Thanks Ed!
Great day of racing, a good time had by all. And Utah wins!!!! (The crowd goes crazy.)
However, we aren?t home. Unfortunately, we are in an RV park right next to the Chubbuck fairgrounds. After the races, we fueled up near the airport, and started heading back toward I-15. We start heading down the road and Gary thought the rig was pulling to the left, so we pulled off at the first exit that had a Flying J (with the RV, we?ve become big Flying J fans). And manage to find The Only Flying J on the face of the planet that doesn?t have a pull in for semis and RVs. But we didn?t discover this until we were already committed, so we managed to wedge ourselves in, and get parked.
We (meaning Gary), immediately checked the tire pressures on the RV, as we?ve already had problems with that. *cough*blow-out-on-the-way-back-from-Topeka*cough. We checked the tire that had been giving us problems (slow leak), and discovered that it was low. We filled the tire, and decided to check the truck tires, as well.
And discovered these golf-ball-sized bulges on the rear tires. Not. Good. Sunday in Idaho. What to do. Conveniently, we were only a few hundred yards away from a Walmart, and we were on the phone with Charles (poor guy? I don?t think he had ANY CLUE what he was getting into with us?. Stuck in the middle of Idaho? Call Charles? Heh. Good thing he?s got a lot of patience.), finding a Big O tire shop in Pocatello. The brilliant plan; we?ll stay in the RV at Walmart (because EVERY Walmart in the world allows trucks and RVs to park in their lots overnight), go to Big O in the morning, get new tires for the truck, and be on our way.
Sounds great.
Except that we find ourselves at the only Walmart in the world that doesn?t have RV parking. (I guess it would go along with the only Flying J in the world that doesn?t have RV/truck pull-ins?). Go figure.
So?. Gary maneuvers the RV out of Walmart and into an open parking lot to regroup, while I?m frantically on the phone with AAA, and Charles, trying to find a close place to spend the night. As I?m scrambling on the phone, Gary looks across the parking lot to an IHOP: ?Oh, one of our racers is there.? A Ford Focus towing a little trailer with tires. Gary goes in to the IHOP while Charles and I keep sorting out potential RV parks.
As luck would have it, the OFM and his lovely wife are in the IHOP, and Gary drags him out. Ed agrees that there is No Way we can drive back to Utah on the tires; we?ve got to get them changed out. Ed suggested that they go back into the IHOP and ask the locals about an RV park. And because of Ed, we have found ourselves in this totally secluded (and VERY empty) RV park near the fairgrounds. I?m not sure if this was the RV park that the guy had in mind, but it suits us perfectly. We?ll hit Big O in the morning, get the slow leaking tire changed out (gotta love AAA), and be on our way.
But, there is some advantage to traveling with your home and your dogs; what could be a tragedy is just an inconvenice.
So, all is well, even if we aren?t home. Thanks again to Ed for helping us find a place to stay (and generously offering to follow us so nothing bad happened), and for providing some much needed moral support. If it weren?t for Ed, we could be in a really scary parking lot at this moment. Instead, we are in this nice, grassy, quiet RV park, secluded and safe. THANKS OFM!!!! (And thanks to Charles for providing some much-needed long-distance assistance.)
All of the RV hassles aside (guess we gotta look into a dualie, if we are going to haul the heavier cars?.. like my CP?. *grin), this was a FANTASTIC weekend. Okay. So there was rain. And there was snow. And I spun the car like a top (and Gary almost flipped it). But Darn (family site, kids!) it was fun!!!! This was SO MUCH FUN. A WIDE range of cars from the D Modified Geo Metro (heh!), to the CP (double heh! Yep. I?m still in love. I see the future, and it is CP!!!!) and the Evos that were killing everyone yesterday in the rain.
So yeah. We had a great time. Better than great. This is a Cannot Miss Event for us.
If you can?t make it to Topeka, this is definitely a great second choice; much less travel, but still a lot of national champions, and a high level of competition and cars. We?ve definitely got this event on our calendar for next year; won?t miss it for the world. (And even if we have to fly into Pocatello and rent a car, we?ll be there! Although I?m thinking that that won?t be an issue? But just to show to what ends we will go to be here in the future!)
Would not have missed this for the world. And I guess there are worse places than a fairgrounds in Chubbuck, ID. (THANKS, ED!!!!)
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