| The USA Road Trip | ||||
|
  Gerry's Overall Observations America looks big on a map, but until you drive it you really don’t appreciate it like you should. Theres something about turning onto a road and the tomtom telling you that its nearly 600 miles before you turn off that road that really makes the jaw drop. There are plenty of stories and highlights, some of them can be written, some of the things the old saying applies “What goes on tour stays on tour”, but heres my observations from the trip. 1) Tim’s alter ego. Tim has to be the most laid back person I’ve ever met until he has a few bourbons in him. Then he becomes a one man hurricane. Watching him get turned down by every girl in the bar and bounce round the room has to be one of the most entertaining things I’ve ever seen. Also seeing him discover Blackjack for the first time is not a memory I will forget anytime soon. 2) Scott deciding we should camp in the desert. We should have realised that at 9pm when we went for dinner and the temperature was still in the low 30s that sleep was going to be near impossible, regardless of how much bourbon you drunk. I’m not gunna lie, I gave the bourbon theory a pretty good go and I still only got 2 hours sleep. There is something about waking at 5am drenched in sweat and looking over your pillow to find Scott has only made it as far as falling on his tent that really makes you appreciate road trips with your buddies. 3) Driving 27 hours straight really takes you out of your comfort zone. What starts as long drawn conversations about the world eventually turns into one word answer about how far we have left to travel, with everyone clearly desperate to get out of the vehicle and get as far away from each other as possible. For those planning a long road trip like ours, ban any beef jerky type products from being consumed prior to leaving. Trust me, at the 16th hour you will appreciate the odour of having not eaten them. 4) AMA Motocross. There is no doubt in my mind about how fast these guys are and the resources they have available to them to make them go that fast. Our boys did themselves proud, and it was interesting watching them go from the big fish in a little pond to average fish in a ginormous pond. I don’t think its long before we see a few more kiwis over here flying the flag for NZ MX, just hope they are prepared to sacrifice everything in order to do it. Its obvious everyone on the start line there has. 5) Schumacher. Not Michael but Justin. If you can keep up with him on the road than you are doing better than 99% of America is. 6) America is the only country in the world except those little terrorist ones. Well you would think so the way the Americans think and talk. I’m not sure how many times it happened but I got told I was a really nice European. This was after explaining where New Zealand was. Opposite ends of the globe people. I spose I can forgive them as they brought us not only the ¼ pounder burger and the 1/3 pounder, but also the meaty quad stacker. And they wonder why they look the way they do. 7) Patriotism. America is the most patriotic country I’ve ever been to. Every where you look are flags, bumper stickers and tee shirts emblazoned with the stars and stripes. I think it’s something New Zealand could definitely adopt. I’ve always wondered whats wrong of being proud of your country. 8) The Ocean. I didn’t think this would ever happen but the further inland we drove, the more I missed the ocean. There is something about its majestic power and size that sort of makes you miss it when all you can see is cornfields. It’s a hard feeling to explain but when you go from seeing most days of the week, it’s bizarre to think it’s so far away. All in all, it was a fantastic trip that lived up to everything I thought it was going to be and more. Laughs were plentiful whether it be observations made about the locals or at how green Shayne was, bourbons flowed like they should have, fast and strong, road tripped with some fantastic people, met some interesting ones along the way, and of course I got to see some of the fastest riders in the world battle out for 30 plus 2. Tim's Overall Observations It’s not until you go away for an extended time and out of your comfort zone that peoples true colours come out. It didn’t take Shayne long to get his nickname for the trip, “Green Man”, he stepped a mere 2 metres out of the LAX terminal before he got scammed a few bucks by a Christian guy who gave him directions to the bus stop, which if he had of continued walking for a further 10 meters he would found by himself….. Why the green (fresh) man, it was like he had time warped into the future, he struggled to keep up with what was going on. Next up was Scott who was our walking talking encyclopaedia of knowledge and therefore now responds to the name “Google”, Google had an answer for everything, right or wrong he could spit out Celsius to Farenheight conversion rates, American history dates, place names, you ask it this guy knows it, although he had to be re-booted several times! We had