Baja

Whole30…the beginning

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Baja, one of my doing-the-w30-IGfavorite places, Rich and I ran down for a few days.  The trip didn’t go as planned, but that’s ok, as long as we are together it is an adventure and that is good enough for me.  I find my favorite place to be is where he is.

On the way down, we read a book together, or rather, I read it, he listened.  Most places I paraphrased.  It Starts With Food is the book we shared, it is all about eating real.good.food.  If you know us, you know we love good food.  Rich has done a great job of choosing good food, me, not so much.  I don’t hesitate when someone offers me a cookie, or two.

So as we travelled, we made lists of what we could and couldn’t eat if we were following the Whole30 program.  Baja is a challenge, everything has queso, or tortillas, or both.  We love eating in Baja.  We stop at Adriana’s for shrimp tacos and shrimp quesadillas.  We go to George’s for chiliquilles, we find our favorite sandwich shop on the back streets of Ensenada for a Para Mi torta.  Don’t even get me started on the bakery just down from the Santa Isabel hotel, I can fill whole bags with treat after carb-loaded treat.

Toward the end of our trip, we decided it was time to start.  It was a Wednesday, the 19th.  As good a day as any to begin our Whole30 program.  We are doing this together, so it should be easier to stay on track.

First meal was breakfast, we dropped over to an upscale restaurant we have eaten at before.  They delivered cookies the minute we sat down.  We stared at them, but never touched.  Next option was a pork rind soup or cheese quesadilla.  We opted for the soup, it was filled with vegetables and protein, ok, maybe fat, but…most importantly, not dairy, not carbs.  We added an omelette and ignored the tortillas on the table, no hashbrowns, no beans.  We did good.

By the time we rolled around to lunch, we were back in the states.  We stopped at Chipotle and got salads, mine with chicken, his with steak.  Not very satisfying, but we were still on plan.  Then came dinner.  I knew exactly where I wanted to go.  Fish 101 in Encinitas.  We have always had good, fresh food there.  I had Opa, he had Yellow-tail, we both added a salad and the fried Brussel sprouts.  Oh my gosh, so good.  High five for us, we made it through Day One!

Day Two arrived and we found a local place and had another omelette, a fruit plate we shared, some sliced tomatoes.  By the time we got on the road, my head hurt.  This was the hangover they talk about.  I made him stop at Inn-n-Out for an ice tea, I figured all those years of Diet Coke were catching up to me, I had caffeine withdrawals.

We hit another local restaurant for lunch, I had a massive plate of roast beef and a salad.  My head still hurt, but the food was plentiful and tasty, so that was a plus.  We had plenty of roast beef for dinner too, I just needed to figure out how to fix it.  I took a nap when we got back and woke feeling better.  No more headache at least.  Rich had gone to the grocery store, so I could fix dinner.

That’s when I lost it.  They give you a Timeline on the Whole30 program that says about when you will want to kill your mate.  I got there early.  At the grocery store, he had not only gotten veggies for dinner, onions and mushrooms and the like.  He had gotten celery and carrots.  I was pissed.  Celery and Carrots are diet food.  We are NOT on a frickin’ diet!  I hadn’t realized that I had such a hangup about celery and carrots, this would be one of those emotional relationships we have with food that needs to be broken. I stomped around the house, ignored him and just generally stayed PO’d until I had eaten, then I told him what he did wrong.  Maybe I even worded it rather strongly, because he totally got the picture.

Tomorrow is Day 3, it will be fine, we are travelling all day again, but at least I have the prospect of being able to go shop and fix something that we can both enjoy.  I am excited about the change in what we are eating.  I think it will be good for us, with how my body and mind are reacting already, it is obvious I needed a change.  Why not join us for the Whole30?

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Day -45 – Thirty Six Hours of Racing Baja

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bajaHave you ever gotten confused when someone said they were going to Baja California? You know that is in Mexico, right?  The little spit of land referred to as Baja, is the peninsula, it runs south from San Diego for about a thousand miles.  Baja has two states, the northernmost one is Baja California; the one south is Baja Sur.  We spent the last week in Baja California, the wild, wild west.

When you think Mexico, most people think of Cabo or Cozumel with the beautiful beaches; Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta with the ruins and lush green…when I think Baja, I think paradise – but that is for an offroader, the predominant color is brown, or better described as dust.  Baja is home to the SCORE 1000 race, the final event of each year for Score International.  It is an epic event that has been captured on film, think Dust to Glory, and has captured the hearts of many.

