Parrottrek Journal 2007

The Monster Men in the staging lanes

Budweiser is ready to race

The guys roll the car down the hill to the starting line

A view of the lake behind the racetrack

July 10th - Interesting things we have learned on the road -

Okay, so for those of you who live in states where they have cool things like Lightening Bugs, or Fireflies, or Glowy Bugs, as Frank calls them, may not realize just how cool they are. For people like us who were pretty much born and raised on the West Coast and had never seen them before we began our journeys out here on the road, they are quite intriguing. The coolest thing about them, and please don't think that we are too twisted for saying this, is that when they hit your windshield they still glow!!! It is the craziest thing! So let me ask you - why do some stay lit for only a few seconds where others stay lit for about 3-5 minutes? I know they are bugs so they don't really recharge, or do they? Will someone with more knowledge on these crazy things please explain this to us. We were so delirious from driving late one night that we actually sat there and timed how long each bug stayed lit after they hit the windshield of the motorhome. Again please realize that we would not harm the darling bugs on purpose, it was they themselves throwing their little bodies at our bus' windshield. Another question I have is why would a bug that is lit come towards our motorhome. Yes I did see the movie 'A Bug's Life' and I realize that they are attracted to the light of other objects, but when your own fanny lights up, why the heck would you be attracted to any other light but the light of your fellow bugs with cute little lit fannies? Apparently I am still way too tired from the late drive :-) Anyways... .... Another thing we learned on the road this last week, or should I say appreciate, is that driving East to West is far more wonderful then driving the opposite way. Gaining two hours in one day makes waking up for the following days drive a lot easier, especially when one is driving from Tennessee to Denver in two and a half days while his non helpful passenger wife/navigator dozes on and off. It's a good thing we have an unlimited supply of Monster on board, however I did drink one last night (which is the first time I have ever drank a whole one) as we drove and apparently I am impervious to them when I want them to work because I still fell asleep while we drove. However when I sip on one of Frank's during a non driving day I am wide awake for many many hours that evening but when I drink a whole one and want it to work, it doesn't. It makes no sense. After Denver we will drive to Seattle, Washington where we will gain yet another hour. Life is good when one doesn't have to wake up at the crack of dawn. Another thing we have learned to appreciate in our semi-retired lifestyle is the joys of sleeping in. This 6 weeks of races in a row is almost beginning to feel like a bit of work, but no fear we will have 10 days off in a little less than two weeks and will never have 6  races in a row again! Hooray!!

The mountains of Colorado. Not as green as Kentucky, but still pretty

Abbey loves the trees here

July 15th - Mile High Nationals, Denver, Colorado -

To enjoy the beautiful views of the mountains here in Colorado we decided to forgo the free camping at the racetrack and splurge on an RV Park here by Bear Creek Lake. It is supposed to be a warm weekend, so this way the birds will be able to have their room air-conditioned all day and we won't have to worry about them one bit, the spoiled rotten little things. Also since it is at Bear Creek Lake we can go swimming in the evenings to cool down and relax a bit by the water. It feels like a little vacation even though a race is going on. Both of the teams made it in to the race, which was wonderful, however neither went too far on Sunday, but with the heat and elevation it makes for some tricky racing. The Budweiser team is well into the top 8 for the championship and we still have four races for the little Monster to work their way up. There are lots and lots of hills here at Mile High Nationals so we had a great view of the staging lanes below our hospitality set up, and a great view of the lake where we are camped. We had a bit of rain on Saturday night just before the final qualifying round so it made for some very fast racing where that the Monster men took full advantage of the cooler track. Hey, sometimes rain is a good thing out here at the races.