spent the night before in Vegas which was then followed by 20 hours driving, it was now about 4am and Gerry had just taken over the captains seat for his stint of driving, as you can imagine all you want to do is crash out and sleep in the back of the van, which was dam near impossible with Gerry’s driving, travelling at a snails pace we weaved all over the road as we came down the rocky mountains. He soon got the nickname “Huggy” as he constantly hugs the side of the road just missing cars, bikes and constantly on the rippled strip, from that point he was officially barred from driving! That day we continued driving thru Colorado, Nebraska and then reached Omaha in Iowa state that night. After a complete day of driving thru nothing but corn fields I started to think, either these guys really love corn or this place is kind of big! Another day of driving thru corn fields and we made it to Millville, 2500 miles already under our belt. I’ve been to a few AMA races before however I would have to say that it is totally different live than on TV and in the magazines where they tend to hype it up….. Apart from stack loads of hot chicks, huge crowds, massive factory team sets ups and big name riders, the AMA nationals seem just like a national event back at home. Sat morning the riders are still forced to go to riders briefing to see what a yellow flag looks like, there are pro’s honing around the pits on pit bikes, not naming anyone but there is the top rider that turns up hung over from the night before…. I don’t know, it just seems a whole lot more relaxed than it appears on TV, they are just normal dudes that like to ride dirt bikes. At Millville I was standing next to Millsaps at the start gate, he was talking to Short about how he sucked around a particular corner and how he couldn’t get it right, well I saw him previously hit that corner at close to warp 10 speed, so I offered to kindly jump on his bike and show him what it really looks like to suck around that corner…. Which brings me to the point, no matter what level of rider you are all moto riders seem to be the same, no matter how fast you are there is still something that frustrates you, you always want to go faster its just that we are competing at different levels. It was interesting being with Luke and Justin at the race meetings and seeing their perspective. At home they are amongst the best riders in the country, they both ride for Honda and turn up to race meetings with the speed, bikes and support to compete with the best in NZ and Aussie. However in the states it is the opposite, they are up against factory teams with huge budgets and support, they look at the entry list and go sh1t, these guys are all fast, they are up against guys on bikes that have had hundreds of hours of testing to have it set up perfectly, between races they had to work on their own bikes, they had to be on their “A” game just to qualify, the whole thing kind of cracked me up, I said welcome to my world as it is exactly the same for me turning up to a race meeting at home and trying to compete against guys like you! Last time I watched an AMA national I didn’t think that they were that much faster than the riders back at home, I would like to take that back, 1st to 40th are super fast, so for the boys to qualify and get points at each round was a feat on its own, they were only a few seconds of the top dogs, you got to remember that they were living out of a van, top and tailing 4 up in a room and then turning up tired, competing and beating factory riders, I was really impressed. We left Millville in a two van convoy for Portland which was about 2000 miles away. Justin soon become known to us as Schumacher, if you have seen him cut thru the pack on a moto bike, well just replace the bike for a fully loaded Chevy van and then imagine him carving his way thru trucks all away along the 2000 mile drive to Portland. Porcels set up at Washougal was awesome, there were two Kawasaki trucks set up with all the team under it, however being French and not keen to get in the American ways Porcel set up his own camp out back, he was pitting by himself under a tiny easy up way out back. You know when you are at moto sitting under your tent having a relaxing lunch, and then some annoying kid on a KX80 starts his bike up and screams around the pits, well that kid at Washougal was Porcel, we were sitting back relaxing way out back in our pit and then porcel cruises thru on his PC Kawi wearing no helmet or shirt, just sneakers and shorts, and then does practice starts between the cars and trucks that are parked up, must have worked as he got the holeshot in the 2nd moto! It’s not until you get back that you realise what a great trip you had, it would have to be one of the best trips that I have ever been on, we saw and did so much in a short time. Missing wall mart already. Cheers Tim
Washougal Race Pics Here are a selection of images from Washougal, to be able to see more and get a real detailed version of what we did and saw you will have to get your next copy of Kiwi Rider.
