house trailer.

Somebody saw a house trailer gone down the road, it had to be a gypsy or a carny.

On the road again Like a band of gypsies, we go down the highway The Coleman Brothers Midway has been traveling the carnival road for 70 years, and had been playing the Rochester Fair for the last 60 of these years.

A pretty stable record in a rather transient business.

Bob Coleman has been with the carnival since 1947, when his father bought out his uncle, and he says the carnival business has changed quite a bit.

Oh, it's got to be much more intricate.

Most of our equipment now, most of your big rides are all hydraulic, where you could hire just what we used to call roustabouts, just a guy had a strong back and a weak mind.

It isn’t that way anymore.

I mean, a lot of our help has to be key help that have to have a little knowledge of hydraulics.

A lot of these newer rides now, there's two rides here now, they're all done on computers.

And it's very, very touchy, that you have to have the right power and you have to have generators that are much more updated than the ones we used to have years ago.

Many of the concessionaires work with the Coleman brothers on a contract basis, but the Colemans own all the rides, generators, and the miles of cable necessary to string a big carnival like this together.

It's fun.

I think it's a challenge every week to, to move an operation such as ours.

But we've been fortunate in the fact that we've been in business so many years.

And our route is pretty well compact, and that's pretty much in the New England area.

Based in Connecticut, the Coleman Brothers Midway is on the road for 26 weeks, this year playing 22 different locations.

This kind of life attracts a certain kind of person, an individual who is willing to sacrifice personal comfort and stability in order to bring fairgoers a few cherished moments of abandonment and pleasure.

It’s a rough, tough life.

It's not an easy life, but I, I got used to it, and I enjoy it, that's all.

Francis Squires is a veteran of the carny circuit and is still part of this traveling roadshow, although he doesn't work there much anymore.

Eddie Miller from McAllen, Texas, is also a veteran of the road.

He heads up something called the Circus of the Fantastic and just happened into this line of work in the early 1960s.

I was up in the Northampton, Mass.

It's been about, well, about 23 years ago, and at the time I was riding race horses and I just got tired of it.

Just got tired of the same old round all time.

(inaudible) something different.

And I found it.

We have sword swallowers, fire eaters, knife throwers, human pincushions.

We have a variety of acts.

It's all live acts.

And they're presented in as good a taste as what we can possibly put together for em.

And I really, we really try to give the people a good show inside.

And they do put on a good show.

Heck, you call this working?

Music Ha, now look at them yo-yos That’s the way you do it You play the guitar on MTV.

That ain’t workin’ That's the way you do it.

money for nothing and your chicks for free Now that ain’t workin’ That's the way you do it Lemme tell you, them guys ain’t dumb Maybe get a blister on your little finger Maybe get a blister on your thumb We got to install microwave ovens.

Custom kitchen deliveries We got to move these refrigerators We got to move these color TVs (riders screaming) All too soon, the screams of delight are nothing but a distant echo.

And the harsh reality of moving the Midway down the road rears its ugly head early in the morning.

Although all accept it's necessity, nobody likes this part of the week.

It's slow physical work, and it happens regardless of the weather, which sometimes can put a damper on the whole day.

But it's got to move on.

As Eddie Miller would say, the only signs of the carnival after it closes are the popcorn sacks and the wagon tracks on the ground.

Just can't wait to get on the road again The life I love is making music with my friends and I can't wait to get on the road again And I can't wait to get on the road again Music For show people traveling for the Midway today, life on the road is a blur of signs, towns, children's faces.

For Midway travelers of the past, that blurred picture was practically a still life.

Before the advent of the automobile, progress was pretty slow for interstate travelers, but it was perhaps more romantic.

All aboard for Dry Fork, Apache Wells, Lee’s Ferry, and Lordsburg!

Music Nearly 50 years ago, it was a young John Wayne who brought the stagecoach to fame and glory on the silver screen.

Well, good for him.