An early morning drive through the mountains

Rock formations everywhere

The colorful trees of Montana

Lake Coeur d'Alene in beautiful Idaho

July 16th - Scenic drive through Montana and Northern Idaho -

We woke up bright and early this morning in order to get as close to Washington as possible. As we drove we watched the sunrise. At one point on the highway we saw a family of deer. They were literally on the highway! We slowed down to about 30mph as we approached them and they slowly walked back into the woods. This is beautiful country up here and we have found about 10 different little lakes and streams that we would love to put a little log cabin on and enjoy the views all winter and spring. The trees here are about 6 different colors and the rock formations that are in the mountains are breathtaking. We were originally planning to stop for half a day tomorrow at Lake Coeur d'Alene in Idaho, meet up with the Monster team and rent a boat for a few hours but unfortunately the guys ended up having to work today at the Denver track and won't leave Colorado until early tomorrow morning. Considering we would have to drive a few hours after our day at the lake in order to hit the racetrack on time we decided to skip Coeur d'Alene and stop somewhere in Washington closer to the track. As it turns out we had a bit of a generator issue, our breaker was a bit loose and our transfer switch, the switch that turns the generator power into motorhome power to run the air conditioner and other necessary items such as the refrigerator, is a little fried. We found a Grainger Industrial Supply located in Spokane. We will hit them in the morning, get the parts we need. Frank can install them and get back to driving without loosing much time.

July 17th - Spokane, Washington -

Well, we were able to buy most of the parts we need for the generator fix. One of the items, the transfer switch, is a bit more of a project then Frank is willing to take on so after the Seattle race we will stop off at Marathon and let them do that part. We called them today and they already have the part we need in stock and replace them all the time so we will be in good hands. We have been so fortunate to always have someone who knows how to fix things just around the corner, or a state away which in our lifestyle is just around the corner. The mechanics from Marathon gave Frank a couple ways to Mickey Mouse the generator in order to have it work for us this weekend at the track until they can look at it and repair it. Luckily it will be nice and cool in Seattle so we won't have to run the generator much. Pray a heat wave doesn't hit us, but please pray as well that we don't get rained out. God forbid the birds have to be in weather, or their bedroom, that's warmer than 74 degrees. They might go into shock without the A/C. Have we mentioned just how spoiled they are? :-)

The dry falls of Lake Moses

Cody loves our daily bike rides

Can you read what Abbey wrote?

A 60 person jacuzzi made for two!

July 18th - Lake Moses, Washington -

Since Frank has been waking up before the sun each morning, due to the days getting earlier and earlier as we head West, we found ourselves almost a day ahead of schedule. After consulting both the map and the atlas of RV Parks around the country, we found a very nice place in Lake Moses, Washington to stay for the night and burn a few hours. The lake itself is fairly average in regards to lakes, but one thing that they have here that we haven't found elsewhere, aside from the Santa Ynez Valley and that's only because they don't get enough rain most of the year to have their waterfalls actually have water in it, is what is called a dry fall. They are very pretty grassy rock formations at the tops of mountains. We arrived this morning about 11:30 and immediately hit the pool. I stayed there most of the day with book in hand and a large supply of spf 30 while Frank and Cody headed back to the campsite to play a little guitar and meet the neighbors. After the pool we took a nice bike ride around to check out the scenery. Cody, as usual, brought out many fellow campers to meet. One of the couples we met remembered us from the Oasis where we love to stay in Las Vegas. It really makes the country feel small when you run into the same people from state to state. That's the best part of full time RVing. You never know when you will run into an old friend or acquaintance. After our trek around the area we headed to the 60 person jacuzzi. Yes, it was enormous. It looked like a gigantic daisy, and we had it all to ourselves. You could take laps in the thing. It was heavenly and just the perfect temperature. We slept so very well tonight after our soak. It's amazing just how sore one can get from driving over 1000 miles in two days, not to mention working the last 4 races. Too bad we can't bring the 60 person jacuzzi with us on the road out here, everyone would love us if we did.