Sunday 26th July We finally left the track at 9.30pm, and were keen to get back to the hotel for a shower. To the staff at the Farifield Inn, I am truly sorry for the state we left the white towels in. Since it was Justin and Burga’s last race in America, we decided to go out and celebrate the success they had and it was also our last night in the states so we had to have one final blow out. All I’m going to say is if you’re ever in Portland, the nightlife must experienced as the people are super friendly and a good time is on the cards for sure. We had to catch a flight from Seattle at 8.30am, which was a 3 hour drive from Portland where we were staying. This meant we had to leave at 4.00am. Usually getting up at this hour of the morning can be done without to much effort, but since most of us didn’t get home till after 3, it was definitely a challenge getting up. We had no worries making the flight on time thanks to Shayne driving as the rest of tried to catch up on some sleep in the backseat. Once on the plane, I think all 4 of us were asleep before we had taken off. The highlight of the flight was watching the baggage handlers in Los Angeles unload the bags and toss them across the tarmac. Unfortunately for the lady next to us, she saw her bag get thrown right over the baggage cart, and under the wheel of the trailer. The handler then drove off as the bag got jammed under the wheel. The expression on her face was priceless. We got picked up from the airport by one of Scotts friends, who had a van that looked just like the mystery mobile and I was sure Scoobydoo was going to jump out when he stopped. He took us down to Hermosa Beach for the afternoon as we had 7 hours between flights, and it seemed like a good way to kill the afternoon. Shayne fell asleep on a grass bank, and no more than 10 minutes later, the sprinkler system turned on soaking him wet. Very amusing I tell you. The rest of the afternoon was spent at a local bar (hair of the dog some might say), where we met some very nice locals to yarn to. Our place departed at 9.30pm, and no sooner where we in the air we were all fast asleep. 13 hours later we touched back down in NZ, to a balmy 5 degrees and a small frost. Back to reality and work tomorrow, it has been an epic 2.5 weeks with more stories and laughs than I could possibly remember and I’m already planning my next one away with the boys. Ricey has only just finished unloading all his photo cards, so look for a picture editorial in the coming days. Check upcoming Kiwi Rider Magazine for the full story. Saturday 25th July
The morning was an early one. Like before 6am early thanks to Scott waking up and deciding that everyone else needed to be awake. Why? Well he needed to be at the track and there was no way I needed to be up that early. The complimentary breakfast doesn’t even get served until 7am.
We headed out to the track about 8am, the sun was already starting to burn and we weren’t out of the car. The crowd turn out was absolutely massive, however the day didn’t start off so great. Burga blew and engine up in practice and Scott and Tim worked furiously trying to change it before the next practice. It took them about 35 minutes to swap it over which was impressive. The second practice went well for the boys with Burga qualifying in 21st and Justin in 28th. The first moto was awesome to watch, with this track being super fast and super technical even though it didn’t look like it. While it looked loamy on top it was hard and slick underneath and claiming many top riders who let their guard down. Burga went on to finish 18th, scoring points for the second time this year and Justin finishing 24th. The heat in this moto was unbelievable and I haven’t seen a temp gauge all day but I imagine it would have got well over 35 degrees. The humidity is relatively high as well, so the guys definitely earned their keep today. The second moto was live on SPEED television, streaming to millions of homes through out the US, and we were lucky enough to be part of it with the Erin Bates interviewing us. Ricey was so excited he was like a 15 year old school boy. Anyhoo back to the racing, Burga had a good start but midway through the moto he pulled off, and as I write this from the media tent, I’m unsure why. Justin had a less than stellar start and put his head down and finished just inside the top 20 in 18th. The start of the second moto was a classic as a big crash in the first corner saw Honda’s Ivan Tedesco looking for his bike that had cart wheeled quite some why down the track. That’s all from today, we are staying in Portland tonight as Beerfest is on in town (you can just imagine what going to happen tonight!), and then we will be flying to LA tomorrow to catch out flight home back to cold old NZ. Friday 24th July
