Hey Guy

[dedpedal]

I want to tell you a story. A story of a car, a group of people and a goal.Seperately, none of these are as much case to set these words to print as all three combined.This could be a long story (and it probably will) but Ill try to keep the events of one particular weekend as the focus of this story.

My story begins on August 9, 2007. Myself and beautiful bride to be loaded up the Pooroo in anticipation of a 10 hour drive to a steamy Kansas City, Kansas. The heat could melt your shoes to the blacktop or cook your feet if you didnt have shoes. Being from Kentucky as we are, we dont often get that dressed up, but knowing we were visiting friends from another country, we felt obligaated to wear our best sandals. Not even south of Florence Ky yet, I had my first memory of the trip. There was a blue 94-95 stang busting ass dowwn the fast lane. Sure it sounded good but the neon chasing it gave me a mental image of Mad Matt Johnson being chased down the sidewalk by a Chihuahua.
About an hour away from the house, I realized I had forgotten directions and it was too late to turn back. In my infinate wisdom or utter stubbornness, I decided to press on and let be what it would be.Things were pretty uneventful till the first gas stop.
We stopped at this little Mom and Pop place in the middle of nowhere. I gassed the Roo up while Amy went inside to pay and get something to drink. I finnished feeding gas (not my own) and headed in to make some relief room in my bladder and get something to nibble on. As I got to the counter, I began to notice my surroundings. All the women in there were dressed as if a square dance was coming to town and the men all had on hunting clothes. What could they be hunting in this heat? I also noticed that they were all staring at me and Amy, and not in a good way. All the sudden, I got the solid feeling that the prey for their hunt was gonna be US! I paid my bill and made my way back to the interstate with all the haste my right foot could squeeze out of the Roo. It wasnt a good thing that one of the men from the gas station kept up with me for about a half mile.
Back on the road, my heart began to slow down a bit. Things were going to be okay. Amy lit a smoke and took a couple draws and held it for me to puff on. (I still had both hands firmly at 2 and 10 on the wheel.) Buzzing along at 75 I notice a sign on the side of the hiway. "GUN AND DRUG CHECKPOINT AHEAD" Im thinking bad things about jail in rural Illinois and Amys telling me to stop. I know that damn near any action is going to end up with me in jail so I gritted my teeth and prepared for a low speed pursuit (remember the guy who chased us from the gas station? Yea, THAT slow of a persuit). As we approached the checkpoint my heart beat increased to medical emergency level. As I passed, I wouldnt look over at the officer to see if he was going to flag me down. We passed without occasion and continued on our merry way. About a mile down the road I see that theres 2 cruisers on the right side so I changed lanes and passed by, hoping that they didnt want me. right as we passed, one cruiser pulled out and got behind us so I changed lanes back to the right and waited. Low and behold, he passed right by and hit the next turn around. I was so relived that I didnt notice that I had pissed my pants for a full hour.
We made it all the way to Big K's town when he called my cell phone. What a break! I sortof knew where I was going but needed a refresher on a detail or two. We were at Casa de Keezer in minutes. Funny how things seem to work out for me sometimes.
Lisa made some kickass pasta and bread. Well to be honest, she let the bread burn a bit more than toast. We still ate it. We were finnishing up when Mad Matt made it there. I convinced him that the bread was awesome and he had to try a piece. Being put on the spot like that, he couldnt say no. he choked a piece down and while holding the tears back, told Lisa that it WAS pretty good. Mad Matt and Mad Mom were pretty whipped and wanted to grab some rest so after Holly and the Brown Girl arrived with Dr Timido and Jaylinn they took off for the hotel. The remaining crew sat around and consumed many cool beverages and talked idly about the upcoming race (the car and the goal, remember?) and general catching up bullshit that we do.
Ill sign off with this installment with a few hints of whats to come. Hollys driving, Matts driving, my driving and lots of emotions.
Ill have more for you soon,
Kev

[dedpedal]

Since Thursday was pretty typical, I expected Friday to be better. I should know by now that my ways are slowly wearing off on this group. Sure enough, friday was about as comical as thursday.
We all woke up at casa de Keezer bright and early and a few of us met on the back porch to smoke and have coffee or drinks. As we sat around the circle chatting, Holly noticed that she was sitting directly under a walnut, hanging about 30 feet high. As she moved chairs, the rest of us scanned the tree above, looking anxiously for hidden green squirrel bombs. Sure as tennis shoes stick to a hot starting line, we all began to feel like cowering terrorists waiting for the big one to drop from the sky. After a few minutes of musical chairs (and for some reason, I was the odd man out) we all setteled down and returned to mindless early morning chatter.
Holly, Timido, Jaylinn and the brown girl headed to the track to get paperwork and things lined up for the big Pinks race (remember me talking about a car?) later that night and Amy and I headed out to see the Harley Davidson factory and take a tour. One wrong turn later we were at the factory and got our tour tickets. We had to wait an hour before our tour would start so we amuzed ourselves as best we know how. Amy went shopping in the gift shop and I wandered around talking to myself . All was well until I saw a group of oriental tourists. I thought the tv stereotype was just a joke, but no, they all had at least 2 cameras and had to take pictures of everything. On this note, one of the voices inside my head piped up and said "I hope the cat is okay in the car". At the word "cat" all eyes were on me.I swear the old mama was drooling and going over recipes in her head.
I proceded to tell the voice that he shouldnt speak so loud in public and we got into an arguement over which tasted better,dog or cat. The guy in charge of their group hastened them away from me as best he could, but when I started foaming at the mouth, flashbulbs started going off, making the palce look like a disco. I exited stage left and went hunting for Amy, giggling like a kid all the way there. I almost had the giggles in check when I walked up to her. She asked me what I had been doing and I was about to tell her that I was just being bored reading the displays when a little kid from the oriental tourists group popped his head out of the clothes rack and took my picture. Amy knows me well enough not to ask anything after that point.
The tour was uneventful as I behaved myself.It was cool tho. We got to see the line from beginning to end. I never thought much of how much work and how particular Harley is about manufactoring quality into its product. I highly reccomend taking this tour if possible.
Back to home base and out for grub. We missed the rest of our crew due to the late tour we took so we got directions to a local BBQ joint and headed out. The food was good and the service not so good. We filled ourselves and headed back to wait for everyone else at the Keezers place. When they got there, we chatted a bit and headed out to the track, or so I thought. We were following Holly in her rental Escape. They had been to the track allready so I figured I could follow with ease. HA! She took a left off the first street, a left at the next block and doubled back 3 blocks to take a right and come out on the main street 3 blocks farther away. I can take a joke like the next guy, but the next one got me concerned. We were in line to hit the entrance rampwhen she suddenly jumps into the next lane and takes off. I follow a few cars later, all the while, Amy is telling me that Im gonna get into a wreck. We caught up with the Escape a few blocks later when she was trying to squeeze her way into a turn lane where she wanted to go. When the rude rush hour drivers wouldnt let her over, she zoomed up to the front of the line and cut them all off. I of course followed suite. A few turns later we were at the dyno shop to pick up supplies. We took the scenic route to the track and all was well.
More later, I need to rest my fingers.
Kev

[dedpedal]

Im going to leave this thread open for Matt to fill in the race. Please withhold posts until after the story is done. I will delete all posts deemed deletable. Sorry if it hurts your feelings but thats how I want this thread to end.
Thank you for your understanding.
Kev