Good thing the team has an awning

Rain does bring out beautiful rainbows

July 20th - Seattle Washington - Rain Rain Go Away!!! -

According to weather.com it is supposed to rain all day every day until Monday morning! So far we have had rain everyday, and we are ready to see it end. Yuck! NHRA right now is more than willing to wait it out until Monday if need be in order not to have to come back, which we fully agree with. Seattle is a bit out of the way to have to come back to, aside from the week after Sonoma which would then put the schedule at 9 races in a row, and interfere a bit with our visiting Boise Idaho plans. After we leave Sonoma we are headed back to the East Coast, so running up to the Northern Pacific would add a few miles to our trek out here. It is currently 7:36 on Saturday morning and the rain has stopped for a bit. The jet dryer is out on the track doing it's job, so lets hope today the weather boys might be wrong and we get a bit of racing in. I personally think that in this sort of rain delay, since the cars can't race, they should just have a foot race between the drivers. The quickest 16 get to run in the race on Sunday, and they can get down the track anyway their team sees fit as long as it is under human foot power. It would sure be exciting. I'm positive the fans would rather see that than walk around in the rain waiting for the off chance that the clouds clear up but the NHRA powers that be haven't asked for my input so I guess we will just have to watch the rain if it comes back.

How the rainy track looked this morning

Adding an extra layer of VHT which helps the cars stay on the track

How second round started

How second round ended. Don't worry, no one was injured

July 22nd - Leaving Seattle Washington -

Yes that's right, we are leaving rainy Seattle. Somehow, even through the rain, we miraculously were able to finish the entire race, and before midnight I might add unlike the predictions they were forecasting. Both teams did really well. Monster headed to the semi-finals where they lost by only 2/100ths of a second, and the Budweiser team again went to the finals, loosing by 5/10ths of a second. All in all, a good day. The rain was bizarre. It sprinkled almost the whole time during semis and finals but the rain would evaporate before it hit the ground so the track stayed dry. It had rained most of the morning, so they did spend awhile drying it, but after 11:45 the consistent rain stopped. We had a couple moments of downpour, but it dried fairly quickly, with the help of the jet-dryer. We also had one fairly lengthy delay due to a Funny Car crash, which happened to be Kenny's opponent in the second round. Ashely Force got a little squirrelly after trying to recover from a tire smoke. She ended up hitting the wall which in turn caused the fuel from her car to pour out. Once the fuel spilled it quickly burst into flames causing the top of her car to fly off of the body. Apparently her throttle was stuck down so she had very little control of the car which turned around and hit the wall from the side. Luckily when the body landed it was still attached to the car which lifted her back wheels off of the ground preventing her stuck throttle from moving the car any further. She was okay, and exited the car quite quickly. A bit shaken up, but physically not hurt. It never ceases to amaze us how safe these cars actually are considering a driver can walk away from a crash this bad. Due to this delay, and the fact that everyone wanted to finish this race as soon as possible and get the heck out of dodge, it turned out that Top-Fuel finals were lined up right behind the Funny Car semis and then Funny Car finals were about an hour later since it takes about that long to rebuild the Funny Cars and get them back to the starting line. On a regular race day they have the Top-Fuel finals as the last pair of cars to race which is more or less our grand finale, but then again there was nothing regular about todays schedule.

Marc drove down from Salem for dinner

Our bus gets a bath

Before the conversion process

After the conversion is finished

July 23rd - Coburg, Oregon - Marathon Coach Company -

Home of our home! This is where our fabulous home on wheels us born and raised. Well, actually the shell was born in Canada, and then sent here to become what it is today, but Marathon gave it all of it's insides, most of it's outsides and all of it's character. This is a regular stop for us each year before Sonoma. One reason being that we usually need a check up or a couple things replaced, and another is because they let us camp here with full hooks up and laundry for the grand price of... ... nothing! Since our type of transfer switch is no longer made due to the age of our generator they had to replace the entire transfer case and install a new and updated switch. Of course replacing the case entailed a bit of electric work , so we had to stay the night. It worked our perfect being here for the evening since Marc, a good friend of ours and groomsmen in our wedding, now lives here in Oregon with his wife. He drove down from Salem about an hour away and we all went to dinner at the yummiest pizza place that we found a couple years back when we originally bought the bus. It was nice catching up since we haven't seen him in quite a few years. It's great when you can pick right up where you left off with old friends. To burn a little time while they worked on the bus we toured a few of the new buses that they have here. WOW! They are gorgeous. I wouldn't even know how to work half of them. They all have electronic everything inside. A button to turn on the different lights instead of a switch. Automatic doors that slide open and closed with the press of a button, and a video screen remote control with a touch screen that operates everything in the house and even the lights on the outside. To me it just screams 'operator error' but perhaps after a few months I could learn how to operate the computer house. For now, I will stick with my old home where you have to turn the lights on the old fashioned way, and actually touch a door to open/close or lock it. We have seen a few of the empty shells arrive while we have been here, as well as a few finished projects. With all of the labor that goes into these mansions on wheels it's no wonder that they cost one million to a million and a half dollars. They have over 3 miles of electric wiring in them alone, and about a mile of decorative rope lighting. Yikes!