Today has been an interesting day, we have been told by the Speed TV crew that they want to do an interview with us all in relation to our trip and Luke and Justin's experience's. So tomorrow will be exciting for us, plus the racing, it's gonna be hard to top this. I have checked the stats for the website and because of the links placed on Vital MX and RacerX our stats have gone through the roof! It is because of these links which has got us on National TV, so a big thanks to you all, make sure you guys check these sites as they would have to be the most concise sites out there for AMA MX and SX. After our big night in Portland we decided to make the most of the time left so we headed out to some of the outlet stores and spend up large, no doubt when we get back we will shake our heads once the credit card statements roll in, but we just cant help ourselves the pricing is insane on some of the gears here. We then headed to the Washougal MX Park where this round on the Lucas Oil MX is being held, the anticipation between us all was "wow" because as you drive through the back roads to get to the track there is some amazing scenery, it does remind us of home a lot. After arriving and picking up our media credentials for the weekend we headed up to walk the track with Luke and Justin. The start straight here would have to be the shortest I have ever seen with a slight uphill and and nearly a 180 degree turn, it will be tuff for both Justin and Luke as horse power will dominate here for sure to get a good start. Overall though it will be a test of skills as the track is quite narrow in places and will be hard to pass, but throughout the track there is a lot of options on many corners. But the key here will be the start. I am also told by Scott that the famous 125cc scrub by James Stewart was shot at this track so I will be keeping an eye out on that jump tomorrow for sure. Also the thing that strikes me is the colour around the track, I know I harp on about this but you just cant escape it, I would love to see this back home but to be realistic the cost of doing this is way outside most budgets, but signage is the key here and the sponsors of these events must be proud of what can be done. These Americans know how to put on a show. I am told there has been a lot of changes to the track from previous years, as it's our first time here obviously we will have to ask some questions as to what has been changed, but it does look sick, the dirt itself is totally different its dark and I know photographing here is going to be a challenge as the lighting goes from bright to dark very quickly as there are a heap of tress around here, it must cause the riders a few issues to I'm sure. Tim was buzzing as we walked around and there is no doubt that he wanted to ride here. Big thanks to GuyB from Vital MX for giving me some tips on shooting this track. After the track inspection Cody (Coops) Cooper took us through the JGR Yamaha Race truck, once again WOW, if you have not seen the video in the "video section" of the tour of this truck on this site I suggest to take a look, Coops has everything available to him, fully air conditioned which is crucial here as I am told the temps will be hight tomorrow. While up inside the riders lounge Coops introduced us to his team mate Josh Grant. Josh is one of the top challengers here and he was keen enough to have his photo with us, he was real welcoming and a real top bloke which is probably why he is so popular with the fans and sponsors over here. Well thats it for now, a quite night for us all as it's going to be a big day tomorrow. Thursday 23rd July We had a 3 hour trip over to Seattle today, as we were now getting rid of Fran our faithful van. It was really cold in Seattle, considering it was the middle of summer. Now Fran has been a fantastic van and never missed a beat, but as we were 30mins from the drop off point Tim decided to do something silly and cracked the windscreen. Bit of a bugger really but what do you do. We were so lucky with Fran the van, as we drove 4930 miles in it, which is 7065 Kilometers! The cool part is that we only paid 1700 USD for this van, and we sold it for the same price after all that distance, all we had to do apart from the fuel was replace one tyre. I am sure we will all miss Fran but will look back with fond memories.
Unfortunately for Scott however, was that on the very last leg with just some 100 miles to go he got a speeding ticket, what made it worse that Gerry (after repeatedly being asked to print out the insurance forms) did not have the insurance papers. So Scott was lumbered with a further $500USD fine, but we could eliminate that fine by proving that the van was in fact insured. The whole crew, now eight of us all went out for dinner at a Irish bar that night called Kells in Portland Town Center, and it was really going off, excellent entertainment and great food. Both Luke and Justin being the finely tuned athletes they are went home early without a drink. With us it was a different story, needless to say the boys didn't get home to the early hours of the morning and needed a good sleep in. Wednesday 22nd July Had a bit of a sleep in this morning and then we were off to Walmart for a new tyre as the one on Fran was falling apart in chunks. Had 3 hour trip to our final destination today, Portland, Oregon which will be base for the next few days. Heading to Seattle tomorrow for a look. Driving through to Portland today was super scenic with the road following a huge river with some very impressive hydro stations along the way. Went to the biggest mall in Oregon state today, and once again it was very big and impressive. It even ahd an ice skating rink in it! All in all a quiet today, with a massive couple of days coming up.
