After sleeping-in too long, we didn’t really get a chance to say our goodbye’s to Rupert… although I know for a fact that he reads this, so I do appreciate everything you and your wife did for me this summer. If by chance he doesn’t catch this post, I’ll just tell him at Budds in a week’s time.
Having done the Newark – Morgantown drive a few times, I knew it’d take roughly 4hrs to complete, sure enough after a 10am departure we rolled into the office a little bit after 2pm… I’m getting good at this driving malarkey.
We all said our hellos as we arrived in the office, however as Wes settled down to do some work… I went back to my RV and slept for a bit more. If we were going to go out tonight I needed some more sleep!
When we turned up at The Vintage Rooms I managed to get in with no problems as I’d borrowed one of Wes’ collared shirts, however Wes wasn’t so lucky… apparently this week they’d decided camo shorts were to be forbidden. Me and Billy went inside whilst Wes went back to wear something more appropriate. By the time he returned (with some lady friends Jenn and Amber) Andy, Farber and an English couple had joined our group. The English couple turned out to be RacerX Artist of the Year Rob Kinsey and his wife. They’d come over to showcase their work at the Des Nations, but just like me, were using the RacerX carpark as their hotel. Although their CruiseAmerica RV was not a patch on Mack.
After chewing the bud for awhile, me, Wes and his ladies headed off to checkout a house party… or as they are called in America… a Kegger.
It didn’t occur to me at the time but I now understand why these kegger’s are sooo popular – it’s because most of the attendees aren’t actually old enough to drink legally so they have to do it in private residences… obviously I’m legal so none of this bothered me.
It didn’t take long for the crowd to find out that there was a furriner in the midst so I was inundated with the usual questions: where am I from? why am I in Morgantown?… it didn’t really bother me though as by that stage the alcohol was flowing pretty freely.
October 12th, 2007
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As we drove over 1000 miles yesterday, that left us with a paltry 200miles in order to get to Rupert’s. The first thing I needed to do though was celebrate my 48 States, and the best way I could think of was to have my first KFC meal of the trip.
It wasn’t as good as I’d hoped for but it was more about the symbolism than the food… I did still eat it all though as I was damn hungry. Once we were done we made our way to Rupert’s where we proceeded to collapse on his couches. I think both of us were actually asleep by the time he arrived home from work… hardcore.
That evening we went out to Brew’s with his friend who was saying goodbye to freedom on Saturday… he was getting married. While Rupert tried to talk him out of it (I’m joking) me and Wes watched the West Virginia Mountaineers crush the Maryland Terrapins (I’m not joking) in College Football.
After Brew’s the two of us got dropped off by Rupert at Grills where they seemed to be having a Country music pub quiz… obviously I sucked bad. Although I did get one song right when they strayed from their theme and played The Police.
October 12th, 2007
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Another early start as we were attempting to get within striking distance of Rupert’s house for a Thursday evening drink. This would prove easier said than done as we were over 1200 miles away, not including the fact that we had to make a slight detour into Kentucky so I could visit my 48th and final American State.
The previous days of driving, we usually try and stay up and keep each other company but today would be different… when one person drove, the other person slept… with positions swapping every time we needed gas.
The only real thing of note that happened was that I did see the big Arch in St. Louis and I finally completed my quest of visiting all 48 mainland States in America. Crossing the bridge into Louisville at about 3am I let out a small whoop of delight (Wes was sleeping so I couldn’t be too loud.)
It’s a pretty big achievement when I think about it, something 99% of Americans won’t even come close to achieving, let alone a furriner. I would probably have hit about 35 States if I just did direct driving but I’m glad I took the opportunity to see some of those other ones… well maybe not North Dakota…
Now it just leaves Hawaii and Alaska to go to… some rich guy wanna organise a race there… and then pay for me to attend?? Hmmm… I’m sure I’ll think of a good enough reason.
When I finally pulled over at 5am (damn timezones) I looked at the mileage and worked out that we driven over 1000miles since our departure from Amarillo at 7am. That really is a crazy amount of miles, considering I could drive to Scotland and back in less miles… in fact Land’s End to John ‘O Groats is only 826miles. This country is BIG.
October 12th, 2007
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As we had a lot of driving to do, the Grand Canyon would have to be seen at the crack of dawn. It wasn’t as if I’m not used to getting up early these days anyway.
Driving into the park a lot of things started to come back to me… even though it was over 5 years since I was last here. Wes of course was a noob (although he had flown over it) so it was all new for him. Parking up in one of the viewpoints we walked through the tree border and out onto the canyon rim… it is still absolutely stunning!!
