Click on a thumbnail sketch to see the full size picture.
Well here we go. Before the trip: Pilots, Pit Crew, and Peons went for the safari look. We hit the thrift shops for tan or khaki shirts and slacks. The pilots got pith helmets and I picked up a boonie hat. The shirts were embellished with iron on transfers; "Gorillas in the Rex 2,001" on the left shoulder with "Pilot", "Pit Crew", or "Peon" above the right pocket; And the gorilla logo stenciled on the back. It was decided that Derek would pilot as I had to look after Alexander and Daniel as well as pit crew for the vehicle. This was because someone had to drive from place to place for pit coverage.
We were able to get a couple of banners from Power Print http:www.fabricbanners.com/ they print on fabric and do a good job of it. If you have a need for banners where you work check out their website, they specialize in quick turn around banners. [Yes this is a plug for them.]
At about the last minute Allen e-mailed out that he had forgotten bribes. So, we also printed some stickers and strung together 16 necklaces for bribes. The necklaces were plastic beads with the letters spelling out "Gorillas in the Rex". The beads were strung on string that has a natural fiber appearance. Allen was bringing along an ink stamp for the kids that show up at the event. We let Allen know about our efforts and he was grateful that we had given some coverage in this area
On the Thursday before, Alice and I had the Boys pack their bags.
On Friday I woke early and started packing my stuff and pulling together the gear that we were going to take on the trip. Before noon Alice came home form work to help out at lunch while I was picking the boys up form school early. We went through the usual last minute delays and didn't depart until an hour later than I wanted. To top off the late departure traffic was slow and go all the way to Santa Rosa with an unusual slow down in Willits. Speaking of Willits, we waved and hollered at the "Yellow Submarine" & Crew parked at Carl's Jr's. Other than that it was reasonably smooth sailing through to Eureka.
We checked in at the Travel Lodge, dropped our bags and headed out to Arcata and the Kinetic Labs. We were to meet with Allen and Rex that evening. We had run behind so I was in a hurry to get there. We brought along the iron on art (plus an iron) and the stencil so that we could decorate the remaining Pilot, Pit Crew member and any additional Peons that might turn up. Of course, I forgot the directions that were sent to me, so I had to play it by ear and memory of the directions. The Kinetic Labs are about 4 blocks away from the town square and across the street from Yakama (purveyor of car racks and sponsor of the race). I found it on the first pass.
As we were unknowingly approaching the labs, Derek said "That is Jim's van!" He was right, with Jim included. We were on the back side of the labs and drove around to the front entrance. We got out and searched the area. To no avail Allen wasn't to be found. Oh well, it's kinetic. Jim had his new racer there. I refer to it as the 14 day wonder. Their art work was a bald eagle head with a yellow bill "Thunderbird". [A simple little single seat four wheel vehicle.] I did get to meet June Moxon and see many other kinetic racers. I gave June a copy of the JPEG pictures of the 2,000 race. We schmoozed with our fellow racers for a little and went back to Eureka for a hamburger then the Lodge.
At the Lodge, I chatted with Jim about our building several racers until Lauren showed up. Then it was back to the room to calm the boys and get some sleep. We were going to need the sleep.
We woke early on Saturday (about 7:00 AM) ate some cold cereal then took off for the Kinetic Labs. Allen was there, preparing REX for the race. We secured gorillas in the overhead rack, checked supplies, and of course met Laura, Stuart, and Elizabeth, our fellow Pit Crew and Peons. [On the side; Elizabeth and Stuart are Laura's kids. Elizabeth was going to spend part of her time checking out Humbolt State U., as she is graduating High School. Stuart has a year or two left to go.]
We checked the list of necessities and came up short on the highway flare. With the water bottles secured Derek and Allen climbed in and started for the Caravan to drop off a few support items that didn't need to be carried in Rex. As with the kinetic way of things, Derek had Rex almost to the Town Square before realizing that they had missed the turn off to get to the Caravan. We were using the Caravan as a support / semi-chase vehicle.