Each year we attend as part of a Chase team.  Our race team is the 1066 of Shaffer Motorsports.  This year there were about 20 people on the team.  We have six drivers that move the car forward, this year through 888 miles of course, starting at Ensenada and ending there as well.  It took 35 hours and 57 minutes, not our best showing, but we finished within the timeline of 36 hours; and a finish is almost as good as a win.  The attrition rate at the thousand is horrendous.

The other dozen of us were chase teams; our goals were to be where the race car would pass through sometime during that 36 hours to provide support.  There were three teams on the Sea of Cortez side; Chase 10 – that’s us, we run communications; Chase 2 – Shawn and Bror were stationed towards San Felipe; Chase 1 – Hector and friends (locals to Ensenada).  Our first challenge came providing an additional tire to the 1066 after they had to change one in the first leg of the race, Chase 1 met them at Pit 1 and dropped the tire; the second challenge came when we ran out of gas thirty miles from Pit 2.  All of us on the Cortez side got involved in that one, strapping down extra fuel cans we were carrying and sending them off with Chase 1 to find the car at race mile (rm) 173.  By rm 340, our team had moved away from the Cortez side and was running strong but we wouldn’t see them for what we estimated would be another 14 hours, they had moved to the Pacific side.

Driver change occurred at Coco’s Corner.  Coco is a legend in Baja, he lives in the middle of nowhere on a road that crosses the peninsula from east to west.   Coco has been a host to thousands over the years with a cold beer and many stories, all of the legends have been a part of that history.  San Felipe to Gonzaga has been almost completely paved; then there is another 30 miles of dirt until you get to Coco’s, this is race course in this event.  After Coco’s is another 20 miles of dirt to get to Highway 1, this year that 20 miles was slow going, so no easy task to get in there.  Chase 3 was waiting at the driver’s change, new drivers in, old one’s out, it had taken our team about 14 hours to this point. 

So at midnight, the 1066 was on its way headed to the infamous silt beds.  The silt this year was unbelievable, a 100 mile section of deep ruts with sand washing over the car; it wasn’t until daybreak that we started having an easier time of it.  Stuck in the silt at least nine times, because we had issues earlier in the race, we got the worst of it since it had all been run to death and powdered up even more than we had seen in prerunning.  The team forged on, Chase 4, 5 and 6 were on the Pacific side, since there are no roads that cross the peninsula easily, it is important to stage people on both sides.

No significant issues arose outside of the silt, but it was still very slow going.  Another driver change at rm 567 put the last of our drivers in the car.  We anticipated seeing the team at rm 750 when they finally made it out of the Mike’s Sky Ranch road around noon.  Chase 2 and Chase 10 were staged and ready.  It wasn’t until almost 6 p.m. that we saw them.  Chase 5 had helped with a change of GPS some miles back and then we hit a logjam at rm 735.  It took hours to clear the logjam with various race vehicles helping each other get through.  It doesn’t matter what team or what class you were in, everyone pitches in. 

By the time our car was cruising through, we had transferred Bror from Chase 1 in with us and Chase 2 had gone home, we were the last bastion of support on our side of the peninsula with 100+ miles to go.  Our concern now was time, SCORE checkpoints have very specific closing times.  Checkpoint six was set to close at 6:38; at one point, that time had been moved to 5:38 pm, but thankfully Weatherman fought for the time to move back to the six mark and he won.  Our car would have missed the checkpoint.  Checkpoint seven was set to close at 7:09, we were the last car through the checkpoint on time at 6:37.  The last checkpoint was crossed with plenty of time, but now we had to meet the 36 hour deadline, and we still had plenty of mileage to cover. 

We saw the car go past us three different times, after checkpoint 8, there was nothing further we would be able to do for them, so we headed to town, through the twisty mountain pass to meet them at the finish line.  By this time, we had added over 500 pounds to our vehicle and she wasn’t handling beautifully.  It wasn’t a good day to die, so we slowed down and took our time.  Pulling in to Ensenada, we parked and ran for the finish line, and there we waited anxiously for the racecar.  Watching our clocks, we knew that we just had a short window, we hoped our drivers knew that as well.  With a scant three minutes left, they crossed the line.  All of the team was there to greet them.  Finisher pins handed out by SCORE, pictures taken, this is what it is about.  The first finishers in the fastest trucks had finished before dawn that day in less than 24 hours; we were done an hour before the finish line closed, but within our 36 hour time limit.  So proud of our team, it takes everyone to make this kind of effort happen.