Tuesday 21st July
Up and gone by 7.30am this morining and we drove and drove and drove. A total of 810 miles for the day, it was a huge effort and we were all glad to get to our final destination Keenewick, Washington. The scnerey today was unbelieveable and we saw some sights that really make you appreciate nature. In a matter of minutes we went from huge maize paddocks that stretched as far as the eye could see to rockie mountains to giant lakes. That was all we did for the day. Only bout 3 hours left tomorrow and then hopefully a game of golf tomorrow afternoon. Justin and Luke think they might do a race on thursday night in Portland, which is our final detination, that has a pro purse of $15 000. The winner gets $2800 just for winning. Not quite like home.
Monday 20th July
We got up and got going nice and early this morning, its the only way to get the miles covered. We did make a detour today as we went to the historic Mt Rushmore. For those that dont know, Mt Rushmore is a giant rockface that has 4 ex presidents carved into the face of it. It is massive and definitely awe inspiring. We spent an hour admiring it, and taking in the history of place. The photos really dont do it justice!! We then went through a drive through Wildlife Park, it had bears, cougars and raindeer. Something very humbling about a grizzly bear coming right up to the side of the van. Their raw power and grace when they walk is really awesome to watch. This has been a real highlight of the trip. We then drove for another 6 hours to Sheriden, Wyoming. A nice little town where the clock doesnt matter and people have time jsut to stop and talk. Sunday 19th July
It was a bit of a late start this morning as last night turned into a late night as we caught up with some of the kiwi lads. Our travelling road show has doubled from 4 to 8 as we now have Luke Burkhart and his girlfriend Samarah, and Justin McDonald and his brother Cayle now convoying it with us in their van to Washougal. We have about 2000 miles to travel till we get to Washougal, and we think by leaving today (Sunday) we should be there by Wednesday.
Went to Mall of America today. It’s supposed to be the biggest mall in America and it certainly didn’t disappoint. It even had 4 rollercoaster’s in it and a log flume. It was impressive to say the least. We then got in the van and drove for 5 hours to tonight’s destination, Mitchell, South Dakota. Only 25 hours of driving left, awesome. That about all for today. And most likely tomorrow haha. Gerry Saturday 18th July
Its 7am and we are at the track for race day. The weather is better than yeaterday., slight overcast but not to hot as yet. Got a chance yesterday to catch up with the Coops, Burga and Justin. Everyone is pumped for a great day. We will try and update as the days goes on and upload some images if time permits. 2 big shout outs to RacerX and Vital Mx for adding links to Holeshot and also to my my boy (Ricey Jnr) have safe day at Mercer, wish you were here with me, I miss ya! Also keep in mind that Cody (Coops) Cooper went 19/3 here last year, in his first moto he busted his toe up, the word is that he been working all week on starts and is hoping for some good results, both Gerry and Tim are in the pits making up some huge Kiwi banners to fly around the track so hopefully the boys will feel our presence and do well! Opens - Moto 1 - Both the boys got off to a less than average start with Burga retiring from the moto early on. Justin rode hard all moto and worked his way up to the top 20 . He deserved it. Josh Grant held off Chad Reed for a awesome win. More results soon as the first lites moto is about to start. Moto 2 - Coops had a great ride for 8th I think. Burga had a top 10 start but finished in the 20's somewhere with Justin finishing 21st. Reedy won the overall...he was unbelieveable to watch through the whoops. Post race update Well the dust from the final moto has settled and heres my thoughts from the perspective of a first time AMA Motocross attendee. Everything over here is BIG. The trucks are big, the crowds are big and the overall setup is big. However, the tracks seriously aren’t as wide as they look. And as fast as they guys look on TV, I don’t think it will be long before our guys from New Zealand and Australia are running the pace of some of these Americans. Track prep over here is unbelievable, and the guys doing all the winning funnily enough also know how to work a crowd. A stark contrast from the riders back in New Zealand. All in all a positive experience and I’m looking forward to Washougal next weekend. Here are afew pics from the day, if you want