Riding through the deserts and past the mesas of the Wild West while fighting off Indian attacks, the Duke helped make the stagecoach one of the symbols of that rough and tumble era.

I know.

You know?

But did you know that most of the old stagecoaches came from Concord, New Hampshire?

That's right.

The Concord Coach built in Concord, New Hampshire.

It was the way for folks to travel not only in the Wild West, but here in New England as well.

Music Coaches were used to haul passengers throughout the North Country, down to Boston and even up Mount Washington.

And today, there's still a dedicated group of people, members of the Concord Coach Society, who are out to preserve the rich heritage of the New Hampshire stagecoach.

They used them prior, course, prior to the railroad, and then after they had the railroad, they used them in conjunction with them, transporting passengers from the from the railroad to the hotels or various places.

Well, this particular coach came from the Worcester, Mass area and believe that it was probably built by the Abbot and Downey Company.

We're not absolutely sure, because so often they signed it inside the doors, and we've never pulled the upholstery off.

Still the original upholstery.

And probably it was used around 1840, and it belonged to a Mr.

Twitchell who had stage lines that ran from Worcester to Boston and throughout Western Mass.

But it wasn't just in this country that the Concord Coach became the preferred means of transportation.

Oh, that's right, they went all over the world.

Matter of fact, they went into Africa and foreign countries as well, because once they came out with these coaches, they're suspended on the leather thoroughbraces, which gave them a rocking motion rather than the up and down jolting motion.

And of course, that meant a more comfortable ride and a more comfortable ride meant more passengers.

Excuse me, ladies.

Close quarters.

Hope I ain’t crowdin’ you folks none.

The more the merrier.

Well, one this size, I believe they had as many as 20 on.

They could put the, they added the seats on the top to accommodate, well, I guess you’d say maybe the poorer passengers rode on top and the others were wealthy ones rode inside.

But getting a Concord Coach and all its passengers and cargo through the Crawford Notch or past the mesas was no easy task.

It took a lot of horsepower.

Your Concord Coach originally was pulled by a Justin Morgan, and they used to use six and eight horse hitches when they went up Mount Washington and over the mountainous terrains.

It depended on the size of the coach, the weight of the load as to how many they used.

And those horses weighed about 1200 apiece, where these guys weigh 16, 1650 apiece.

These hitches were being readied for the latest journey to be taken by members of the Concord Coach Society, a four day trek from Concord to Boston.

The coaches were part of a caravan, comprised of an old Conestoga wagon, as well as a variety of other buggies and carriages.

And as the time to rollout approached, one driver drew upon a family tradition to help prepare for the trip.

The Flume Coach had a special meaning because my great grandfather Prouty, used to drive it from Littleton to the Flume and back again.

He came down from Saint Johnsbury family, that side of the family originated up there.

And he moved to Littleton because of the job with the Coach and I, he passed away when I was seven, maybe eight years of age.

And I can just remember where he lived in Littleton, but not all the stories that he would have told.

And we have three generations on the seat, myself, my brother’s girl, and my granddaughter.

And hopefully my father will join us for the Boston parade.

With that, the caravan was off.

First stop was the New Hampshire State Capitol building and then on to Merrimack, Manchester, and Londonderry, and then on to Massachusetts.

Music Finally, four days after it began, the long journey came to an end as part of the big Columbus Day Parade in Boston.

And as the caravan rolled past Faneuil Hall, the Concord Coaches, driven by a hearty group of modern day pioneers, served to remind us once again of a truly bright part of New Hampshire history.

By the way, the trip to Boston was done to benefit the Statue of Liberty Restoration Fund.

You know, the Concord coach for its day was technically superior to all other stagecoaches.

It was known for its stability and relative comfort.

Travel has certainly come a long way since then, but as producer Larry Wegman found out, the fastest way to travel isn't always the most comfortable.

How did I get myself into this mess?

Sure, I like to fly.

And yes, I’d always dreamed of flying with the Blue Angels.