While all of our team arrived safely, we listened to Weatherman, the communications guru of the offroad community throughout the race and heard many Code Reds called.  Code Red is the radiospeak for an emergency is in progress.  Our first night out, just after dusk, Code Red had been called for a bike down; the KTM 2X rider was within 100 miles of the finish; he was leading the race; he died that night.  Kurt Caselli was a 30 year old legendary rider, he lost his life in the pursuit of his passion.

It happens every year, someone will die in Baja at the 1000; not often is it a competitor, it usually is a chase crew or spectator, but it happens every year without fail.  All of us going in country know the risk, but we do it anyway.  There is something to be said for being part of an event as epic as the SCORE 1000, for being part of something bigger than yourself, for being surrounded by people who push themselves so hard in pursuit of a goal, for living with that passion.  I can’t wait for next year.

 

Day -17 – The Big House

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crandonIn off roading there are some places that call us home.  Moab, Utah.  Rubicon Springs, California.  Baja, Mexico.  Crandon, Wisconsin.  There are many others we love to spend time at, but if you are chasing mecca, these are the top four.

Moab offers a four wheel drive friendly environment, all the way around.  From the hotels and restaurants to the folks who live there, we may not all enjoy the same things, but we all want to be outdoors enjoying the beautiful red rocks of the area.  Easter Jeep Safari is my one, for sure, event there…and then we steal any other time we can get.

Rubicon Springs is a four wheel drive trail that has been around for a century, there is a way in and a way out.  Neither is easy, but if you have some skills, you can make the trail without breaking.  Each year in July we try to attend Jeepers Jamboree there and enjoy our time away from cell phones and all the other stresses of daily life.  It is really hard to stress when someone else if providing your meals and entertainment.  Great trail.

Baja is one of my favorite places, twice a year we find our way across the border to the streets of Ensenada and often times further south.  SCORE International hosts two races we enjoy, the 1000 in November and the 250 in early March.  It is awesome to be part of a race team in the wilds of Mexico, and the food!  I just can’t say enough about the fresh food we get to eat when we go.

Enter Crandon, a small northern town in Wisconsin, in the offroad race scene, it is referred to as The Big House.  2014 marks the 45th year of the Crandon race course, started and managed by a committee, we got to spend the day with them today.  These are the movers and shakers in this small town, they showed us everything.  I am so looking forward to going back there for a race day, what a trip that will be to finally make it to the Big House.

Day 318 – Baja 2012, Day Nine

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Do the Shuffle, the words reverberate like they did when I was twelve, Van Morrison had it going on then.  My shuffle today needed to be the Stingray Shuffle.  We slept on the beach again last night, this time at Buenaventura on the Sea of Cortez instead of on the Pacific.  The temperature was perfect, we even had a dog that slept right outside our tent protecting us.

Just before dawn I thought swimming sounded like my idea of heaven, and it was too.  The water temp was just right, the sun hadn’t yet peaked over the ridge, just that lightened sky, a light breeze in the cove there.  I swam for a while and then started in to shore.  It’s very shallow along the cove, you can be 75 feet out and still touch bottom, very sandy and clear, there is a ridge of rocks that only run about 15 feet right near the shoreline.  I was just getting my feet under me when I felt like I had stepped on someone’s home, I flailed and tried to look at the bottom of my foot, all I could see was that it was bleeding and hurt like hell.  I stumbled on to the shore and Rich met me with my towel, he noticed the blood right away.  I hobbled back to our camp and the pain started to intensify.  Within half an hour I was writhing in pain.  It hurt so bad and I couldn’t figure out how to stop it, there was no comfortable position, nothing I could do.  It was like my toes had a permanent charlie horse, the intensity was that strong.  I managed to get dressed and packed up, but the thought of riding in the car was making me nauseous.  When my toes started to swell and red streaks run through them, we decided that maybe something really was wrong.  Rich went in to ask the locals, they knew right away, I had stepped on a stingray.  That little barbed tail and jabbed right in to the fleshy part of my foot.  Fortunately, they knew what to do.  Aside from the shuffle to avoid getting stung in the first place, we put my foot in 112 degree water and let it soak.  The relief was immediate, thank God.  Mark, the local, kept telling me I just needed to stick it out, it was going to be hot, but it was important it was that hot.  I figured out 112 is about what my bath water used to be.  The paid subsided, the swelling went down and I’m not even hobbling.  I am thankful they knew what to do.

