Let's see, I got rolling around 7:25 Wed evening after drenching myself in sweat loading the bikes and stuff into the back of the truck in 92 degree heat with 99.999% humidity. A short and uneventful 7.5 hrs and 500 miles later, I find myself parked under my favorite tree at "The Fox". I decided to sleep in the cab since it was still humid as heck and I didn't feel like unloading and setting up the truck tent in the dark. I don't normally sleep well in the cab, but for some reason, I closed my eyes and the next thing I know, it's daylight and someone is coming in the gate. Turns out to be Wardy's dad who is there to mow a bit. I think I know where Gerhard got that "talkative gene" now! ;) I unloaded the bed and headed into town for some breffast. After that, I set up camp and had a seat and waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, I hear gravel crunching. It was DJJ pulling in around 1:00. We introduced ourselves, suited up and prepared to head for the track. The weather had turned from sunny and humid, to overcast, cooler and windy. Very windy! I had to hang on to the truck tent a couple times to keep it where it belonged. There was some lightning, but no rain. We hit the track and on about lap 3, it started to sprinkle. A couple more laps and we had ourselves a genuine downpour. Back to the camp to seek refuge under the ez-up. A few minutes later, Mr. Luckey arrives. I made the comment, "Looks like we picked up right where we left off last year", referring to the weather situation. We were confident things would get better, however. And boy did they. Lower to middle 70's and a nice northeasterly breeze! In July! It doesn't get much better than that. After a couple hours of rain, we got camp Luckey set up and decided to go see how the track was doing. Things couldn't have been better. While the road down to the track was still a bit greasy on top, the sandy track was moist and tacky. Absolutely perfect condition. Sometime later under the ez-ups, Ed pointed out that DJJ is Tony Eeds' long lost twin brother! Other than the accent, they were amazingly similar in almost every respect. I mean that in a good way! :)
After that, things are just a bit of a blur of riding, eating, meeting folks, etc. Rooster and Skweeks showed up next, followed by RV6 and then Senior and Eric. Nik and Red rolled in around 11 that night. Friday brought in Oldguy and The Kid (Who has doubled in size in the past year...) along with the one and only Wolfgang and his boy Hunter. Man, that kid can ride. You should see him on that little fiddy. He has killer form, and since the Zoomers couldn't be here this year, he took over the "Energizer Bunny" role. I think he woke Senior up at 5AM Saturday asking for coffee and if he could ride yet! lol Also arriving were Walt C and family. Walt's got another one of those amazing growing teenagers. Seems like Walt's two boys, Bob and Eric, were about the same size at DW a few months ago. Now Bob is the same size as Walt. Them youngins are growin' like weeds! Walt also brought along his daughter, Stephanie C Moto and her little zuki quad. She ran a close race with Hunter and Senior's Eric for the Energizer Bunny award. Layton showed up Thursday evening as well. Also showing up Friday was Gregg from Service Honda with AJ's bike, but no AJ. The triple clamp bolt on AJ's bike came off while Gregg was riding it that afternoon. Lucky for him things turned out well and the nut even stayed on the tank vent tube, so it was a quick fix. He waited till the end of the day to show because he knew I'd be tired and wouldn't be able to exact my revenge for him beating me at Nocona in April... Jaybird arrived just in time for Friday evening's festivities. Saturday morning brought us The Pokester and Crispy.
My bestest fuzzy memories from the extended weekend of riding:
Burning laps with Reddog while on the TTR and him on his factory Honda. It's amazing how far that little bike will fly with a fat man on it!
Burning laps with Red and Nik while on my 450. I know you think I don't notice, but I really do appreciate you guys pushing (or pulling) me.
Burning laps with The Kid. Well, getting burned by The Kid when he would lap me.
Laughing at/roosting Red and Roosta when they crashed in "My Favorite Corner" a couple times.
Not going down even once in "My Favorite Corner" this year! Woohoo!
Watching Nik clear the start/finish table on the TTR!
Riding so much that my little nancy hands turned to "handburger". It hurt bad, it really did. I cried. I had a little tear roll out of the corner of my eye once...
Doing a half-assed ragdoll down the end of the front straight for no apparent reason. Glad the soil is so soft there. Seems like every time Senior is watching me ride at Wardy's, I roll it. Hmmm...
Riding Red's factory Subway Honda 450. Holy crap is that suspension nice. I still can't get past how different the ergo's are on the CRF's, but man did that thing turn and soak up the whoops. It was unreal. Like a magic carpet.
Trying to keep pace with The Kid through said whoops. I think there was something wrong with my bike. Something stuck in the right grip or something...
Somebody said Wolfy looked like a miniature Pred, but I didn't see it. Still, it was funny, so we made fun of him relentlessly the whole time he was there. I think he cried a little...
Getting two showers in four days! Much better than the previous years. Thanks to Nik & Red and Old Loafer for those.
Speaking of, it was good to see Offloader again. It's been too long man.
Eating like a king. As always, Ed and Roosta and everyone else pitched in to make every meal an absolute feast. I don't eat nearly that well at home!
I think that's all. It's all I can remember right now, anyway. As always, so good to see everyone again. Some of you I see almost every month, others every two years. Regardless, the best times I've ever had seem to be sitting around a campfire with you guys, or rubbing plastic on the track with you.