Mount Shasta - A volcano??!?

A beautiful California sun set

A friendly bird serenaded us

July 24th - One the road - Oregon to California -

The drive down from Oregon to California has been very scenic, and quite quick. Northern California and Southern Oregon are full of redwoods and fir trees. There are even trees growing parallel to the ground out of the sides of the mountains and hills that were removed in order to build the highways. The clouds here take on some of the most beautiful pinks and purples as the sun goes down and the moon rises. As we passes Mount Shasta there was one low floating white fluffy cloud that made it look as though it were a volcano erupting from a distance. We stopped at a rest/truck stop to refill the water and diesel tanks and there was the prettiest little yellow bird sitting on the rocks next to us just singing up a storm. Abbey ran over to the window to check him out and mumbled her bird talk at him. He didn't seem to mind her a bit because he never dropped a note. After getting zero reaction from him she went back to her box and continued to preen herself. It's crazy to think that it just 7 short weeks we have literally crossed the country. In early June we were in Maine and New Hampshire and now we are back in California. These past weeks have been a whirlwind. Very busy and very fun. After the Sonoma race we only have 8 races left and then we will be back here in California. I can't believe the season is more than half over.

Dinner and coloring at the Pizza Kitchen

A creative fan made a Monster plane

July 28th - Sonoma, California -

This has been a wonderful weekend. Our very dear friends Sharon, Tim and Madison came to visit us this weekend and enjoy the races. Due to a very early curfew here in Sonoma we have had a lot of time off of work and a lot of time to spend outside of the track. Thursday evening we walked through a nearby mall and Madison got a very fun backpack to sit in and ride around on her daddy's shoulders. It came with a sunshade as well, so it will be well used this weekend. After we worked up an appetite walking all around we hit one of our most favorite places for dinner, California Pizza Kitchen, where the three of us colored and had some very yummy pizza. Saturday evening we were off by 4pm, which is unheard of. The five of us sat around the campsite for awhile enjoying the beautiful scenery around us. Madison was very entertained by the birds, almost mesmerized. We spent the evening in the town of Glen Ellen and walked through the downtown area.

A view of the track, vineyards, mountains and a bit of the bay from our campsite

We had dinner at a great Italian restaurant and stayed talking until Madison fell asleep. Tomorrow will be a great day. It will be the last day of work for almost two weeks and the weather will be sunny all day without a rain cloud in sight. This will be only the third race this entire year without rain. Gotta love California for the beautiful sunshine!

The mule race... Run Idaho Gem, RUN!!