This was the first time that I have entered the Town Square from the Kinetic Labs direction. There is little difference other then the streets are a little better cleared to allow for this. We had entered early and went immediately to the brake test area. They weren't prepared for us so we drove around to a good parking place and parked.
Allen went into a local tavern to get some breakfast (food, kinetic hero types don't drink and drive). Derek, Alexander, and Daniel wandered off to try to collect trinkets (bribes). Laura, Stuart, and Elizabeth came and went a fair amount so I held the fort for the time being. Sometime later Derek showed up and told me that he was going to go watch the medieval duelers in the middle of the Square. Yes, they were there putting on a demonstration (read "A Clash & Bash").
Time moved on while I tried to answer questions about an unfamiliar vehicle. Jim and Lauren came by with "Thunderbird". Race officials started to come by and ask when we would be ready to go through the judging and brake test. Allen was still unseen and at breakfast. Eventually I tried to locate Allen and failed.
Derek and the others had come back and were getting fidgety when Allen appeared on the scene. The tavern had been packed and service was extremely slow. Derek and Allen quickly climbed in and got in line for the art judging and the engineering judging. We went around the corner to the safety & equipment inspection. We got through this because I had taken time (soon after arriving in the square) to go procure one. Then it was around the next corner and down an incline in the street for the brake test. The brakes work adequately, but don't have a lot of oomph. We stopped while using up a lot of the run-out. The race official told us to circulate counter clockwise.
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Derek Goodrich and Allen Brown with Gorillas In The Rex |
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Typical scene in the Plaza. That's Sparkle in the middle. |
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The Sparkle people are strong on pagentry. |
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This is the Lock Nuts Monster, accompanied by bagpipes. |
We went around the third corner; up the street; and around the fourth corner, to park near our earlier long term parking place. It was close to the noon horn, so the wait was short. The horn sounded with the usual LeMans start.
Derek and Allen trotted across the street and climbed into Rex. Immediately pandemonium reigned. I know that the race officials and others involved misdirect the race for the start. Any direction you wish to go on is good enough. As things do not move slowly at first it is difficult for anyone to get hurt in this melee. Rex took off with Laura and Stuart following on bicycle. Shortly after they departed the curb. I grabbed Daniel and Alexander and took off down a side street towards the Caravan.
We cut across the street the race comes down, (about a block from the Caravan, by plan) and turned to see the race. They came at a slow roll with a police car, a fire truck and a few other cars in the lead. I got a couple of digital shots of this. After Rex passed by, we hit the Caravan and took off for the Manila Community Center to get there ahead of the real crowd.
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Mostly Harmless |
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Yi Fang Serpent |
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Royalty. The woman on the right is the Rudabega Queen. |
In the melee Rex was going counter clockwise much to Allen's surprise. Derek had spun his steering wheel so that they were headed in that direction (Derek was in the right seat). So, Rex took the obligatory laps around the Town Square. During which they had a gap in traffic and took the time to spin a couple of donuts for the crowd. Shortly, they pulled into the press exiting the square. The press was because of the lead motor vehicles had slowed everyone down to a crawl. About 3-4 blocks out of the Town Square the lead motor vehicles broke off into the Yakama parking lot, and the race began in earnest.
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Yellow Submarine in the parade. |
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The Parade |
There is a traditional water fight going through town. Rex was somewhat trying to avoid this as the day was cool and windy. They were in luck, the majority of the locals had retired or were reloading / recharging their weaponry. Rex was passed by the Elvis guys (sculpture name forgotten) and pulled in behind to pick up any draft possible. Just short of the community center (about a block and a half) there was a water balloon slingshot (using a brazier and shock / bungie cords). The Elvis guys were hit, but Rex persevered and survived the hazard unscathed. [Their aim left something to be desired.] Up a small hill and down into the community center.
Derek came by me (Dad) and voiced that he didn't think that he could do this. I thought that he was having trouble getting along with Allen. [I was wrong but didn't find out until later.] The conversion to ATV wheels went smoothly so Rex pulled out to the sand. They passed many vehicles converting to their sand equipment. They were off into the sand, digging their way through to the beach with a good deal of dash and a plumb.