It really is one of those places you just have to visit at some stage… even my awesome photos that I took, don’t really do it justice. I did take a good one of Wes standing out near the edge, which I believe he is using for a background on his phone.
Unfortunately we couldn’t really hang around too long as we were trying to get to Morgantown by Friday night for some partying. The trouble with driving around the South-western states is that they are soooo friggin’ big. It takes almost a whole day of driving to get through New Mexico or Texas, where as over in the north-east, you can bust out 5 or 6… not to mention the fact that this would be the 3rd time I’d been through Albuquerque this trip (so often in fact, that I can spell it correctly, first time of asking.)
Although I didn’t intend on taking a driving tour of the city as Wes couldn’t make up his mind where to eat. To be fair, his GPS did screw him over with one of his choices… but still, it did waste about 30mins driving around the ‘Que suburbs.
Finally we wound up in Olive Gardens where are out-of-town personalities managed to persuade the waitress to give a load of bread and drink in doggy bags/bottles. It just about made up for the delay but we still only reached Amarillo before calling it a night… tomorrow we’d really have to be on the gas all day.
October 12th, 2007
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Due to the fact that Wes missed his outgoing flight from PA to CA, he wouldn’t be allowed on the return… this meant he would be joining me on the drive back across the United States of America… Yay!! I also think he kinda wanted to do it, as not many people can actually say they’ve driven from CA to PA.
Unfortunately for me, this meant following the RacerX crew to their hotel right by LAX as Wes needed to get the post-show online by Monday morning. Well, that wasn’t the bad thing… the bad thing would be trying to drive out of LA on Monday! First things first… the hotel served free breakfast so I nailed that and waited for Wes to get ready. By the time we left it was about 10.30am and to be honest… the traffic wasn’t that bad. We were going in the right direction, and rush hour was over but I did expect there to be more on the roads.
Once out of LA, the aim of the day was to get to the Grand Canyon as Wes hadn’t seen it and I wanted to look at it again. However top of the list for the day was to refill all my water bottles… I hadn’t done it for over 2 weeks now and my supply was running low. With both me and Wes on the case, the task was completed in super quick time and we were soon bombing on towards the Canyon. Just like the drive west across CA/AZ, the drive east was also pretty hot, probably not quite as bad… but still a little too toasty.
Eventually we pulled into a hotel carpark right outside the Grand Canyon border and prepared ourselves for another long day tomorrow.
October 12th, 2007
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We weren’t in such a rush to get to Perris this morning, so I only had to get up at about 7am – a relative luxury. When we got close to the track I started to recognise things as we were going near to the headquarters of MXHeaven. It had been awhile since I was there, in fact I have just worked out that it was 123 days since I arrived after the Las Vegas SX… wow… time has just flown by.
The track itself is a lot different from Elsinore which is just like an outdoor SX, where as Perris is built onto the side of a fairly steep hill, nowhere near as bad as Glen Helen, but decent enough for MX purposes.
On arrival we noticed a few familiar riders around the place:
- Ashley Fiolek was getting in some training in preparation for a full Women’s MX tour next year.
- Mike LaRocco was showing the young bucks that he still has some decent speed.
- Blake Wharton was continuing his impression form after a very successful couple of months.
- Nathan Ramsey was errr riding a bike again which is something not many people have seen recently. Just like his teammate…
- Chad Reed who has really been splurging during his time away from the AMA Nationals, apparently he was meant to be racing Glen Helen but they couldn’t get a bike sorted… hmmm. I just hope he looks better by the time the MX of Nations swings round.
Dean was riding around pretty well and had a good battle with his Loretta Lynn’s Four Stroke rival, Blake although he probably would’ve lost a moto had they been racing. Still it was good clean fun and gives them both an idea of how much they have progressed in the month off since LL.
Once back from Perris, it was time for me and Wes to say goodbye to the Wilson’s as we were dropping off Mack at Glen Helen and then meeting a couple of Wes’ friends and going to film some girl’s sweet 16. Apparently MTV were going to do it for one of their ‘Sweet 16’ shows but pulled out, so the parents just wanted some filming done to capture the night… I was there to *ahem* help.
Even though I arrived at the track and parked up, I don’t really count that as me reaching the final destination of my trip. That would come tomorrow when I finally had a proper look around… something you can read about here.
On arrival at the party in West Covina, it became obvious why MTV had considered using this as a backdrop for one of their shows… the house and grounds were stunning. They also had employed waiters, dancers, a DJ, live music and had enough food to cater for about 200 people… not only that but there was a free bar 
Needless to say I made full use of the bar facilities and had a really good time. Funnily enough forgetting about my ‘helper’ duties… not that the other guys were much more vigilant. Due to the fact that all of us had made a little too much use of the open bar, we ended up sleeping on the floor/couches in the living room. Kinda lowered the tone of the entire house but… you gotta do what you gotta do.