Our boxed seats in the shade

Grandpa and his winning ticket

Hang gliding, the safe way

July 30th - Santa Rosa County Fair - A day with family -

To celebrate our finale of 6 races back to back we slept in this morning. Frank's Uncle Steve and Aunt Linda live about 30 minutes from the track here in sunny California so we took a nice leisurely drive through beautiful wine country to spend the day with them. It feels odd not to have to wake up early and drive across three states. The 12 of us spent the day at the Sonoma County Fair. They had all sorts of carnival rides, including a hang glider, along with horse racing. Steve bought us all box seats so the view of the track was great. In the middle of the horse racing track, along with the turf track, was a golf course. Obviously the golf course isn't active while the horses are running since a golf ball in the head would not do the horse or jockey any good. The most interesting race of the day was the mule race. We have never been to a track that had mule races, so it was quite entertaining. In honor of our visit to Idaho in a couple days we bet on #5 Idaho Gem who ended up placing, so Frank and I won a few bucks on her. We have mastered how to bet in order to keep our gambling winnings a bit more consistent. One of the mules that was in the race was 15 years old, and he came in third! On a later race, Grandpa bet 2 bucks on each horse to win. Needless to say we all had a good laugh and figured he wouldn't win much if anything at all. Surprisingly he more than doubled what he bet. There were only 6 horses in the race, so that helped a bit and a long shot won. The weather was beautiful all day, the pizza was great and the ice cream, to top off the day, was free.

Sean and his magic fingers

Frank, Brian, Sean, Grandpa, Steve & Grandma

A very fun and tasty ice cream cake

Happy birthday to Grandpa and Sean

Later this evening -

We all headed back to Steve and Linda's for a family bar-b-que and birthday celebration for Grandpa Saulsbury and Sean. All the cousins came by and their little ones to join in on the fun. Frank played a few songs on the guitar, and Sean kept us entertained with his wonderful piano playing skills. He plays ragtime music beautifully. Too bad he and Frank don't know any of the same songs, maybe they can work on it for next year. The evening weather was just as nice as today. We sat out back and enjoyed the night air and caught up with everyones adventures of the last year. One of the great things about California is that there are no bugs to bite you while you sit out in the evenings. There were a few moths flying towards the patio nights, but they rarely attack people.

Donner Pass, on the drive to Boise

Sweet little Marigold

Bath time!

Marigold and Frank play the piano

August 1st - Meridian Idaho -

Hooray!!! We made it to Idaho and a relaxing bit of time to enjoy with fabulous friends. Kari (Brown) King, one of my very very best friends from childhood lives here in the wonderful city of Meridian, just outside of Boise. One of the greatest things in the entire world, is to have friends that you have known since not knowing life without them. Kari, all of her sisters and I have been friends just that long. It's one of those relationships where there isn't a phase of life, or experience that we have not gone through together nor is there any phase of life that we weren't either side by side or a phone call away. It's also a friendship you don't want to end because the other one might just sell your deep dark secrets and actually make a few bucks off of them (of course neither Kari or I have ever done anything that would be of blackmail material) Almost every high school memory I have has at least one of the Brown girls in it, or our dear Holly (Adams) North who is another friend from before time. Kari and I have the greatest of friendships. It's the kind where you can not see each other for months on end, other than talking through phone calls and e-mails, and once you meet again it is as though not a day has past. Obviously a day or two has past since we last saw each other considering that Frank and I have been across the country 4 times since our last visit with the Kings and there is now a new member of the King family. Marigold Grace King, positively the cutest 8 month old anyone has ever laid eyes on, promise I'm not biased at all. She has a constant smile on her sweet little face, and laughs pretty much non stop. We had a terrific day today. We did pretty much nothing other than watch Goldie, the name fits her perfectly, and play with a whole bunch of baby toys. Where else can you regress back to childhood and act like a crazy little kid except around another little kid? Frank brought his guitar, and even played a little piano with our precious Goldie. Due to the wonderful world of Internet and pictures we have watched Goldie grow up through e-mails and the Kings blog, www.kingsofidaho.blogspot.com  Seeing her in person and being able to snuggle and play beats the old Internet any day. Tomorrow we might actually leave the house and explore Boise a bit, however laying around and playing with toys sounds like a good plan for one more day.