to see more grab your next copy of Kiwi Rider! Friday 17th July We have just arrived at the Spring Creek MX Park in Millville and its amature day, so its a chance to get around the track and try and find all the good spots for photos etc. We are setup in the media center here so we have wireless the entire day. Well come and update throughout the day, but as I said its amature day and not to much pro action, we have yet to catch up with Coops and the boys. the weather here is like a mild summer day here about 16-18 so its great... Well not a lot of action today being amatures day but check out Cody's ride below, also check out the fuel tank. We are off now back to the motel, we were planning on staying at the track but the prices at the motel were just to good, so its back home and maybe an early night for the big day - Aaron Mudgeway and Simon Borlase are catching up with us tonight as well so - oooooh no! Thursday 16th July What a night out, we were in the sleepy Nebraska City of Omaha, we went to a sports bar in a area of town called the Old Market, it was Wednesday night so nothing much was going on, we¬ met a bar tender called Brent, he was a good guy, with a voicer deeper than lake taupo, Ricey has now earned the nick name Green man over here as he is a bit unaware of the different cultures, last night he learned why he needs to tip people, the barman was on less than minimum wage (5.15 an hour) so the tips he gets keeps him living. Now we had a few drinks and got talking, Brent recommended that we try what he called “the best steak house in Omaha”. We went down to a steak house called Sullivans, which was a 7 blocks away, the place was pretty fancy and had the hottest looking waitresses we had seen on this trip, they even had fish net stockings! We ordered away and the food that came out was delicious, Ricey had the rib eye and declared straight away it was the best steak he had ever had, Tim, Gerry and I had the Eye Fillet which was equally divine. So with a couple more Jack Daniels in us we went back to the old market, it turned into a good night meeting some cool people, and a basic plan to go and play some golf the next day was formed. Well the next day did not dawn to well for Ricey, as he had a huge hangover and looked liked death warmed up, and a quick 9 holes was defiantly out of the question, so we loaded Ricey into Fran the Van and he got a whole lot of Ribbing on the way for payback for what he dished out after our night in Havasu, It was a quick 6 hour drive up to Rochester Minnesota, the base for our Millville Stay, it’s a City approx 45 minutes from the track. As we rolled into town we saw the Monster Energy Kawasaki and the Makita Rockstar Suzuki rigs at a motel, the town is full of motocross fans already, we will head out to the track tomorrow and watch the amateur day, and catch up with Burger, Justin and Cody. Burger has enlisted me to mechanic for the next 2 weekends, we think he must be low on funds as he is really scrapping the bottom of the barrel with that choice, there may be an argument to be had tomorrow, as there is no way in hell I am wearing a Honda shirt. No pictures today as we have just driven basically all day……Scott Wednesday 15th July We started out with everyone looking pretty dam good considering we had just spent a night in Vegas, we were up and out to look at the Hoover dam, it was a dam impressive piece of engineering. We were back on the road, with Millville being the next stop, so the address went into the Sat Nav, with result coming back 1600 miles and approx 25 hours of straight driving to go. We had to go back though Las Vegas central to get back on the interstate motorway, It did not take long for the arguing to begin, it started when I (Scott) managed to get lost and take the wrong turns in Vegas making us do about 3 loops around Vegas, I think it was the gods of Vegas trying to get me to stay a few more nights and leave some more of my money in town. So we managed to find the way out, the next glich came at a fuel stop about an hour east, we stopped at a Indian reservation truck stop, Gerry offered to pay for this lot of gas and him and the rest of the boys headed inside, I was left outside in the 40 degree heat as you have to prepay for all fuel over here. When Ricey emerged about 5 minutes later I looked at him and asked who had paid for the fuel, he said Gerry had but last he saw, he was off buying some fireworks, so a small argument and some name calling got thrown around when Gerry returned with some sky rockets but no fuel receipt, but we eventually got fuelled and the fire works will be fun to let off