Only ten more days to the big race, the city continues to unfold, 47 tents up by the end of the night Tuesday, war games being played at the Marine base over the mountain, two international teams have arrived (Italy and England), food vendors have been dropping trailers all day. Word is the wind will die down by tomorrow so a lot more work can be done.
We were able to get the download for the race course today, since we are technically “staff.” Out in the XJ to do some pre-running, Rich took me out to Cougar Buttes to show me around, then we connected from the powerline road to the race course at mm 34. There is an initial 51 mile loop, so we took that in, or at least that was the plan. Most of the sections were pretty easy desert, a couple of harder rock sections had us scratching our heads a little and then we came to the notch. Being in the XJ, out by ourselves, we opted out of running that part of the race course and came back in to Hammertown around the tip of the mountain. We had a great time wheeling today, but that is a whole lot different than taking this course at race speed. That will change the game completely. Pre-running will probably start in earnest on Friday when the teams are here to register and get their downloads, in the meantime, we are listening to them rev their engines all over the lakebed. Love the sound of that.
Joshua Tree National Park sits in southern California, a piece of ground between I-10 and JohnsonValley. We drove in from Twenty-nine Palms and took the loop back to Joshua Tree, about 35 miles. Throw in the 18 mile loop on the Geology Tour Road, just east of Jumbo Rocks Campground, and we had a great day. I love National Parks, this one is one of the babies though, it only became a National Park in 1994, before, it was just a National Monument. Joshua Tree is known for the place where the Mohave desert and the Colorado desert come together. It ranges from zero elevation to over 6000 feet. There are wide sweeping sandstones, tons of granite, trails for hiking and four wheel drives. Rock climbing is rampant. Joshua trees are all over the Mohave side of the Park.
The staff level has jumped to 18, motorhomes on site to 20, eleven tents are up, perimeter fence is up to four miles, two teams have arrived onsite. The growth is just beginning at Hammertown. Dave Cole owns Hammerking Productions, the promoter of King of the Hammers. We’ve been staying at Dave’s compound for a couple of weeks because it was convenient for the semi truck. Dave is running a crew of at least 18 out here at the lakebed, most are volunteers. Danny and Jack are old-timers, they’ve been out here for years. Matt, the Texas Jesus, (you would understand if you saw him) works for Dave fulltime, as does Shannon and Chris. There’s a big contingent from Washington state here, Matt, Travis, Noah, and several others. Shawn is here from Utah, Simon is here from Tucson, but the hero of the lakebed this week is Tina. Tina is Travis’s wife and she is responsible for feeding the staff. She is working hard to serve three meals a day to all of those boys, and man can they eat. I got to sit next to her and listen to her schedule, she’s spending 14 hours a day cooking for this crew.
A dozen staffers, half a dozen motorhomes, a satellite tower, eight light towers, three big tents, two miles of perimeter fence, a campfire. Hammertown is starting to take shape. The Means Dry Lake bed is the home of the largest Ultra4 Rock Race of the year, it’s located in Johnson Valley, California. We are two hours east of LA, just Northeast of Twenty-nine Palms and Southeast of Barstow. The area is all desert and mountains, it is desolate and cold and the wind blows. It’s the typical weather that flows from any high mountain desert area, just wait a few minutes and it will change. The weather can be clear and blue, then change instantly to overcast and blowing.
Over the last year we have gotten smarter about our scheduling and created some downtime. Now downtime to you might be a little different than what I consider downtime. Ours is described as time when we don’t have to be at an event site. It doesn’t mean that we aren’t working, just that we are working at different things.
Last week we ran to Mesa, our plan was to get up in the morning and get out of there, back to the trailer in Temecula, when Charlene asked if I was fixing dinner…oh, yes, I want to. I love cooking, especially when the recipients are so appreciative. On top of that, Charlene reminded me that she has great internet. That was enough to convince us to stay. A whole day working on high speed internet, a whole day in a real house, a whole day to just work – SOLD!
I am so tired, who knew a vacation could wear you out so thoroughly. It is our “extra day” – a day at sea and they have added a bunch of stuff to the schedule to keep us all entertained for an extra day. But, I’m done, I’m so tired, I really don’t want to play too hard. A little food, a little football, a little more food, I’m starting to get a little energy, so we are going out for the night.
It’s a beautiful day at sea, a little choppy out there and the temperature has dropped as we started heading north, but it’s still at least 60 outside. We played a little bingo this morning and then found our way to the sports bar for the football game. Rich is a huge San Francisco fan. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the Giants or the 49r’s, he is a tried and true fan. We had to squeeze in to the bar during the Denver game to be sure we could find a seat. Turns out the ship figured out how many football fans were onboard and put the game up on the giant screen at the Lido deck pool, but by then, we were ensconsed in the bar. We met some great football fans and watched San Franscisco win, then I was off to the Spectacular to learn how to dance Thriller.
So, it’s day three in Puerto Vallarta, we are allowed to get off the ship beginning at 8 this morning, but we have to be back on by 4 – new departure time out of PV is set for 5 p.m. We’ve been watching the repairs, they seem to be going slow. There are a lot of grumbly people on board, folks who think we should have repaired in Long Beach before we left, others who are insisting to get off the boat NOW. Carnival has offered $200 to anyone who needs to change their departure flights; the airlines aren’t charging any change fees and we get an extra day aboard with no charge, hell, they are even picking up the gratuities. But, no, some people think they have to be home for Monday, I’m really glad, I’m not one of those. In our world, it just really doesn’t matter. We watched hundreds of people get off the ship to fly home. Carnival made it right for all of them, not only did they cover the change fees, but they also covered the hotel rooms for them. Now, I’m thinking about the hotels for the departing passengers, what about all of those coming in for next weeks cruise, Are they covering the hotels for those people too? That could be another 3000 people, just because a repair didn’t happen fast enough. Wow, that’s a cruiseline who takes care of it’s guests.
A Life Unscripted 
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