Ferris Wheels: The ones you see now are all phonies

Here's a picture of my wife, Lynn, and me on a real, old-fashioned Ferris Wheel in Kalispell, Montana last summer.

Actually you can't really call it a Ferris wheel. In the carnival industry, it's just a wheel, because Ferris is the name of the guy who invented the first big wheel for people to ride on. The name has stuck with the public and become synonymous with the wheels at county fairs, but for those in the know, there's really only one Ferris Wheel, and that's the original -- and it's gone now.

But anyway, one of my small pet peeves in life is the gargantuan device that passes for a wheel at the county fairs these days. Even the fair in Forsyth has had one of these wheels for a few years. It's called the Century Wheel, which implies that it's 100 feet tall, but nope -- it's 65 feet.

Century Wheels are bigger than the old-fashioned wheels you used to see at carnivals, for sure...but they're just not the same.

Why? Because the seats, instead of being loveseat-like chairs that are carried on the rim of the wheel, the newer wheels have "gondolas" that hang down below the rim.

As a result, you never get that lighter-than-air, king-of-the-world, high-above-it-all feeling on the newer wheels.

On a traditional wheel, when you go over the top, your head and shoulders are above the top of the wheel. On the way down, you can see the scenery and view the fairgrounds with nothing in front of you. On the newer wheels like the "Century Wheel" and the "Giant Wheel," you are never outside of the machine. And if you're with your wife, you can't even sit next to her on the new wheels because you have to sit on opposite sides of the gondola to balance it.

So I was delighted to find out that the Northwest Montana Fair in Kalispell had a real old fashioned wheel. The kind that used to be at every carnival everywhere. The kind you don't see around these parts anymore. So naturally I insisted that we queue up for a ride. And it was great. The operator even let us go around an extra time at the end, because I'm sure he saw how much fun I was having.

My wife and my friends may not understand this affinity I have for the real old-fashioned wheels. That happens to me a lot...people don't see the awesomeness in something that I see. But then, it works the other way too...my wife loves "Dancing With The Stars," and I just don't get that.

But anyway. Real wheels. The Big Eli, as they're sometimes called. By the way, they're only made by the Eli Bridge Company. Remember that next time you visit a county fair.