Lunchtime for the Peregrine Falcon

Goldie's ready to bird watch

Momma Kari and her sweet Goldie

Momma falcon and her featherless chicks

August 2nd - The Peregrine Center for Birds of Prey - Boise Idaho -

Well wonders never cease. We actually did leave the house today and venture out into the touristy side of Boise, Idaho. Goldie, Kari and Suzy went into town and visited the Peregrine Fund, which is the National Center for Birds of Prey. They breed them here and release them back out into the wild. In fact it was because of this place that the Peregrine Falcon was taken off of the endangered species list. Cody, Abbey and Bradley are always excited to hear of one of their cousins being saved from extinction. They also breed various types of hawks as well as California Condors. The California Condor that we saw here today weighed 20lbs and had an 11 foot wingspan, and people think Cody is a big bird. Please keep in mind that birds have hollow bones so 20lbs in ginormous! They had a few different birds out on display eating lunch right there in front of us. It was very educational and quite intriguing to watch a falcon eat a quail and a hawk eat chicken legs. Goldie of course was more interested in the flowers and the stream that crossed the property so we sat on a park bench and watched the water for a bit. It was a very nice day to be outside. After our visit to the bird center we headed back home to meet up with Toby and Frank, ordered some pizza and hit Dairy Queen for desert with Kari's cousin Heather and her husband Mike. Since all of the kids were with relatives for the evening the parents let loose with a wild night of hot fudge sundaes. It was all in all a wonderful two days and a great visit with beautiful Goldie and her parents. Love you guys!

August 3rd- 5th - Yellowstone National Park - Wyoming -

Yellowstone just happens to be right on the way to Minnesota so we decided to stop for a couple nights. We started out this morning-with the top on the Jeep, due to the chilly morning, but by noon the sun came out and the top came off. Yellowstone is the most diverse National Park we have ever seen. As you're driving all of a sudden you notice the ground and mountains steaming due to all of the hot springs and geysers around you.

It makes for some beautiful scenery. There are tons of pullouts and parking lots, so you can stop and see anything you want. We walked around a huge area with all sorts of geysers and mud pools and hot springs. Almost everywhere we stopped we also saw all sorts of wildlife and the biggest patch of lily pads ever! Old Faithful was named in 1870 by surveyor General Washburn. He erupts about every 76 minutes, varying by 45-110 minutes. How that makes him faithful amazes me a bit considering that he can be absolutely unfaithful in his timing of eruptions, but who am I to rename him? I must say he was very faithful when we arrived at his site. The sign in the store said 11:40 +/- 10 minutes, and we walked out to see him at 11:35 and only had to wait about 5 minutes, so apparently his name can stay. According to research however, his timings are getting a little further apart and the water coming out of him is getting a little less as well. This of course has to do with the underground effects that cause the geyser, and small earthquakes below the ground can and have caused him to slow a bit. After all the guy is over 200 years old so I guess it's fair to let him wait a little between eruptions. He was very interesting to watch since he would sputter a few times before he actually blew. With our handy binoculars we could see him bubbling up slowly and then all of a sudden WHOOOSH! the water came straight up into the air. Very impressive.

A Canoe Ride Through the Grand Tetons -

The last few lakes we have driven by we have daydreamed about floating down one in a canoe or raft. Deciding that it has been far too long since we have floated on a lake we decided that the Grand Tetons was the best place to get some lake time. The mountains here are gorgeous. They look like they are made of granite, and on quite a few of the really tall ones there was still some snow. The weather was perfect today. Warm enough to enjoy floating along in shorts, and cool enough to not be upset that we hadn't packed our bathing suits. The very chilly water also made it okay that we didn't wear our swimming attire since swimming just might have turned us blue. We did hang our legs over the edge of the canoe and dangle them in Jackson Lake when we did get warm, and that was plenty to cool us off again. We docked on a rocky beach for a bit and watched a family of Canadian Geese cruise around the shores as well as a momma duck and all her little ducklings. After a couple hours and a good arm workout we headed back to the dock to return the boat and explore the rest of the Tetons.