October 5th, 2007
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Another 6am start (this was becoming a bad habit) as Wes wanted to get to the track as it opened, and also Dean had a knee-brace appointment at 10am. Dean’s sister was also joining us, although officially she wouldn’t be doing any riding *cough* BS *cough*. The traffic on the outskirts of LA wasn’t too bad but I think the lack of sleep was catching up with me. As we arrived at the track there was an extremely dense fog (probably smog) over the whole area, so for Wes it would be like filming in front of a massive grey-screen.
Elsinore has actually got about 5 tracks on its facility, but only one of them has massive jumps on it, the aptly named – big track. It wasn’t long before Dean was busting out some sick whips and railing some phat berms (insider speak) for myself and Wes to capture. This year Dean finished 3rd in the Four Stroke class and 5th in the MX Lites Schoolboy (14-16) and has been running for Kawasaki Team Green.
Later on that morning we were joined by James Justice who got 3rd in 85 (14-15) Modified and 4th in Super Mini (12-15) and he has just been signed by Kawasaki Team Green. While he was getting shot by Wes, I headed up to the flagger’s tower where I was soon joined by James’ Dad and Martin Davalos’ mechanic who was watching the KTM rider getting in some last-minute Glen Helen testing.
By the time they’d finished riding Dean was back from his knee-brace appointment so we all headed off to a local SX track which is run under the MX Oasis banner. It was a pretty crazy couple of tracks, really tight layout but they both had a massive triple in it. Dean was the only one to do it though…
After a long day of riding (watching for me) we head back to Casa Wilson where a dip into their pool was the order of the day, apparently though, Wes needed to film this, so that delayed my entry by about 10minutes.
Again we received another great meal but it wasn’t long before I crashed, another early start again tomorrow as this time we’d visit Perris Raceway.
October 5th, 2007
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After some more filming at the rest stop early in the morning, we headed into Phoenix for our appointment at 10am. The drive was all going swimmingly until we almost missed our exit from the freeway, cut up an SUV in the process and received some severe sign-language and horn work as a result. There were external factors that caused that though, namely us pumping out Coolio so that we couldn’t hear the GPS lady.
Parking up in a nearby shopping mall, we got out of Mack and BAM… we were hit by a 110 heatwave! It was completely ridiculous to be that hot, that early in the morning and neither of us were looking forward to walking the couple of blocks to the office. Thankfully Elliott offered to give us a ride and we were soon making our air-conditioned way into the underground carpark.
The whole studio building was pretty cool - fountain in the entrance, glass panelling and marble tiles. Rainbow have one floor of the building, with the actual MX-game making team totalling 75 people. Inside was a standard cubicle affair with desks and computers…oh yea, and everyone had PS3s/Xbox360s. That’s right, each member of staff had a console right there so they could test and troubleshoot anything they implement. Elliott actually had pimped out consoles with his PS3 costing about $120,000 and the Xbox360 roughly $60,000!!!
As we went around, we could see all the designers’ models and photos of bikes/ATVs as well as their inspiration for the track designs, using real life scenery. We also saw the games room where they have an old-style arcade machine that can play thousands of Atari, Commodore etc games.
Finally we neared the end when he showed us the game itself… it is actually pretty much completed, just needing a few tweaks here and there. After showing us a few things, he actually let us play a couple of the tracks!! This was a game that doesn’t come out till Dec 18th and we were playing it in October! Probably the best feature is the first-person perspective they’ve now included. It actually looks and feels like you are riding the bike… I just now need to buy either a PS3 or Xbox360… and a TV to play this badboy, as he said they don’t have a PC release date.
To be honest, I could’ve played all day but we had to get to San Bernardino in order to film another young amateur, Dean Wilson. As you can imagine, Mack was like a frickin’ oven by the time we got back inside so my normally strict rule on AC-usage was relaxed.
As we headed out of Phoenix I noticed something that immediately answered the question of: “what are going to have for lunch?” I’ll give you a clue, it’s only found in California, Nevada and Arizona… In-N-Out Burger. Now I only became aware of the hype, once I had left all 3 of those States, so it became a big part of my trip to actually experience this cuisine… having now done it, I believe that the main reason why it’s sooo talked about, is because you can only get it in those 3 States… if it was country-wide, it certainly wouldn’t be anything special.