During the long {long, long, long, (added by Derek)} trek down the beach many of the sculptures passed them. There was a slow down turning in from the beach and Rex derailed a chain a couple of times. Laura and Stuart had walked along with Rex for quite a ways. If I remember correctly they went back to the community center and rode their bicycles to the road adjacent to Dead Man's Drop. Then walked through to the beach.
Rex made it to the back of Dead Mans Drop and ground it's way up to the end of the no push zone. We shoved Rex the rest of the way up to wait our turn at The Drop. Dead Mans Drop looked particularly nasty compared to other years. It was steeper with more outside banking for the slight "S" turn. Allen had me get on the down hill rear side of Rex, Derek got the up hill rear side so that we could slew our weight to balance Rex. We nosed over the top and started to edge down with the brakes on. There were several major weight shifts by Derek and Dad as well as a sideways excursion on the way down. But Rex made it.
Not too soon, Rolling-Black-Out was hot on our tails and pitched over the top before we could clear ourselves from the bottom. They came on without any braking. One spectator had to truly hustle to avoid getting run over. I was thinking about what I should do as Rolling-Black-Out turned off into the willows. I watched as trees clawed at the back of the head of the lead Pilot (who sits facing backwards). No one was hurt. We moved on to the road. Of personal note, the day was still cool and windy, so cool in fact that the man eating mosquitoes were taking a hiatus. I only saw a few of them that day.
By the way: I had walked through to the beach with Rex. [Something of a tradition with me.] Had gone back to the community center, picked up Alexander and Daniel, driven to the road side of Dead Man's Drop and walked through to the beach to meet Rex. Daniel had stayed in the car at this point. Alexander had joined me, playing and encouraging our intrepid pilots.
At the road we converted back to road wheels and Rex headed for Eureka over the Samoa bridge. Laura and Stuart were on bicycles right behind Rex. I walked to the Caravan with Alexander. We got in the slow bridge traffic behind the vehicles (kinetic racers included). Along side of Rex we had a brief discussion of timing for the race course closure. I drove ahead to the finish line and found out that they were holding the course open an extra hour. [Kinetic is always a good description of how the race is run.] Then, I spent a very frustrating 40 minutes trying to radio Rex to inform them of the status.
It was down to the last few minutes before closure. Around the bend about 5 blocks up Rex appeared. They looked as if they were moseying alongfrom my point of view (on a slight down hill yet). I would have run up the street to tell them to hurry, but my knees get real sore from running and jogging. I just tried and tried the radio. Rex crossed the finish seconds before they closed it for the day and we were the last to cross before the course closure. Our Ace status was intact!!
Rex pulled onto the little monument area that was the landmark for the day's finish line. Derek moved alongside of me and again voiced that "He didn't think that he could do this." Allen and I discovered that the batteries in my radio were too weak to drive the transmitter. This solved the radio difficulties.
After a brief rest logistics were discussed. Elizabeth was there with a vehicle so Stuart and Laura were taken care of. Allen had decided to sleep with Rex under the Samoa bridge. Laura and Stuart volunteered to pedal Rex to under the bridge. I took Derek, Alexander, and Daniel back to the lodge. Then I drove over to under the bridge to help Allen get settled. It took a couple of tries (I hadn't been there before) but I found it. Allen didn't need much, but was tired, so I hung around a little extra long just to make sure that he was settled.
Back to the lodge and off to Home Town Buffet for some serious over eating. Followed by a short visit to the arcade. Back to the lodge for a reasonably early night. Derek complained about being sore so I fed him a couple of ibuprofen, took some myself, we all showered and hit the sack.
We pulled out of bed and grabbed some breakfast (cold cereal and milk with a Danish chaser). Grabbed the Caravan and headed for underneath the Samoa Bridge. Derek admitted to being a touch sore. [Youth or not, I'll bet things were worse then that.]
Allen had Rex partially set up out of the line up to get into the water. I lent a hand inflating pontoons with Stuart. Laura was hanging around looking for ways to help. Derek and Allen made a dry run putting Rex up on the pontoons.