Dinner in an Old Train Stop -

We stopped in the town of West Yellowstone this evening and had dinner at the Oregon Short Line. It was the old train stop for the Short Line Train. Trains from all over the country would come here bringing people to see Yellowstone since Yellowstone didn't allow automobiles into the park at this time, and the Short Line would take you through the park. Many other railroads jumped on the band wagon and began to offer rides to and from the park as well. As time went on Short Line, offered only one train ride a day. After World War II ended, the trains ran a bit more often, but by 1960 all of the railroads stopped offering service to the park. Private automobiles and National Park buses are now the only way to tour the park, except of course by foot or mountain bike, however considering that the Grand Loop is over 174 miles long you might want to bring something other than your bike in case your legs get tired. The train cars were still set up just like they were back in those days with dinning and sleeping quarters along with a lounge and potties. All the conveniences of home, sort of like our bus, except that the train had to stay on the tracks, while we can go pretty much anywhere. Too bad The Short Line no longer runs. A train ride through here would be fun.  

August 5th - The Wildlife of Yellowstone National Park -

Who needs a zoo when you can just drive through Wyoming and observe the beautiful animals all around. We saw a herd of girl elks bathing and drinking in a stream. Not too far from them was daddy elk. All you could see were his antlers and boy were they huge. I would have loved for him to stand up, but he was napping while the girls bathed so we didn't bother him.

Near one of the visitor centers in the grass walkway was a group of lunching mule deer, babies and all. They apparently don't mind people since they didn't even flinch as we all broke out our cameras. Bison roamed around munching on the grass as well as some of the cutest chipmunks ever. In the lily pads there were tons of dragonflies, and finally one sat still long enough for me to snap his picture. After three days here we haven't even scratched the surface of all there is to see here at the park. However Friday night didn't count too much since we didn't get to the actual park, only the little town outside Yellowstone. This is definitely a site to put on next years list of places to stop on the way. The RV Park we stayed was nice as well. It was nested in the trees, but still right on the road to the park. The jacuzzi was out on a redwood deck where you felt as tough you were sitting in the forest. The air here smells so good. We slept every night with the windows open breathing in all of the fresh air. It rained most of Friday night which turned out to be a great thing since all of the smoky air from the wildfires was washed away and the last two days have been beautiful without any smoke to spoil the views. Our plan for next year is to actually camp at one of the RV parks inside Yellowstone and take the bikes out for a few hours to explore the back hills and trails that only the bikes can get to. According to the map, there are all sorts of hiking and biking trails so it should make for a fun few days.

A day spent floating on the lake

Corn fields and walking trails around the park

August 7th - Detroit Lakes, Minnesota - Lake Gwana -

Aaaaahhhhhh!! What a relaxing two days. However I do apologize for the rather dark and grainy pictures above. For some reason I thought that I had put all of our fun pictures on the computer and safely saved them. As we left I decided to delete the chip as I always do, after said pictures are safely tucked away. Now that I am sitting here trying to find those saved pictures, I realized that I did not actually put them in my computer. Darn darn, double darn. The pictures from the last two days are all gone except for the four above, which are taken from stills of the videos that my camera takes. I guess I can't complain too much since there were a couple salvageable shots. We stayed at a very tiny yet pretty much perfect park. A very nice older couple owns the property which until 10 years ago was just that, the backyard of their property. The We Fest, which is an enormous country western concert, takes place every year literally across the street from this park. Over 150,000 people attend the We Fest everyday every year which means lots of cars come with all those people. About 13 years ago people started asking if they could park on the property in order to go to the concert. The very nice couple decided that they would let people park on their land for 3 bucks a day per car. Realizing that they had quite a money making business they continued to allow the cars to park here for the next few years. Thinking of a way to make a little more money from their home they decided to add a few RV sites. This took off quite well during the event as well as most of the summer, so Country Campground was born and now hosts 30 enormous sites with still plenty of property to allow the We Fest cars to still park, however now the price is 25 bucks per car per day. They have a very nice lake on their property, and the most enormous corn field ever seen with a nice walking trail. The lake has two different peddle boats that you can tour the lake in, and their is no charge to use them as long as you are a guest of the park. It's been a bit hot the last couple days so it was perfect to cool down with a swim in the lake. Around the dock of the lake there were all sorts of lily pads with tons of flowers and the prettiest snails floating on the pads. They weren't your average snails, they were more like sea shells with snails living in them. Yes I could have shown you just how pretty the shells were, but alas I had a blond moment and those pictures have been abolished. Darn, darn, double darn.