Things I learned today, avoid getting stung, hurt worse than having babies; carry a pan to heat water in, you never know where it might happen; check this off my list of things to do, I think I can count it as one of my 50 firsts this year, never happened before, hope it never happens again!

Day 320 – Baja, 2012, Day Seven

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One of the greatest pleasures in my life is good food, one look at me and you would know that was true.  I read a book a number of years ago about why French women don’t get fat, the premise was that they only eat Good food, if it tastes bad, they don’t eat it.  That’s got to be a lie, because I only eat food that tastes good, and look at me!  Mexico has some of the best food anywhere, it is all fresh, it is all homemade, or at least it is where I’m shopping.

We pick our taco stands in Baja the same way we pick restaurants in the States.  If there’s a crowd, it must be good.  Sunday morning we made a trip to the Pemex (gas station)  as we were headed out of La Paz, and on our way we noticed a little building with a ton of cars.  Both of us knew exactly where we were going next.  We got gas and turned around to stop at the little building.  It was painted bright yellow, there were five girls in the kitchen ranging in age from 13 to 35.  The moms were doing the cooking on an old stove with mis-matched pots and pans.  We had to order by pointing, because we didn’t know what any of it was.  I had the Bistek c/papas (steak and potatoes) on a hand made gordita.  Rich had two other kinds of gorditas, he was pretty sure one was pork and the other, who knows?  But they were delicious.  The mama asked us how to say muy bueno in English, then repeated very good back to us, the young girls laughed and laughed.

Our destination leaving La Paz was La Juanico, or Scorpion Bay, best known for its surfing.  The bay is on the south side of a point that juts out in to the Pacific ocean.  The temperature was perfect and the dunes provide ample camping spaces.  The surf crashes over and over again.  The surfers have to be patient, but appear to be getting what they came for.  La Juanico has one restaurant in town and  half a dozen grocery stores, we stopped at the restaurant for dinner.  No English spoken here, I ordered camerones de limon, it was the best shrimp I’ve had in like, forever.  At least twenty shrimp on a plate with spinach leaves and tomatoes,   Limes were cut and placed in the crook of each shrimp.  That and a few tortillas and we were in business.  So fresh, so good, I could eat like this everyday, for $10 US.  Wow!  Viva la Baja!

 

Day 322 – Baja, 2012, Rest of Day Five

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9:22 p.m. Friday, La Paz, Baja California Sur – 849 miles from Ensenada on Highway 1 plus all the miles driven to and from the pits.  We began our day 8:00 a.m. on Thursday.  Our team has finished, we took second in our class.   So proud of the effort made by all to make the trek and follow through to finish.  For us, it was an uneventful race, some minor mishaps that kept us out of first place, but nothing serious, blown fuse, etc.  For some other teams, it wasn’t as nice.

Baja is like the wild west, crazy shit happens and when things go bad, they can go very, very bad.  Early on race day, a chase team was in an accident near San Felipe, one man died, another woman was seriously injured and transferred to Scripps in San Diego.  By the description it reminded me of the accident on the Rubicon last summer that took the life of Rachel Anne Gray.

Yesterday a class one car was fueling at RM 835 when the car and the chase truck both caught fire and burned to the ground.  The driver and the fuel man ended up in the emergency room at Loreto.  Those were the only major incidents we heard, but there were plenty of minor ones.  Our prayers and thoughts to all affected by these accidents, the victims and families, the responders and emergency personnel.  Hug your family and friends close and remember that “I love you” can never be expressed too many times.

There were also some funny things that happened to some of the teams that would only happen in Mexico, a trophy lite truck was impounded by the federales yesterday when the tow vehicle wrecked off the side of a cliff outside of Mulege.  One of the BC Challenge cars rolled in the race course, reports are that the police detained the driver (rumor has it our friend Jessi Combs was in that car- they probably just wanted her autograph), two of our friends were scammed at ATM’s in Ensenada by guys that told them – after they had put in their PIN, that the machines were out of money – then walked them to another one around the corner while their buddies withdrew the cash.  Another guy was fined $50 per shell for shotgun shells he had in his truck after his last hunting trip – they finally settled on a $100 bribe and let him go.  All of these things really happened, this is the lawless west, anything goes.  The right way to look at it, is Caveat Traveler, Traveler Beware – This isn’t the US where you have more than your share of rights, you’re on your own down here.

