Today was a long day, and is not an auspicious start to the summer of 2011. It is a little after 1:00 am and I am sitting in my hotel room in Goldendale. Maryhill Festival of Speed kicks of the 2011 IGSA Season tomorrow. My original goal was to make it down here in time for tech inspection. Even after getting up at 6:30am, we failed to make it.
I've been getting ready for the new season. I needed new soles, picked up a new suit, and painted a new helmet. I wanted to get new shoes, but I kept putting off finding shoes. I had problems getting soles, but managed to get some rubber on Monday. I also took my car in to get an oil change, in preparation for the drive down to Maryhill. I had a few other errands to run for the trip. By the end of the day my car was overheating something fierce. That wasn't good, and I was supposed to pick up Nick at the airport by 11am on Tuesday. Well at least put some velcro on the new rubber for the brakes. Packed some bags and got to bed early.
I woke up at 6:30 am to take my car back to the service center. I'm not exactly sure what happened to it, but there was no way I could drive it in this condition. I got to the dealership about 7:!5 (they open at 7:00) and discovered that while the open at 7:00 the mechanics don't arrive until 8:00! I could have got another hour of sleep! I wandered around the local university campus, grabbed some breakfast and went back about 9:00am. I figured that would be enough time.
I was told they were wating for a thermostat to be delivered. It would be about an hour. I wandered around some more, and got back about 10:30. They said the part should be in anytime. Now Nick is supposed to land about 10:30. I have to decide if I'm going to rent a car or try to get this one fixed, On top of that Will and Kolby are arriving sometime, and Will and suggested maybe we rent a larger car, and the four of us drive down. But I don't know when they are coming in.
Nick landed and texted me. I told him to give me about 30 minutes. About 11:15 the part arrived, it would take them about 45 minutes or so to put the part in, and test the car. They offered me a loaner car to pick up Nick. My plan was to get Nick then head back to the dealership. But when I picked up Nick at the airport I realized that his luggage wouldn't fit in my car. So we would need to go back to my place and drop the bags off. On the air the dealership called, turns out there is a "plug" in the radiator and it needs to be replaced. It is an old radiator, but it seems fishy to me that this happens the day they work on the car. It is possible that it is an old radiator and it got bumped or something causing the problem. Well I need the car so I authorize the reparirs, and we head to me place.
As I get to my house, I realize I have no way to get into my house as the keys are with my car! We stow Nicks bags behind my house and grab some lunch. Just as we leave Will calls. They are in town, getting the car, but they are having problems with their Canadian Credit Cards. Well I am pretty far from the airport at this point, and we still need to get my car. So I tell them I head down to help them out, but it will be a while.
We make a couple of stops, get my car and head down to the airport. To discover that they actually had a credit card they could use, AND it works! Things work out, because they decide to convoy with us, and so we wall head back to my place to back the gear.
When we get back to my house, the first thing I do is grab my shoes and discover that the new velcro won't stick to the velcro on the shoes. The soft velcro doesn't last too long. I could probably get it to stick if I jump on the shoes. But I don't want to risk it. So I hurridly rip off the old veclro and glue new velcro on. I wish I had taken the time to do it properly the night before. I am a bit worried now, but there isn't much I can do. I hope it holds up all summer.
It takes a while to pack the car, and fix the shoes. We decide to grab some dinner before heading out. We leave the restaurant about 9:00pm and take off for Goldendale. We pull in about 12:30 and find the campground. I leave them to put up their tents and go get checked into the hotel.
So much for getting here before 5:00 pm for tech, and have a nice leisurely afternoon. But we are here now and the racing starts tomorrow.