[I will digress for the reader; Rex has a somewhat unique water conversion. The pontoons are mounted on pivots with lever arms. Once initially in the water the pilots climb onto the pontoons. Using the levers and some brute force, Rex is lifted out of the water so that the pontoons, water drive and rudder are all that is in the water.]
Rex and the safari guys got in line for the first water entry of the race. Sparkle the Flying Horse, and Grandpa's Flying Machine hit the water ahead of us, then in went Rex. Derek and Allen struggled a little with the lift onto the pontoons. Then there was a longer struggle to get one of the pontoons off the bottom and pushed off. I lost track of myself, trotted over and gave them a gentle push. A couple of the judges (I think Hobart himself) commented that everybody saw that. I was now faced with having lost the ace for the team. Oh well, the whole thing is kinetic.
I grabbed my boys and jumped into the Caravan and was off down the waterfront. I had cover substantial distance before sighting the Rex (intrepid seagoing pilots included). The water drive in Rex is quite good and Allen has the right to brag about it (which he does). It appeared that the water leg would pass without incident, but not quite.
Here is the report forwarded after the fact.
Hi AllAt about the halfway point Team Rex spotted "Wilder Things" floundering. Pulling alongside, Rex inquired as to the need for help. As Wilder Things condition was at the point where the vehicle could float but not with people on it, help was accepted. With an extra light cord that Rex had available, they tied off Wilder Things. The gear that Wilder Things had floating in the water was secured to the vehicle and it was quickly discovered that Rex didn't have the additional buoyancy / stability to float an additional three humans. Two of the newly initiated mermaids were required to recline on the pontoons while the third mermaid (a member of the Pit Crew) took her new occupation seriously and swam.Special recognition is required ! during the first water leg of this year's Great Arcata to Ferndale Kinetic Sculpture.... team REX performed a water rescue for team "Wilder Things" .
the "Wilder Things" first year entry had problems maintaining acceptable connection between the vehicles frame and the vehicle's floats . this resulted in the all girl team going for a swim , and were then unable to suitably propel their vehicle further.
Team Rex arrived on the scene and WITH THE GREATEST DEMONSTRATION OF TRUE KINETIC SPIRIT towed the compromised vehicle to the water exit . this was accomplished with thrust to spare and full directional control . a fantastic display of KINETIC SPIRIT that should go down in the annals of history ! congratulations to all !
AL KRAUSE
I was at the water exit (boat launching ramp) cheering the racers on. Jim and Thunderbird showed, so I helped a little for them convert to land. Again not thinking about ace awards, besides I have been Jim and Lauren's Pit Crew Chief for years. I got down to the ramp in time to get pictures of Rex's moment of glory. It was out of the water to raise and secure the pontoons. There was a minor mishap when the lever arm for the pontoons flipped up and struck Derek just above the eye. Derek was sure that he was bleeding, but it was a false alarm. His eye was watering or something to account for the warm wet he felt. I got a look at him and there was no blood and little or no injury (but I am sure that it hurt). Derek and Allen got back into Rex, Stuart, Laura, and Elizabeth got on their bicycles, then it was off to McDonalds for breakfast (part of the race). I will add a plug for McDonalds next to the mall in Eureka. They provide a free lunch for the intrepid pilots of the race (Pit Crew Too) and are good people.
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Lock Nut Monster and Mega Sore Ass parade by |
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Drum role has the black drums for wheels |
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Derek Goodrich and Allen Brown with Gorillas In The Rex |
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Pirates Sans Pants on the sand |
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Dead Man's Drop. Who would be foolish enough to drive down that hill??? |
I was back in the Caravan with Daniel and Alexander and we drove to McDonalds. There we inquired to see if Rex had passed by, not yet, so we hung around. In Pitting for a kinetic racer you can have trouble keeping track of where they are. Speed or lack of speed on the course is a totally unknown quantity particularly for an unfamiliar vehicle. Many of the racers passed through the parking lot, a few actually got in the line for the drive up window. Rex showed and Laura got the order from Derek and Allen. Stuart, Elizabeth, Alexander, Daniel, and myself added our orders as Rex, Stuart and Elizabeth moved along.