And okay, so I volunteered for this assignment, all right, but don't let those facts fool you.

I was still more than a little nervous prior to takeoff.

It's a good thing crew chief Don Clark was on hand to give me a preflight briefing and tuck me into that very tiny cockpit.

You know, it's easy for the pilots to stand out in front and take all the credit for everything we do.

But the heart of our effort is our enlisted maintenance people.

They, we have 75 people total, of which normally about 30 of them travel with us every weekend.

And I think the real tribute to them is our record.

We have never canceled an air show due to maintenance.

And if it wasn't for those people, we wouldn't be able to fly here today.

So it's, they're a very important part of our show.

Knowing the ground crew is top notch made me feel better.

And, of course, I knew I didn't have to worry about the man at the controls.

My pilot, Lieutenant David Anderson, like all the Blue Angel pilots, has logged over 1500 hours flying time in tactical jets and over 200 carrier landings.

And the plane itself?

Well, it's the real star of the show.

It's called the McDonnell Douglas A-4F Skyhawk II.

It's a light attack bomber that was built in the early 50s.

Our particular aircraft has a P-408 engine in it that develops a considerable amount of thrust.

So when the aircraft takes off, it's virtually at one- one thrust-to- weight.

In other words, its thrust equals its weight, which is a very high performance airplane.

Its roll rate is better than any tactical airplane in the inventory today.

So it's it's basically the hot rod of jets right now.

And it's a beautiful airplane to watch too.

It looks good in a formation.

Of course, during our jaunt into the wild blue yonder, we weren't flying in formation, but we did do all the same maneuvers the flight demonstration team performs during its actual show.

All the maneuvers we perform are basics that are taught to every aviator.

when he starts out in Pensacola.

How to, learning how to loop the airplane, how to roll it, dives, and things of that nature.

And now we take those maneuvers, now, we made them a little more precise.

We take, we go in a little bit closer than we normally fly, and we bring the maneuvers down a little bit lower so that the crowd can see them.

And there are elements of every maneuver that we fly and different types of combat maneuvers that we've done in our own squadrons, either flying F-18s or F-4s or A-7s.

So yes, our maneuvers are used in combat.

But to say that, that that particular demonstration maneuver is a combat maneuver?

Yes.

Parts of it are.

If those had been the basic maneuvers, I decided I'd take a rain check on the advanced class.

After my share of loops, rolls, and Cuban 8s, a brief stint in actually flying the airplane, and a bout of air sickness, Lieutenant Anderson finally brought Blue Angel Number 7 and one weakkneed producer back home to Pease Air Force base.

Yeah, yeah, that was a weird feeling.

Complete weightlessness.

It just sort of floating there - What’s really strange is negative Gs.

Yeah?

That's when it feels great on your back.

All of the sudden - (laughter) Dave, I appreciate it, I had, I had fun.

My pleasure.

It was good.

I’m glad you had a chance to get up there.

Me too.

Me too, I wouldn't have miss it for the world.

I think for every individual it's something different.

But primarily it's a love of aviation.

And it's a love for flying military aircraft either in the Navy or the Marine Corps.

Combine those two things, plus the fact that this, to most of us, is the ultimate experience we've all wanted to do since we were 5 or 6 years old.

You put all those elements together, and that's why we, why you'd want to do something like this.

It's a thrill and it's a joy to do this.

And then you do a little bit of this, and he just, he talks you through a roll and you just sort of, you just keep pushing and you roll it around.

And the weird thing about it was that I had no orientation.

It was so hazy, it was hard to pick up the horizon.

So that was the toughest part.

The toughest part of my stomach was was the roll when we did the roll because we were, you know, six and a half GS.

Yeah.

That's fun.

I need some cold water on my face.

The Blue Angels fly hundreds of performances every year, acting as the U.S.

Navy's most visible showpiece.

As we saw on Crossroads last week, Britain's military forces have traditionally used bagpipes as their showpiece.

