Out with the old!

2011 has been a full year. Since I graduated in December 2010 from Humboldt State University, 2011 was a year of getting used to being a college graduate. I enjoyed my time working part time teaching and dancing at the local dance studio. This also allowed me to go to all the races I did. A year after graduation and I still have no idea what I want to do when I grow up. A year of big changes, I am ready to say goodbye to 2011 and see what adventures I can find in 2012!   

This is my last post of 2011! My blog is now up to date with all the major trips from the last several years. Here are a few pictures to enjoy before I begin posting about my new adventures. Happy New Year!

Sunset at Patrick’s Point

Christmas sunrise in the hills of Humboldt

Believe ~In myself ~In others ~ That everything happens for a reason ~That everything will work out the way it is supposed to

Who needs plans? : Washougal 2011

Thanks to another Facebook contest I got 2 tickets for Washougal MX, only catch did not know if I had them until the morning before the race. Short notice on a 9+ hour drive makes for an interesting trip. So my brother and I jumped in the car and drove. Since we didn’t get going too early, and decided to make several stops along the way we ended up pulling in around 1:30am on race day. The moon was close to full and it was pretty exciting to be parked in the trees with just the moon lighting the track. So much for sleeping in the truck, or sleeping at all). I think I got less than 4 hours sleep before I was wide awake again. The sun was behind the trees and the grass and track was damp from the dew. the great racing made it well worth the trip!

Autographed: Ryan Dungey, Ryan Villopoto, Brett Metcalfe, Dean Wilson, Tye Simmonds

The track just before the sun got over the trees. Early morning on race day

RV going through the woops before the finish line

Hangtown 2011

Over 6 months later, Hangtown was nothing really exciting to write about, other then being the opening of the motocross season!

these guys started the PC sweep for the season!

Motocross opening round at Hangtown, these guys move the dirt!

A little Seattle, A little Bartram

I figure it’s time for another picture of Kdub and his signature move

Seattle supercross: miles from home round trip 1,287

Kenny Bartram, an FMX rider made an appearance close to home. So although it was not a road trip it is moto related. And considering it is rare for something worth talking about is closer than 4 or 5 hours away…

Kenny with me at A1 supercross

Kenny doing a back flip at the Fortuna Rodeo!

PINK

Each year one of the Anaheim supercross races goes PINK to support Breast cancer. I had heard about previous years, but this time we went. I got pink boots just for the occasion (and have actually worn them more than once) and I made a cover for my brother’s chair so we could both go PINK

I was lucky enough to get pictures with both Jeremy McGrath and Jeff Emig, both past supercross champions.

Ken Roczen after the races.

2011 Supercross: before it began, A1 &Oakland

Pre season for the 2011 supercross season was what it should be, all the hype for what is now referred to as the greatest season in the recent history of the sport. Thanks to the wonders of the internet, we were given tickets to a pre season small press event with the past two champions Ryan Dungey and James Stewart. It was fun to see the two of them less than a week before the opening round sharing a love seat and answering some fun and some serious questions.

How often do you get Stewart and Dungey that close to each other and not banging bars?



Since we did hit the road and drive through the night to make it to that event and it was so close to the first race, we just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to stay for the opening round. Anahiem 1 did not disappoint. I think I took as many pictures with riders/industry people as I possibly could. RC, Hill, Tedesco, Hart, twitch, Short, Reed, Mitch Payton and others!

RC= the Goat

Some of the other greats

Mitch Payton, the man behind the PC success

Once again thanks to the internet (Facebook I think) we got tickets from a Toyota dealer for Oakland SX. Track walk and JGR Toyota rig tour. Race 2 of 6 for 2011.

Track walk in heels

Next stop: A2 goes PINK!

SYTYCD

Unrelated to most of this blog, I am a ballet dancer. I have been dancing for the majority of my life and decided to talk my brother into another trip to head off to auditions. After rescheduling presentations and midterms at Humboldt State University I arranged my schedule so that I could make the Oakland auditions for the Fox show “So You Think You Can Dance” I didn’t really expect to get far since I was completely unprepared, but I figured it would be a good experience and worth a shot. This trip went something like, get done with school in the afternoon, drive to Oakland (about 5 hours south) and sleep in the truck on the street near the theater. Ok so this sounds way worse than it really was, although the lack of bed and sleep probably didn’t help my audition. I can now say I was in line at 4AM for a television show audition. While I did get a call back, but I think everyone did, the floor was completely slippery and difficult to dance on. After running around the theater all day for and doing all the things they told us to, I started to brainstorm ideas for making my shoes not slip. On my day between auditions and call backs my brother and I tried to get crafty. We found a hardware store and bought 7 ( I think) different types of glues to try on the shoe. The end result a spare wheelchair tube cut and glued to the tip of my shoe. It helped a little but not enough or I just wasn’t good enough. but the auditions were well worth the shot for experience. On that note I am considering trying again.