Day 323 – Baja, 2012, Day Four and Five (so far)

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It’s 4:14 a.m., on 11/16, an extension of the day before that began at 8:00 a.m.  We are still awake, and will be for another 15 hours or so.  Right now we are parked at the second Pemex at Visciano, our race car began the race at 12:19 p.m. yesterday.  The IRC tracker hasn’t worked since they left the start line.  At Coco’s corner we were able to get a Spot Tracker mounted on the car.  For two hours the SPOT has been in the same location, RM 470.  That’s not a good sign.  We have chase teams stationed at RM 501 and RM 531 waiting for word.  It’s been a long night already and we are not half way done yet.

The first half of the day was pretty eventful, lots of wrecks by both the cars and the chase teams.  Some of them very serious.  We hate to see that.  La Carrerra Mil or the Baja 1000 is an incredible race, so much time, money and heart goes in to the race.  Our team has at least 25 people in various capacities, Big and I are handling communications, we are talking to chase teams, Weatherman and the race team.  We send messages by Spot tracker/GPS, Facebook and Pirate, not to mention the radio(s) and cell phones, it’s been busy.  When we have a TelCel signal, we are checking all the data so we can share.  It’s a fun job and I am glad we get to do it.

I’m tired and a little rummy, we keep trying to get some rest, but we’re in the XJ so a comfy spot is a little hard to find.  Oops, I think I’m rambling now.  Gonna sit and wait some more and see what happens, our goal is La Paz at RM 1121 – wish us luck, we hope to get there.

Update:  It’s 4:41 a.m., we just heard from the car, they are passing RM 501 and headed to the BFG pit at RM 531.  They rolled at RM 470, all is well, but they lost the SPOT tracker.  So hear we go again, no tracker on the car to figure out where they are.  Damn.

Day 324 – Baja, 2012, Day Three

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It’s race day, I didn’t sleep last night, probably in anticipation, since I know I won’t get to sleep tonight.  My last all nighter was Grand Nationals in Tennessee, one of these days I’ll figure out I’m too old for this.  My driver went to bed early and seemed to sleep well, so that’s a good thing.  There are lots of places to follow the race, but these are the places that we will be with the #401, class 4 car:

Race the World – Baja California – first half of the race

Race the World – Baja California Sur – second half of the race

Our spot tracker will post updates here at TajMahauler – this includes tweets

More info on Facebook at Shaffer-Motorsports

And the following are Spot Trackers for various members of the Chase teams so you can see where they are, this is our Spot, Berne’s, John’s, Shawn’s, and Mike’s.

Wish us luck – it’s going to be a fun 30+ hours against the elements that Mexico can throw at you.

From yesterday:

Contingency is one of my favorite parts about races in Mexico, or desert races in general.  A route is set up through a vendor area in which all cars must pass.  This is an opportunity for the public to see the race cars and trucks, to get posters and stickers.  In Mexico is the place to party.  It lasts all day, here in Ensenada, it’s a four block long affair, thousands of locals poured in to a small area, add to that the race teams and the people from the Carnival cruise line currently in port and there a just a ton of people milling about.  The food and beer are plentiful, the atmosphere is fun.  We cruise through looking for people we know, and there are plenty of those.  Monster and Speed Energy have hosted parties this week for their sponsored drivers, the shops have been busy, Ensenada is bustling, just as the small towns along the way will be too.

Day 326 – Baja, 2012, Day One

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Part One

I like to trick myself in to believing I’m adventurous, I’m not.  I like to trick myself in to believing I’m daring, I’m not.  I even like to believe that I’m smart on occasion, I’m not that either.  What I am, is determined and curious, and often hungry.