It was a wait for the breakfasts, both getting to order and getting served. After this was done Alexander decided he wanted something more. I had the breakfast, Laura had taken off to catch up with Rex, so I waited on Alexander to travel the long line to the order counter and pickup his drink. [The kinetic race crews and officials had gotten pretty thick for breakfast. But remember that we had been up for a few hours and the racers had been going strong for that long.]
We hit the road watching the racers along the shoulder of highway 101. We eventually spotted Laura and beeped to let her know where we were as we traveled to the racers turn off exit. We passed Rex shortly after Laura and beeped for them also. I found a parking place and walked back towards the overpass (turnoff) with breakfast. On came Rex Stuart and Elizabeth and I passed out the food at a trot to all the hungry. Laura was only about 50 yards behind and closing. Rex rolled on.
I drove on to Fields Landing and got out. Jim and Lauren arrived so I passed some of the time chatting with them as they lined up for the water leg at Fields Landing. Rex arrived soon and we set about converting Rex back to the ATV wheels. [Yes, we put on the road wheels before going to McDonalds. Now we had to convert back.] We got in line and made yet another splashdown. Up on the pontoons, and out into the bay.
From where I was I couldn't see the general course at the ramp. But the announcers were saying that if you wanted to win the Mediocre Award you had to come out of the bay in the mud next to the ramp. Rex gave it a try. Plus, they called for me to help, and I had on a reasonably good pair of shoes. Oh well, the shoes may survive the mud of Humbolt Bay. I walked through the mud trying to keep the man-eating clams from grabbing my shoes to drag me under the muck. When I arrived on the scene Rex was off the pontoons and on the ATV tires. By Allen's Request I climbed onto the log in front to shift the balance more onto the front drive wheels. Allen and Derek applied power and I watched as the tread went smooth being filled with the bay mud. We had just dug in with little or no forward progress. Rex had a structural failure at this time. A shaft went out of alignment and a sprocket was trashed. The drive on the right side of Rex was out of commission.
Thinking a little, Derek and Allen put Rex back up on the pontoons and shoved back out into the water. They came out on the boat ramp. The right pilot's side had lost the use of it's low gears but was still capable of limping. We converted back to the road wheels and Rex took off, with Laura, Stuart and Elizabeth in tow.
Alexander and I got back in the van (Daniel hadn't left) and drove to the lodge for a break. Both of the boys had a grand hour or so playing in the swimming pool at the lodge. Then it was back on the road again.
We drove south 101 to the Jetty turnoff and immediately asked the race officials if Rex had passed by, Yes. We met and passed them on the hill (Table Bluff) headed for Loleta. I drove to the top and walked back to meet them on the slog up. I took orders for sandwiches (makings in the van) and walked back to the van. Rex passed while I was making sandwiches. I also got a couple of pictures of some flowers, fox's boots or socks or something like that. I have never seen this flower before and it is quite pretty.
I drove down off the hill, caught up with Rex before the Cannibal Island Road turn. I parked in front of one of the few houses along the road and delivered sandwiches. Driving, I passed Rex and drove to the end of Cannibal Island Road (which ends in Crab Park). Cannibal Island Road is a long drive in a car. You can imagine how far this is for a Kinetic Sculpture. It was about 2.5 hours before Rex came limping along. One of the tires was down to the cord, so they stopped for a duct tape repair. Then finished the leg to Crab Park.
A long day for sure and not over yet. Jim and some other seasoned mechanics took a look at Rex and found the point that failed. Plans were made to secure welding gear for Rex and make repairs. I was to try to get a replacement tire, ferry Laura, Stuart and Elizabeth back to their vehicle, take Derek to the lodge to clean up and return. Kmart provided the tire (it was Sunday after all). I dropped Laura and family off at their car under the Samoa Bridge. Derek washed up, the other two took a quick swim, and then I took Derek back to Crab Park for the Pilot's camp out. My family went back to the lodge, had a quick bite, and passed out for the night.