Believe it or not, bagpipes once inspired fear.

They signaled the approach of ferocious Scottish troops.

The eerie and beautiful music of the bagpipes still inspires an emotional response today, but in the form of awe and excitement.

Bagpipe Music But Mousie, thou art no thy-lane In proving foresight Maybe be vain: The best laid schemes o’ Mice and Men gang aft agley, an lea’e us nought but grief and pain, for promise’d joy!

Bagpipe Music There's a similarity between the Scottish accent and the sound of the bagpipes.

The familiar Scottish lilt has a crispness, a quality of unexpectedness.

The speech has sudden changes in volume and unexpected bursts of speed.

You can hear the same characteristics in the bagpipe, with its crisp sustain notes unexpectedly breaking into dancey little melodies which then retreat back into the safety of the drone sound.

Bagpipe Music Music The bagpipes are a strange instrument.

Their sound has an almost irresistible attraction, but their appearance is borderline scary.

They look as if they're alive.

A trained octopus clinging to the piper’s shoulder, enticing would-be victims closer with an irresistible, siren-like song.

Music In order to learn more about bagpipes, I came here to the 10th Annual Highland Games at Loon Mountain, and I enlisted the help of someone who actually plays one of these creatures, Lin Thompson.

Music You do know that Nero could have played the bagpipes instead of fiddle while Rome burned because a coin was found in which Nero was on one side of it, and a bagpipe on the other.

A lot of people don't know that bagpipes originated in Europe, far, far away from Scotland.

They originated mostly around the Mesopotamian, Mesopotamian civilization, moved westward, northwestward, moved into Scotland.

They didn't enter Scotland until the 1400s.

Music This is the Great Highland.

It’s its largest of its kind in the bagpipe family.

It's composed of five major parts.

These are called the drones.

This is called the chanter, played with the fingers, and the blowpipe.

Well, Lin, I think the folks want to know what you feed these creatures.

Am I right, folks?

Something which is obviously the consistency of Castor oil, and it has a terrible smell, but you have to warm it up in a pan of water.

And when it's, when it's of a liquidy mixture, it's poured into this, into the chanter stock or any other stock actually.

But I prefer this because you can hold it and, and the bag is kept, kept loose, and the mixture’s poured in and then corked, corked off at this point and then blown with the blowpipe, which forces the mixture through the pores of the leather.

And that creates, that creates a nice pocket in order to work with, just like kneading bread.

So a good player, seasons his bag maybe once every, oh, I'd say 6 to 8 months.

Another obvious question.

How do they breathe?

There's a valve inside the blowpipe that helps create the air to flow into the bag, which, which presents air to flow through the drones through the chanter and produce a continuous, harmonious sound.

And finally, how does the bagpiper create that irresistible emotional response in the listener?

When I play myself, when I play a piobaireachd, I picture what I do is I'll study the piece itself musically and then study the emotional aspects of it because there’s always, you know, a historical aspect to it.

And, and if I find out that the piece I'm playing is because someone's, someone's seven children died within a period of seven years from a certain disease in Scotland in the 1700s, I feel sad, I feel as though I'm playing for the man whose children all died within seven years.

And there's a lot of expression in that.

Music Through many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come; Tis grace has brought me safe thus far.

And grace will lead me home.

Bagpipe Music Theme Music Here is your chance to send us another of your New Hampshire favorites.

Tell us which is your favorite natural landmark here in New Hampshire.

Send your choice to New Hampshire.

Crossroads, Box 1100, Durham, New Hampshire, 03824.

And we'll show you the results in a few weeks.

As you know, this week we celebrate Veterans Day, and we'd like to leave you tonight with a salute to New Hampshire's veterans.

I'm Eloise Daniels.

See you next week.

Music Presentation of New Hampshire Crossroads is made possible in part by Shaw's Supermarkets.

Keep New Hampshire beautiful.

Recycle your aluminum cans at Shaw's, where you're someone special.

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