Rich left me alone at the hotel, we are at the Hotel Mission Santa Isabel in downtown Ensenada, Baja California.  For those of you not in the know, that’s really Mexico, not California as we know it.  I sat in the courtyard for awhile and decided I was hungry, so I grabbed my bag and headed out to find grub.  There were a number of different taco stands on the corners, I wasn’t brave enough to stop.  There are too many things I don’t know well enough, I don’t know the language, I don’t know the currency.  About the only thing I can do well is smile.  So I took myself down to a little stand that I have been to before and ordered “dos tacos camerones”.  I thought I did pretty well, but the cook asked me fish or shrimp, in English.  Shrimp
I headed back to my hotel, holed up in my room with my computer, I should be out exploring, but the practical part of me says, someone should know where I’m headed if I’m going out on the streets by myself.  Hmmm, maybe I am smart. , I repeated, sigh, I was sure I had ordered correctly.  The two tacos were delicious and I paid with my smallest American bill, the total was 42 pesos, I had a $5 bill.  I paid with that, and she gave pesos back, it looked good to me, but really, how would I know?

Part Two

Have you ever noticed how much better everything tastes in Baja?  Tonight we were treated to some carne asada by some local guys that are helping our race team.  The boys had spent the day at their shop working on various cars and trucks, by the time Rich came to get me, the wood had been lit on the barbecue.  Hector had picked up twelve pounds of carne asada sliced paper thin and was starting to grill that, the salsa, guacamole, onions and cilantro were ready.  The meat was grilled to perfection and then flour tortillas heated on the coals. Seventeen people were fed for at least an hour, one burrito after another fixed just the way we liked them, uno mas, was the only thing everyone thought, just one more please, they were delicious.

 

Day 353 – I don’t want to get to the end of my life and find that I have just lived the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well.

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After over three years together, Rich finally took me wheeling…with me behind the wheel.  We have a 1992 XJ that is pretty well built, we picked it up last April at Easter Jeep Safari from Danny when our Grand Cherokee had had enough.  It was a necessity and a quick purchase.  We needed something that could be used as a motorized wheelbarrow and also as a grocery getter.  The XJ is perfect for that, it has a Detroit in the back and an ARB in the front, new 33” Pro Comps and some gorgeous black wheels (who knew I would ever be able to speak this language?)

The XJ

We are still packing up from the race last Saturday and had some extra time, Rich suggested a ride in the Jeep, so we could “inspect” the race course.  I’m pretty sure he and Josh managed to do that the day before, but I was game, especially when he said I could drive.  Rather than drop me off the start line, we entered at the pit road crossing and drove back to the start/finish line, around the course – all 4.89 miles of it.  As we started, Rich let me do things on my own, and then made suggestions, I corrected pretty quickly.  I’ve never really driven a four wheel drive, but I have certainly been in the car for lots of wheeling experiences.  Once he saw what I could do, he just coached me where he thought I needed it, on the climbs and the drops in particular, told me where to line up my tires, what gear I should be in.  The most important thing he told me is that I should be driving with my eyes 30 yards up the trail so I knew what was coming up.  I did all the climbs ok, went down one of the drops pretty hard and slammed the bumper, but the rest I did ok.  He’s a great coach.

Wheeling is part of our life together, just a few months after we had gotten together, Rich took me to Baja.  It was just a quick trip, we didn’t even stay for the race, just Contingency at the Baja 500.  We drove down through Tecate and headed to San Felipe for the first night.  I was introduced to the best shrimp tacos on the planet that evening at a little place called Adriana’s on the Malecon.  The next day we drove up to Mike’s Sky Ranch, it’s a bit of a gnarly trail going up, but just bumpy mostly.  We ate the traditional steak dinner with tortillas and drank the homemade tequila at the bar before retiring to our tiny room when the generator was turned off at ten.  The next morning after breakfast we headed out the back side of Mike’s towards Ensenada.  The back side is a much hairier version of the in road.  I kicked back in my seat with my foot on the dash and watched Rich drive, as I looked out over the cliff I couldn’t help thinking, “I wonder how long it takes them to find the bodies?”  But not a word did I say.  We finally were off the cliff face and down through a rock waterfall when he stopped.  He looked at me expectantly and I looked him in the eye and asked, “So, did I pass?”

“What?”

“Did I pass?  I know that was a test, did I pass?”

He busted up laughing, “Yeah, you passed.”

I knew I had, I just wanted him to know I knew it was a test.  Next time we are at Mike’s I wonder if he will let me drive the cliff face, I’m betting not, he probably knows how long it takes to find the bodies.