Putting the SUV in SUV

The motivation was lacking, so I left for Chappell Hill about 7 hours later than planned. Turns out that Mama and the kids were going to sit this one out, so I flew solo on the trip. Honestly, I wasn't much in the mood for racing after enjoying that lazy Saturday morning, and I was motivated to see if I could have an even lazier Sunday morning. But I volunteered to bring the TXBRA trailer (scaffolding, camera, tents, tables, etc for the finishes of Texas Cup races) down south to the race...when you make a committment, you stick to it. And since that big ol' trailer is sitting in the pasture, which is in plain view through the window at my desk, I'm finally forced to say, "OK, I'M GOING" as if the trailer was taunting me.

Because I'm in full "lazy" mode, I drove over to the barn to get a fresh supply of water bottles from the stash. When I opened the barn door, I was knocked back with a stench that I hope nobody ever has to experience. And mind you, we have two kids in diapers now, so I know stink.

I don't know how the possum got in the barn, but it certainly didn't know how to get out. The weird thing is that I took the lawnmower out of there just a couple days earlier, and I'm pretty sure I would have noticed a possum in that little barn then.

Anyway, I did everything I could to not touch the thing, but it had to get out of that barn. I found a rope and made use of a broken shovel handle to lift the carcass to tie a rope around the wasting meat. Then I pulled it out of the barn, gagging only twice. But I can drink grappa, so I may have more tummy constitution than others. Then I tied the rope to the bumper of Moby (our Expedition) and drug (dragged? whatever) the thing out to the pond. Please do not swim in our pond for awhile, OK?

Proceeded then to hook up the trailer and get ready for roll out. I went inside and scrubbed my hands and arms under the hottest water I've ever managed to touch, because I wanted to leave the wife and kids with a big hug, not possum juice.

After a tough goodbye with kid #2, I'm rolling down the road at almost 9pm going a whopping 55mph with that trailer. Oh, I could go faster, but the fact that we just had an axle repaired is making me more cautious than normal. It takes a long time to go 270 miles at 55 mph.

One benefit to traveling by myself is that I could listen to the Jimmy Buffet, the St. Thomas School Pipe and Drum Band, and Coldplay CD's just as loud as I could stand it. That helped the time go by.

Rolled into Chappell Hill at almost 2am, found a place to drop off the trailer, and then drove for a bit to find a place to make camp, as I was not going to get a motel for just a few hours of sleep.

Found a nice spot behind a run down general store-looking place. I cracked the windows, fluffed the pillow, and then spent the next hour killing mosquitos and sweating for no good reason.

When I started cramping in the night, I decided to roll up the windows, start the engine and turn on the AC. Ahhh...got downright chilly in there. Unfortunately, I was already cramping, so it continued even though I was drinking as much as possible. All I really succeeded in doing, however, was making myself have to get up and take a leak every 30-40 minutes. Which let in more mosquitos each time I opened the door.

I didn't sleep so well, and I was irritated laying there waiting to cramp, so I went looking for a breakfast spot. Drove into Brenham hoping for a "Mama's Cafe" type place, but I couldn't find one open. Then it hit me that I was in need of a dumper. You know what it is like when you really have to go, but you are in the car, and you can't seem to find a convenience store or gas station that is open.

Finally found one of those McDonald's/Gas Station places, and I ran into the bathroom like I stole something from my car only to find a line for the one stall. I had to go so badly that I was sweating, which was making me more stressed about the race.

After pacing around the place, I finally got my turn. Took care of bidness, then went to fill the void with a McD's breakfast. I spent $2 on Hot Cakes, which got me thinking, "I'm racing pretty darn cheap this weekend!"

TXBRA covered my gas since I went to Wichita Falls to pick up the trailer. My entry fee was comped by the generous promoter (for working on the TXBRA board), and I "slept" in the car...

Made my way back to Chappell Hill, paid the $2 to park, got registered, pinned, and dressed. Rolled around for a mile and endured a cramping right calf. Great. Only 86 miles to go, assuming our race doesn't take a wrong turn somewhere.

I stuffed my pockets with water bottles and made way for the start with li'l Scott. His parents pulled up just as we were lining up, and we celebrated by getting them every bottle and container of water we had. In a matter of seconds, I went from the mindset of just riding until I ran out of water to, "Great, now I can't use 'we didn't have a feed' as an excuse for quitting."

At that point, I'd only spent $4 on the trip...