Documentation: Pala 2010

1,427 miles round trip to Pala MX national 2010. This was the first time Pala was on the schedule, and we decided to make the trip for it. Dungey had wrapped up the title before the end of the season, but that did not mean the racing was over! Most of the time in the car was spent listening to the “Pulp MX” radio show and they didn’t believe we drove as far as we did for the race.

Opening ceremonies

Eli Tomac (he won Hangtown, his rookie race)

Sorry Brett Metcalfe. I just happened to catch this photo as he went over the bars. This section was gnarly and we saw a few crashes during the races.

The GPS- I have documentation

South then North

Ryan Dungey just finished strong in supercross, taking the championship. After finding bright green fox shirts we got them screen printed with the titles Dungey had won in the last 2 years with the motocross 450 one on the bottom with an unchecked box. And that is what I wore to Hangtown!

RIP Danny “Magoo” Chandler, you are missed

Here I am ready to leave the hotel for the race.

The road trip to Washougal for the race turned into an FMF race. Got our Fox/Dungey shirt autographed as well as an autograph from Ryan Dungey’s mechanic Mike Gosslear “Goose”, and a picture with Ryan.

All FMF!

With Ryan

The autographs

Supercross 2010

2010 was the year of domination by Ryan Dungey, we started our season off at the San Francisco supercross.  

Here is a picture of my brother with Ryan, on his way to becoming the 2010 SX champ!

Our next trip was to Vegas for the Supercross finals. This would be one of the trips of misfortunes I mentioned in my first post.  Las Vegas is about a 14 hour drive from where we live, so we decided to make the 4 hour drive to San Francisco then fly. Our 4 hour drive turned into a very interesting trip. About half way to SF, we got a flat tire. Lucky for us we stopped to check it out across the street from a tire shop and it was Friday, it was a good thing we left early. Back on the road and within a few miles of the airport the alternator belt shredded to pieces. With no power steering we managed to get parked in the parking garage, decided we would deal with the car when we got back. As we were gathering our luggage and ready to go get the shuttle we got another flat tire. This time on my brother’s wheelchair, luckily there was a spare in the car so it got changed in the parking lot and off we went. We managed to make our flight and get to Vegas, it was almost a miracle.

Windham’s signature move in the opening ceremonies

We even made it to see Blue Man group!



Josh Hill riding to the gate for practice

On our return our flight got delayed. We had to stay a night in a hotel to wait for a parts store to be open to get the belt for the car, and then we managed to find a shop that would let us borrow tools to fix it our self. Then we snapped the bolt, it was still just long enough to thread. So we left it at that and hoped the car would make it back. I did have finals I needed to get back too. That’s right this whole ordeal was the weekend before finals at Humboldt State University. Maybe a bad plan, but was well worth it.

2009: A little moto and a little Disney

Off to San Francisco

Stewart on the big screen wearing a wig

San Francisco supercross at AT&T park.

Seatttle Supercross for my birthday weekend, that’s one way to spend your 21^st!

Windham during opening ceremonies, this will be the first of many pictures of this.

On the way back I barely got the picture of this. The 45 parallel, half way between the North Pole and the Equator.

The start of the 2009 outdoors. Hangtown is a must attend event, the closest round to us about 5 hours drive...

Chad Reed on Suzuki

Thanks to the local radio station, I got 2 tickets to Disneyland. Spent 2 days roaming around the parks, then later in the trip got talked into going skydiving.

Me with Tink

Thumbs up! It was well worth it, even if I thought I never would do it.

Start from the beginning

     The title for my blog has two meanings. Growing up in what most consider “the middle of nowhere” sometimes it takes a road trip to get out of here… The second meaning, well, sometimes out of nowhere and with next to no plans it will be time for a road trip.
     In the next several entries I will be listing trips from the past 4 years. Starting with the year 2008, it was just the beginning. There were 3 races that year. Glen Helen, Hangtown and Washougal. 

A cool sign at Glen Helen showing how far in what directions each of the other races. 2008



James Stewart at Hangtown. 2008

One of the 450 starts at Washougal. 2008