5/20/08

I got an e–mail from Pat this morning volunteering to join us in the new shop when and if we ever decide on one. I'm not sure what that has to do with anything, I just thought I'd share. So, Sunday morning I get up and head for Eagle’s Canyon to meet the other Sevens enthusiasts. Of course I do not allow myself enough time. I'm rolling through Denton at the time I'm supposed to be meeting them. I call and tell them I'm on my way and they say they’ll be on the lookout for me. I hit Decatur on 380 and turn onto FM 51 north. I get in behind a Subaru SVX and we head out. Just as I'm about to pass the Subaru, we hit some construction. As we pass the barrels I look to the left and see the track. “Ah,” thinks I, “The entrance must be near.” We reach an intersection and the Subaru turns left. “He must know where we’re going,” I say to myself. I follow him until he bails out and turns around. I turn back myself and finally find the entrance. It was the sheer cliff of concrete to the left just as we entered the construction. Not a sign in sight though. I turn in and see the Subaru park. I roll though the paddock looking for my friends. I don’t find them nor do I see a car I recognize so I park and start walking. I wander up the hill to the spectator area and watch a little racing. Finally I head back down and find my folks. We chat for a bit and then talk to an official with the track. It looks like we might do the track portion of the event on a Friday this year. We’ll see. When the track goes dark for lunch, another official who was known to a couple of us, allowed us to take a parade lap of the course. It is interesting to say the least. Very technical and hilly turns separated by very long straights. It will be a good horsepower track but cars like ours, which will turn, will have fun too. We went to the top of the hill again to look at the ‘tater area and then went to talk to the two guys running Sevens at the event. Both seemed interested in attending the Festival so, woo hoo! We gathered again at the top of the hill and watched a gaggle of Spridgets run against a single Porsche, a Mini, and a Triumph GT-6. It was fun to watch a Spridget nip at the heels of that Porsche in the turns but the Teuton just had a bit more oomph for the straights. It had to be a 912 because I doubt a six cylinder car would have been that slow as to be classed with the others. We decided we’d had enough fun and took off to see what Decatur has to offer us, Festival wise. We met up at the town square and decided that Eagle’s Canyon and Decatur would be suitable for this year’s event. I took FM 730 south through Boyd and set my odometer as I passed the farm. It looks like it is about 36 miles or so from my house. That would be about three times as far as the current shop. But if we build it with a “bunk house” apartment and once a month or so planned to go up on a Friday evening and stay until Sunday afternoon to play with stuff, I think it might still work out. And the proximity to Eagle’s Canyon might make me reconsider the “Mistress Storage” facility idea as well. I don’t know, we’ll see. I get home with just enough time to take a quick nap before mom drags me to the church for a chili cook off. I tasted all the chilis and decided which I thought was best. Unfortunately I think I got my samples mixed up and voted for the wrong one. I think it was actually mom’s chili I liked the best but it didn’t line up right with the way I had my sample cups. I voted for the one that did and got a full bowl of it. Later in the evening I had another bowl of mom's, much to my chagrin all day Monday. I was emanating some noxious fumes all day. Surprisingly though, most of it was coming up and out the “main entrance” rather than the “stage door” if you know what I mean. Even after eating lunch Monday I was still tasting chili when I burped. Feh, it was bad. When I got home mom suggested chili for dinner which I vetoed immediately. Gregg called to say he was stir crazy and wanted to go to Hedary’s for dinner. I said I could do that and headed that way. We met up but Hedary’s is closed on Monday. We went to Italian Inn downstairs instead. When we passed the waiter standing next to the piano singing I said to Gregg, “Oh yeah, did I mention they have singing waiters?” They seated us and Gregg got all homophobic about the place. I just laughed at him. He was convinced they all thought we were a couple. I just rolled my eyes and looked at the menu, which isn't an easy feat to accomplish I might add. We ordered and ate. Back out in the parking lot he noticed a group of hotties headed towards Baker Street Pub. “Oh yeah,” I told him, “there’s a pub sort of thing right over there.” He decided he couldn’t afford it and I wasn’t going to support him so we left. I went home and now I'm back here at work talking to y'all. Well, I think I'm going to call it a rant and go watch some more “Danger Mouse.” I'm in the middle of season three right now and they are getting better. I must have been remembering the latter episodes when I was getting nostalgic about the show. Yeah, let’s go with that.