August 11th - Brainerd Minnesota - The Zoo -

Brainerd Minnesota, the wildest and craziest stop on the entire NHRA circuit. Apparently people here in Minnesota don't get to do much of anything in the Winter due to the 50 below zero weather, so they more than make up for it during their stay here at the Drag Races. There is an area of the property within the track that is 120 acres. In this area they charge each person $50 for the weekend to camp and you can pretty much set up whatever you want wherever you want and camp there. You can also bring pretty much anything imaginable with wheels on it,  inside this area to drive around and see the sites. This area is appropriately nicknamed, The Zoo. Hearing about all of the crazy set ups that people have out here we, along with the Monster men, decided that we needed to check it out.

The weekend started with a Walleye cookout.  RFC (Racer's For Christ) had a fund raiser by cooking  everyone dinner and putting on a puppet show. It was very good food and nice to run into other friends out here that we don't get to see at every race.

Above: The Winnebago is about the same year as our motorhome but not nearly as loved.  Lower: The Coors mobile handing out beers to the crowd. Left: Frank was very bummed he couldn't do flips behind the boat.

We took the Monster golf cart, which we had at least 10 offers of cash for, and headed into The Zoo. It's a little tricky to maneuver 9 people on a golf cart, but it's better than footin' it. We drove around for a little over two hours, and once it got dark we made our way out realizing that yes the truly crazy people and things happen after dark. Personally I have had my fill of The Zoo for many years to come, but it was entertaining to experience it once.

Break cleaner sure is helpful on cleaning oil off of fiberglass under the car

Eddie cleaned the inside, Joe cleaned the outside

Moments before the exciting final round

Monster crashes the Winner's Circle

August 12th - Lucas Oil National Finals - Winners Circle - Almost twice -

4/1000th of a second. Do you have any idea how quick that passes by? What almost an immeasurable amount of time that is? Well let us tell you first hand just how much 4/1000th of a second can affect one's day. There we all were at the starting line of the finals. Both teams lined up for the taking of duel Wallys. We were so excited, every member of the team was there. The Monster car was up first. Kenny staged first, left the line first, was dead even almost the entire way down to the finish line. In fact from where we were standing it seemed as though we were out in front. I was jumping up and down screaming like a maniac clapping like a crazy person thinking that Kenny had John Force and the win light was going to come on in our lane indicating that the Wally was in fact ours. For a moment I thought the light was broken, why isn't it coming on? But then I realized that in fact it had come on, only in the opposite lane. Force's crew went crazy and the Monster men went quiet. It was heartbreaking and literally brought tears to my eyes. Yes it was a fabulous run, just the kind of race that all the fans come to see and love to see. And yes, the team did an amazing job all day long, this car just keeps getting better and better every week. A Wally will be theirs before the year is up, I can feel it. The Monster car was on top of the world with great lights and great times defeating every other opponent, and they had some really fast cars as opponents in the earlier rounds. It all came down to 4/1000th of a second. The amount of time that John Force's bumper touched the finish line before ours did. UGH!! They were brave boys, not one of them burst into tears, unlike emotional Suzy. A few choice words were said, and not under their breath I might add, but they were more than allowed. Moments later the Budweiser team was at the starting line. Brandon, although leaving the line second, chased Larry Dixon down for the win in almost as quick of a race as the Monster race. It quickly changed the mood to a happy one, however duel Wallys would have been priceless. Earlier in the day, during the semi-finals, the Monster mobile broke a few parts and oil downed the track and the car. Since there are only 75 minutes between the rounds and there is already enough for the boys to do without having to wipe down the Funny Car, Frank, Eddie and Joe (our Monster sponsor rep) ran to their aide with brake cleaner, rags and Windex in hand to clean the entire body of the car inside and out. Usually if one car is in really bad shape before going into the next round the other team will lend a hand, however since the Budweiser team was also going to the finals they had absolutely no spare time to help.

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