somewhere random, The final straw for Ricey came later on, as we tried to take some photos as we were driving Tim almost ran into the back of a Mazda 3, although the car was not hit the slamming on of the brakes spilled Ricey’s newly poored 1 litre of Jack and Coke, and since it was nearly his last bit he was spewing, even more so when the service stations on sell beer and not ‘liqour’, he survived and we continued on with some good natured ribbing, We are pulling an all nighter on the road tonight, we have made it to Utah and are planning on being in Colorado in the morning, Update: Well we never got to post the update yesterday as we kept on trucking, for a total of 25 hours to finally stop in Omaha Nebraska, 25 hours in a van is tough, I can only imagine what it is like for the priviteers over here. You'll notice a big change to the map now!...Scott Monday 13th July This morning we got off to a ripper of a start and we were out the door by 8.00am. We were very happy to be leaving the Arizona Desert in favour of the Nevada desert for the infamous Las Vegas. It was only a 3 hour drive and I can’t believe how much everyone speeds over here. I was doing 75 miles an hour in a 60 area and had an 18 wheeler truck come flying past me. It was unreal. We got into Las Vegas and all we have heard out of Ricey is “Your kidding me” as he is struggling to comprehend the size and over the topness of the place. We went for a look through some of the casinos, the MGM Grand and New York New York and then took on a huge roller coaster that goes though part of New York New York. We had a great view from the top. Tonight we are heading out to try our hand at Black Jack and maybe some slots. Ricey plans on taking some night photo's of the strip tonight so we will upload them as well a little later. Gerry Sunday 12th July You know hindsight is a beautiful thing. While we didn’t notice it at the time, there were no other idiots in tents at the Crazy Horse campground, and for good reason. It seemed like a good idea, and we all chucked out some high fives at Scott as we crossed the London Bridge, little did we know that there is a reason people don’t camp in the Arizona desert, especially in summer. That’s because it was still 39 degrees at midnight last night.
Once we had settled into out camp ground and been for a swim in the lake, we had a few beverages and went into town for dinner. Shayne decided that he wanted to catch up on some sleep so he went home and the rest headed off into town to sample the local nightlife. Of course us boys lived up to our reputation and while we cant post many of our photos up here, if you’re our friends on facebook you will know what I mean. So today consisted of us lying round the motel room, as it was to hot to go outside and not only the 45 degree temperatures hurt, the strong winds that went with them made it feel like you staring into a hair dryer. Not much fun at all. I’ve never appreciated air conditioning so much in my life. We are off to Vegas in the morning for the night, so no doubt there will be some stories to be told then, and then we are trekking across country to Millville for the MX. Gerry
Well night one ended up in a bar in Temucula called Aloha Jays, the boys geared up and we had the first appearance of Tim’s alter ego, as he was a one man hurricane, in the end he ended up getting thrown out of the place, the sleep was broken when a fire alarm was set off, but we got to see a couple of fire trucks tho The next day we were off to Pro Circuit in the morning, there was even a traffic jam on Saturday morning, unfortunately we got there to late and it was closed, so it was down to Chapparell for some shopping for the boys, Gerry and Shayne had not seen it before, it is massive and beyond comprehension, with the boys all getting some casual wear it was a good way to spend a couple of hours As I write this, we are on our way to Lake Havasu, though the Mojave desert, its about a 5 hour drive, but the roads over hear are pretty good. But its hot as hell outside, We have been told Lake Havasu is going to be going off, can not wait to get there and hopefully there will be some aftermarket parts on display. We have named the Van Fran, it is looking after us well so far, We have arrived in Lake Havasu, we have booked into a camp site called the crazy horse, and our campsite is right on the lake front, it’s a bit unusual tapping away here on the internet, this camp site has wi fi, things are a bit more advanced over here at times....Scott
FridayJuly 10th
Thursday July 9th
Set as favorite
Share on Facebook etc
Email This
Comments (1)
 Write comment
|
