Back Out West

TOP: Lumpy and Cliff doing the construction thing

2nd: Open cockpit race car at the Bondurant School of Driving

3rd: Rocky Mountain Oy...er, chicken nuggets. Yeah, that's it...chicken nuggets

BOTTOM: Dodgers, but without Manny

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I made a 2 week run out west for work, and was fortunate enough to be able to slot in some fun while I was out there. After visiting the Bradleys in Pasadena, I made a mad dash up the coast to San Luis Obispo for work, then all the way back to Palm Springs to get in some hiking and visit the Carlsons. Then, after a few days of R&R, I stopped back to Phoenix, picked up Kathy who had flown in, and hit another conference for a client of mine. The fun of this conference was that the evening event was a trip to the Bondurant school of racing. Big time fun, as we got to do a few "hot laps" in a Corvette ZR1 with a pro driver, topping 120 on the straights and, oh, 120 on the turns. My driver blew one of the first turns, so I asked him if this was his first time driving. Bad idea. He proceeds to BURY the 'vette through the course, and was up around 120 through the esses. I was pretty much crapping my pants. He slows to pull back into the pit area, turns to me, and say "Son, NEVER dish the driver". I was in tears laughing.

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Then, we got to drive a governed Corvette through a slalom course made of cones. The winner got the coveted "golden pylon" award. I proceeded to hammer the 'vette, and within a minute easily had the record for most cones destroyed in a single run. At one point is sounded like a machine gun going off under the car, so many cones were bouncing into the undercarriage. When I exited the car after my run, the timer came up to me and said "THAT was some piece of driving...not good driving, just driving. I ain't never seen anyone crush that many cones in one day, much less one run.

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I also snuck in a short horse ride while I was in Phoenix, then headed up to Flagstaff for some more work. After a couple of days of hanging in the hospital there doing an install, we dropped back to Flagstaff, got in some hiking and biking with Cliff, and sent Kathy packing for home. On our last bike ride, Cliff took us through the wonders of the barrio...nothing more interesting than two lilly white anglos, riding their titanium road bike, through the barrio at 5:00. Last time I let him navigate. To close out the week we grabbed a Dodgers cactus league game, but unfortunately Manny hadn't arrived back yet with the team, after just re-signing. Still, always fun watching the pro's in an intimate venue, and couldn't have been a nicer day.

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Val also needed some work done on her art studio, so I helped cliff install some cabinets. Now, anyone who knows me knows that I was born to do construction. Afte several hours of headlamps (wires everywhere in the walls, and no blueprint), 7 different size screws, pipe stabilizers, and many a beer, we finally got the cabinetry installed. I REALLY don't want to be there when Val finally puts supplies in it. LOOK OUT BELOW!!!

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"Made for the SouthWest" Lumpy out