That night Monkey and Jim performed the magic of repairing Rex. They had lost the low gears on the right side but the right was running again. [Monkey is a really cool guy who helped us repair "Clam I Am" on the first night of the '98 race. Clam had run over a water balloon-throwing civilian after making a direct hit in Lauren's face. Lauren was driving and lost control. This resulted in Clam crashing. The front right wheel took a lot of damage, but we got it fixed at Monkey's. By the way the boy who was run over wasn't hurt.]
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What is this woman doing? Drum roll is 'barrelling' down toward her. | |
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Grandpa's flying machine |
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Sparkle is June Moxon's KSR |
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Derek Goodrich and Allen Brown with Gorillas In The Rex on the boat ramp | |
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Gorillas In The Rex being lifted onto its pontoons | |
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Pig in the water. In the background you can see a forest of boat masts. That is our goal. | |
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Yi Fang Snake in the water | |
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Gorillas In The Rex is underway |
Monkey was Pit Crewing for Area 51 (a machine he had built). That evening the group was opening a lot of glow sticks and pouring the glowing solution on their coveralls. Any time the glow reduced they opened another glow stick and refueled themselves.
We woke up and packed to leave, again grabbing cereal and cold milk. Both Daniel and Alexander were a help rather than a hindrance. We checked out of the Travel Lodge. [By the way, the maid told us that we were good people to have visit, that the room had been easy to clean. Not bad for having 3 and 4 people in a room for 3 days.] We swung by Ray's Super Market (behind McDonald's) and purchased a breakfast snack for the intrepid Pilots. Then we drove to Crab Park.
At Crab Park we found out that Rex was repaired but not up to full health. We visited with race people. Laura, Stuart, and Elizabeth were there having camped out in their truck. I believe that Shirley had camped out also. Although I saw Shirley regularly throughout the first two days, she is a bit of a blur in my memory.
We planned logistics (a definite must). Laura and family were going ahead to Slimy Slope. I was going to help Rex and Pilots on this side of the Eel river. Stuart and Laura were planning to walk from Slimy Slope across the river and escort Rex to the Slimy and then to the finish line.
As the race officials briefed us as to the start of the day. There was discussion as to starting at 11:00 or 12:00 to avoid the Memorial Day Parade down Main Street Ferndale. 11:30 was decided on, so everyone was in for an hour wait. They also announced the Ace Racers and Rex was on the list. The Kinetic gods had seen fit to clear me of my transgression! Allen told me that I wasn't needed for the start, so I took off for Slimy Slope.
Derek says that they passed a lot of racers on the way to the Eel River, Glory Hogs twice on the way to the Eel only to be passed in the Eel again. Spicy Meat Balls had a broken axle as they passed (they had hit a deep rut around a corner). Monkey was radioed to lend assistance (By the way; he was successful in repairing them).
I didn't get to see Slimy Slope last year. I helped "Wild Blue Yonder" start the third day, I had vehicles to position for Blue Yonder's departure, plus, Wild Blue Yonder was too fast on it's feet for me to beat it to the slope. Gold Digger was almost the same story with me arriving in time to help with repairs half way up Slimy. This time I walked through to the Eel River and stood on the bank for quite a while waiting for Rex. Laura and family rode their bicycles around to the Slimy Slope side of the river and waded the river to escort Rex across.
The vehicles backed up on Cock Robin Island. It is one at a time access to the water. The wait was a long one. The wind was blowing and I was getting quite chilly waiting. Jim in Thunderbird waded ashore ahead of Rex to my cheers and encouragement. On came Rex. Allen and Derek drove Rex across the line for the legal push zone, where they got out to push. Stuart, and I joined them in pushing Rex across the sand bars to the approach to Slimy. I noticed that Elizabeth was enjoying the mud, having smeared some on her face for decoration. I was also somewhat concerned because her leg had a large scab (road rash from before the race) that had gotten muddy.
