10/18/06

I so very much did NOT want to come back to work today. But, here I am. So, let me tell you about the weekend. Friday morning I rolled out of bed around 0900 h and went to the shop to get the Seven. From there I went downtown and visited Kevin for a bit then to Automotive Machine. I was, you may remember, looking for a parking brake handle and mechanism for Mr. Wiggly. What they had was just a handle. I decided I'd cannibalize a Datsun later and moved on. From AM I went to the railroad office to show the Seven to the shuttle driver and the dude covering for me. We all chatted for a while and I headed north to the hotel where the Lotus thing was going to happen. I got there and parked then went looking for a) people I knew and 2) registration. I found both in the same room as Bernie Long was there working the registration. I went up to him and said, “Hey, I heard a rumor you dropped dead the other day.” He said I was the second person to tell him that and I went on to tell the story as I heard it. Marty Smith came up to me at the shop the previous weekend and said someone at the autocross told him about it. The more they talked though, the more obvious it was that they were talking about different people. Bernie was, and still is as far as I know, very much alive. Anyhoo, we chat a bit while I register. $204.00 later and I'm a member of the national Lotus owners association: Lotus Limited, registered for the dinner Saturday night, the reception Sunday night, and two lunches at the Motorsport Ranch for Monday and Tuesday. Oh, I think I bought a shirt as well. Now I was at a loose end until 1800 h. Yeah, I could have worked Friday after all. I found Dick Brink in the parking garage and parked next to his cars. I wandered around for a bit then went to find the car wash area. I “washed” the Seven then drove through the outdoor trailer parking area. Back in the hotel I met a nice guy from Long Island and we hung out for a bit. We went out to the trailer parking area and looked at cars. Somehow we got split up and I wandered back to the hotel. I chatted with Bernie a few more times and decided to drive around in the Seven again. I think another foreigner, as in someone not from Texas, rode out to the parking area with me this time. I saw a familiar face but couldn’t really stop to talk and by the time I had parked he had wandered off. Back at the hotel again I did finally run into him. I'm terrible with names so I'm not even going to try, sorry dude. He offered to buy me a beer so we went to the hotel bar. As we chatted about Sevens and such, Mr. Long Island joined us. Pretty soon it was time to mosey to the reception. I had a second beer and some snack type food while they began the event. We all went out to see the unveiling of a “new” Lotus model, which turned out to be an Exige with a supercharger. Woo hoo! After a while of chatting I decided it was getting late enough and excused myself for the evening. I went home and went to bed. Saturday morning John arrived at my house at 0645 h and we loaded up the canopy and an ice chest full of drinks. We went to the Awful House to meet up with some other Datsun folks then out to Mineral Wells. It was cloudy but not raining. I sat by the Seven while John took the few folks who were with us around in the Pimpmobile to show them the track. When they got back, the fun began. The first dude went out and set a good time. John went out in the Seven and, well, I don’t remember what kind of time he set. Josh went out in his Maxima and ran pretty well. More dudes showed up and ran. It was a pissing contest between two of them for FTD. They’d trade fastest times each run and I became less and less interested in the whole autocross nature of the event. I think if we had set it up as every car got a set amount of time, say ten minutes, or something like ten laps, it would have been a track day. As it was with one warm up lap, one hot lap, and one cool down lap, it was just an autocross. I finally went out and drove about 7/10 for a couple laps, with an 8.5/10 in the middle. My thought was if I were close to their lap times while “pussyfooting” around, I'd wick it up next time out. Nope, I was ten seconds off and thus didn’t care to go back out again. The event was a fine autocross but autocross just isn’t my bag, baby. So, I sat next to the car and chatted with the folks and let John and Josh each take a turn in the Seven. It began to sprinkle a bit and we could see rain to the east. It never occurred to me that the rain to the east meant I would be driving back on wet roads. Oops. I bowed out around 1600 h so I could get ready for the banquet at the Lotus thing. I took off and headed home. The roads were wet, as I alluded to above, and the spray off of my left front soaked me to the skin on my left side. Nice. I parked the car in the shop and headed home to get ready. As I was about to pull out, I noticed a car sitting at the gate. I stopped and waited for them to enter a code. They never did. I drove back around the complex to see if they’d drive off or enter a code to get in. I got back and they had done neither. I rolled up to the gate and pulled out to block them from getting in while I waited for the gate to close. As I drove around them it became more obvious they were possibly having car trouble and not trying to get in. Oops, my bad. I felt like a jerk but drove on. About a quarter of a mile down the road, Karma slapped me on the back of the head. I had forgotten my nametag and dinner coupon for the banquet. Well, there was no way in hell I was going to go back to the shop for it! I decided to go on home and get ready. At home I decided I'd rather not drive half an hour to the banquet just to get turned away. I settled in for the evening. Well, I'll tell y’all about Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday tomorrow. Have a day.