Frogasaurus Rex in Port Townsend 2004

Click on a thumbnail sketch to see the full size picture.

The Night Before

The Port Townsend Kinetic event is a big party. Its pretty fun. But I have to admit that I'm really not much of a party animal. Oh, don't get me wrong. I definitely enjoyed all the skin those Kinetic Medics were displaying (especially that lovely Michelle) in the bar while I ate dinner. But beyond that, the bar was not my speed.

Pictures by John Liczwinko

Dave and I stepped outside to catch a word with Queen Accordiana. We wanted to see if she wanted us to carry her in the parade tomorrow. Well we never got to her. Those partiers were so loud that I couldn't get her attention. No matter.

Pictures by John Liczwinko

But as the throng was heading back into the bar I heard a voice. I think I was the only one who heard Cynthia, and I didn't know what she said. Turns out she was trying to recruit volunteers to help with decorating the hall before the Coronation party.

Much to her suprise this was more to my liking than the bar. Dave was also interested in helping out. So off we three went.


Decorating for Coronation Ball

While there I started asking around to see if anyone wanted to be our pit crew. You see, we were shorthanded. It was just Dave and me. Altho most of the people there were judges or other officials in the race, we lucked out and found one who wasn't. Emily was interested!
Kenna invited Emily to the Kinetic Sculpture race. Otherwise Emily would not have been there. Thank you Kenna.

I would say we were doubly lucky. Emily jumped into her role very well, especially the parts about bribing officials and joining in off-color jokes.

Art Judging and Parade

At the art judging we naturally took the opportunity to give rides to kids, and to judges.

	<--- Judge Botox Brook --->
			<--- Kenna Cynthia --->

The Hula dancers were part of the Queen Lulu contingent.

	The esteemed panel of judges	Hula dancers
Cheesy Rider			Henry Ford Goes Surfing
	Romin' chariot	Queen Accordiana
Lock Nutz Monsta			Time Flies
	That's A Mower, Eh?	Atomic Scorpion Picture by Raan Young
Blaster and Commander Picture by Raan Young			Official Pace Car Picture by Raan Young
	Romin' chariot Picture by Raan Young	Hula Dancers Picture by Raan Young
Judges Picture by Raan Young			Time Flies Picture by Raan Young

Safety Tests

In the weeks before the Port Townsend race, we made some tweaks and improvements to the brakes. The Port Townsend brake test at the end of that long steep hill was almost anticlimatic. It went quite smoothly.

Then for the float test we took Emily in the passenger seat. We had some fun zipping around among the boats. Emily and I "tested" the water guns on some of the other Kinetic Sculptures.

Song and Teddy Story

Before the race we were told to tell the story of our Teddy Bear, which would be followed by singing our song. Dave did a fine job of creating, uh, I mean recalling the story of our Teddy. Unfortunately the organizers hadn't left enough time for the teams to actually tell the teddy stories. So by the time they got around to our team they had told the teams to skip that and just sing their song. We were quite disappointed.

But we know that you, our readers, would be sorely disappointed to lose that opportunity. And so, here is the story:

The story

Dave sang our song while I accompanied.

On Puget Sound, we can
Shut ya down.
We have the hottest KSR in our Home Town.
We can turn donuts in 54 gears and
We always spin one when the finish nears......
Hey! Frogasaurus Rex is goin' for the glory in Port Townsend.
It's got a Frogamatic tranny with overdrive
And it's powered by two middle-aged balding guys.
We go really fast on road, water and sand
And let's hope in the mud we won't need a hand.
Port Townsend's race is the place to be
Surrounded by Kinetic insanity.
Stay away from the skulpture and you won't come to harm,
'Cuz it's protected by a KSR alarm.
Step away from the frog, Step away from the frog,
Step away from the frog, Step away from the frog! fade
Hey! Frogasaurus Rex is goin' for the glory in Port Townsend...
Hey! Frogasaurus Rex is goin' for the glory in Port Townsend
oweeeohwooo!
Hey! Frogasaurus Rex is goin' for the glory in Port Townsend

Road

Last year my chains were giving me lots of trouble. Several times Dave had to keep us going while did repairs. This year our maintainence paid off. Frogasaurus Rex was quite reliable.

	Before the race started we each had the opportunity to sing our songs. Picture by John Liczwinko		Blaster Picture by Raan Young
	Ronni-Sue makes a lovely Kinetic Kop Picture by Raan Young		mower Picture by Raan Young
	palm Picture by Raan Young		Time Flies Picture by Raan Young
	Frogasaurus Rex Picture by Shep

Water

At the water exit the ramp can either be concrete or soft gravel, depending on the tides. We weren't sure where the tides were, so we spent the time to convert to ATV wheels. It turned out to be a waste of time. The tides were up and we could have exited on bike wheels.

Frogasaurus Rex
Picture by Shep

Sand

	Frogasaurus Rex in the sand. Here you can clearly see the sand cleats on the ATV wheels. The cleats are made of plastic water pipe and held onto the tires with ropes. The structure is a lot like snow chains. Picture by John Liczwinko		The game was to avoid running over the 'sunbathers' half buried in the sand. The judges gave us instructions for when to turn. But they were used to how front steered vehicles turn. Rex steers quite differently and requires a different style in close quarters. We did OK, but would have done better just watching out for the obstacles ourselves. Of course, that required that I not focus too much on that lovely judge in the red pants... Picture by John Liczwinko
	Henry Ford Goes Surfing Picture by Raan Young		Kinetic Medics Picture by Raan Young
	Lock Nutz Monsta Picture by Raan Young		Broken Record Picture by Raan Young