The legal push zone ended at the foot of Slimy, but the trek through the trees to the foot was killer. The roadway had very deep ruts filled with muck. High ground clearance was required. Rex, like many of the other vehicles tried to straddle the right side rut. This put the steering wheel in the center of the rut. It was trial and attempts to get to the foot of the slope. One of the few distinct memories I have of the approach is lifting the rear end of Rex and moving forward 8 to 12 feet in a quick burst. At that point I lost enough of my balance to have to put the rear end down. I know that we were unable to repeat the feat. We all managed to muscle Rex to the base of Slimy. Then the real ordeal began.
Rex had it's tires inflated to maximum pressure to make the knobs stand out as well as for more ground clearance across the Eel River. We aligned Rex with the left side of the slope. [There was a tire catching pot hole dug by someone's wheel on the right side.] I climbed onto the log on Rex's front, Derek and Allen climbed in and we started up. We ground our way about a third of the way up pausing regularly to steer by repositioning. Steering on Slimy is tricky and sometimes (as in this case) the actual steering system is ineffective. At about a third of the way up we sought a lateral move from the officials and got it. We were skidding too far to the right and were aimed wrong.
We climbed on and I felt more of what I feared I was feeling. The front log structure was collapsing. I had stopped bouncing earlier because I had felt too much give in the system. I was as gentle as I could climbing onto Rex and shifting my weight to augment the traction. We made another portion of the slope and again made another lateral move. We ground to within 10 feet of the top when the log structure gave out. [I believe that this took out some of the gearing.] We were offered a tow to the top and took it. The officials were talking about altering the rules regarding us and no push up the slope. We didn't know if we were to ace or not. We pushed Rex to the road and converted to road tires.
These races are rough on the Pilots, Pit Crew and the vehicle. Rex looked pretty sad as they took off for Ferndale, Laura and family in accompaniment. I walked back to the van. Both Alexander and Daniel were there, Daniel by initial choice and Alexander due to several acts of disobedience while approaching the slope. The knee-high mud I had on my legs was dry. I removed my disposable shoes that I had brought just for this and put them in a trash bag, changed my pants and drove barefoot.
The park at the far end of Main Street has been very useful at the end of these races. I was able to wash off the mud and get on clean shoes and socks. I moved the van a block closer to the finish line and went to check the finishers. I was also in need of some dinner. lunch was skipped and I was hungry. I knew that Rex had a while to go to get to the finish line. I wanted to greet them but my stomach won the argument. I gathered the boys and we found the banquet hall. Jim and Lauren were there so I grabbed some chili and other food and sat down with the couple.
Derek arrived shortly after I sat down. He was a little irate with me as he had spent some time looking for me before coming to the banquet. Derek's ride in was shorter then I had thought it would be. None the less, we all enjoyed each others company, the chili, cornbread, and salad. I packed away as much coffee as I thought I could stand.
The awards were passed out. I won't look up who got what. You can go the website to find that information. We did get an ace award (Hurray!!).
As with all good things, they come to an end. I packed the kids up and we hit the van. We filled the water bottles at the banquet hall just before leaving. Derek was so would up that he talked for 2 1/2 hours about the race on the way back. Exhaustion eventually overtook him and he went to sleep. His excitement and chatter had helped me with the drive home.
So there you have it folks, the 2,001 and 32nd annual Arcata to Ferndale Kinetic Sculpture Race.
Gary
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Jim's 15 day wonder: Thunderbird. | |
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Gorillas In The Rex tows Wild Things when their pontoon support fails in Arcata Bay. |
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The girls rode Rex's pontoons in. |
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flowers |
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Wild Things | |
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Grandpa's Flying Machine | |
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Grape Balls Of Fire | |
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That's Jim in Thunderbird. And behind him is Yi Fang Snake. | |
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Lauren and Jim sitting next to Derek. |
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Bruce LeBel | |
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Awards |
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The Trophys. |
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The Burley Man got Hobart Brown up on stage. | |
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Burley Man, Mr Green, and somebody else | |
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Mega Sore Ass | |
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All pictures were taken by Gary Goodrich.