Driving out --
we passed the turn to go to LACR. So many memories I won't attempt to tell. Typing is still difficult. Remembering is even harder...
Starting in 1988 we dragged our Sport Nautique ski boat up to Castaic and then later to Pyramid Lake. Starting in '96, we traded the Sport in on a Ski Nautique (much better boat for us) because we were in a funk from having to teardown/rebuild the 1 Bell Canyon house after the '94 earthquake. Insured, but insured for too little because the teardown/removal cost too much. I had moved to a new job that WITH bonus paid more than my previous job which was a terrible job. Problem was, due to the quake, business suffered and I received NO bonus. Oops. The only rational answer -- new boat! 25 year loan for $230 a month.
The rate was pretty good so I just let it run until the first time I got a big-ass bonus. So the boys got into skiing, and wakeboarding, which led us to end up dragging the boat to Needles and camping out on the beach, in the summer. It was cheap. It was warm. But all in all great fun. The boys became pretty skilled, great memories.Then we passed the turnoff to Famoso. More great memories, as most of you know. Tetge can probably remember the details, all I remember after the strokes is that we had mucho fun.
Then we passed the turnoff to Buttonwillow. More great memories. I always enjoyed running at Buttonwillow. The only bad memory is from the time I early-apexed there in the Radical SR3 and launched into a pond fairly close to the track -- with full harness and a HANS device, and being stunned by the crash, I might have died if the pond had not been very much dried-up. It took a while to extract me, the car extraction was a major production. The cleanup/repair was a bitch.
99% good memories... :lo
When the road split to San Fran and Sacramento, it brought back memories of Thunderhill Raceway in the Sacramento Valley. Another fun track, several formats. No fun memories there, the locals had the track wired. But a nice facility.
I enjoyed wallowing around in my mind driving up and back. Terri, the leadfoot, drove because of my eye/arm/leg problems -- she covered 300 miles in 4 hours, cussing up a storm at the 'dum asses' who she had to work thru and around on the highway. The cops don't even look at the grey Fusion...