The drive to San Bernardino was possibly one of the worst legs of my trip so far… it was soooo hot. Probably hotter than anything I’d driven in so far, and the worst thing was that although I was fully prepared to use the AC whilst driving… Mack was over-heating badly anytime I turned it on. So we both just had to suffer through it. If it wasn’t so funny, it may have killed us.
Having been told by numerous people along my journey that they were English, Irish, German, Italian blah blah blah even though they spoke in an American accent and were born in USAville, Tennessee (guess what, you are American)… I was fairly dubious when Wes told me that the Wilson’s were Scottish… I just assumed that the butler of their cousin, twice-removed went to Scotland on holiday and kissed a girl there… so imagine my surprise when I pulled up to their driveway and was greeted by a whole family who spoke in a Scottish accent… and *shock horror* the parents were born in Scotland!!!
Having recovered my composure, I was immediately informed by the Mum that I sounded Australian… some things never changed… sigh. She did make up for that blip by cooking us an awesome dinner (much better than the over-rated In-N-Out burger). We were even allowed to hook-up and use their electricity.
It had been a long day and tomorrow we had to wake-up bright and early for a trip to Lake Elsinore MX park where we’d be filming Dean Wilson and James Justice.
October 5th, 2007
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For those of you who don’t know (and I’ll be honest, I’m not totally up-to-date on Amateur MX) Jason Anderson won the 85cc 12/13 Stock and Mod classes at Loretta Lynn’s this year, and in doing that, he was the only rider there who was undefeated in 6 motos… basically, he’s FAST.
When he opened up the garage, it was a pretty interesting spectacle… there were probably 7 or 8 bikes sitting there, ranging from 85s to 125s… all Suzuki’s though. Also there were a lot of his MX trophies that he’d won throughout his career, as well as a mini-gym.
The plan was for us to go to his local ‘track’ and film him busting his stuff out for awhile… before that, we needed breakfast and apparently there was only one place to go in Edgewood, NM – Blake’s Lotaburger. Not only that but I had to have the Breakfast Burrito. To be honest, when he gave the ingredients of green/red chilli… I wasn’t too happy as I’m not normally a fan but after experiencing a couple of bites… it was damn tasty, certainly something I’d recommend.
His local track was more like a private quarry where the natural terrain made up a lot of the obstacles. There were obviously some man-made jumps and turns there but it was almost more like an FMX park, than a race-track. This actually worked better for the filming as it allowed Wes to get Jason to keep repeating the same sections in order to get some cool shots. I was also allowed to use a video camera to see if I had any skills, which after Wes had viewed my stuff… needed some work. No surprise there as it was my first time operating those types of cameras.
We were probably out there for a good two hours, with everyone happy with how it went. Wes got the footage he needed and Jason got to ride MX… judging from first impressions about his setup and attitude, he is definitely one to watch in the not too distant future.
Our goal once we left Edgewood was to reach Phoenix by tomorrow morning, which was roughly 500miles away. I’d been e-mailed by one of the employees of Rainbow Studios, offering to take me on a tour of their offices. Rainbow Studios is the company that made the Motocross Madness series of games and also currently makes the MX vs ATV line… basically I’ve wasted too much of my life playing their products to turndown such an opportunity.
As it turned out, we didn’t quite make it into Phoenix, but instead pulled into a rest stop about 50miles north of the city.
October 5th, 2007
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So finally, I had some company - Wes Williams of RacerX and GK Films fame was riding with me to Glen Helen… not only that but he is making a film documenting this leg of the trip. It’s cool for me as originally I had intended to do this myself, but due to time constraints and other things… I just didn’t have time to do.
A friend of Wes’ joined us as we took Robb to the airport and also for breakfast as I experienced my first IHOP meal since I was about 11 (12 years ago). It was the IHOP in Kissimmee, FL, right next to the Wet ‘n Wild waterpark and across the road from our hotel. I remember it well because it was the first time I’d heard the expression “Sunny-side up” or “eggs over easy”… unfortunately I couldn’t remember what those things meant… after brekkie we headed back to the hotel to get ready for our road trip.
As we were leaving the hotel, the first bit of filming began… we wanted to use the inside of the hotel but the front desk guy wouldn’t allow us to film… so we just went outside. I won’t go into too much details about what we shot as the film will be released soon, once Wes has finished with his other (MXdN) commitments.
That day we wanted to get near to Albuquerque as Wes had booked a morning’s filming with a young amateur by the name of Jason Anderson. This meant we’d have to drive over 600 miles… something that was made a helluva easier with the second driver.
Wes continued to set up some cool segments along the way which also broke up the monotony of the road. Eventually we pulled into Jason’s driveway about 2am in the morning.
October 5th, 2007
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