Wild West Rally 2007

Paul Eklund's 2004 WRX STi
Originally uploaded by BernieC

This past weekend I went east to Pullman, WA with Erin, Dave, Sarah, and Scott. We met up with Derick (who lives in Pullman) for the Wild West Rally in Pomeroy. Being the first time that this rally was run in Eastern Washington, the rally saw a lot of retirements. The roads looked to be smooth and fast, but with some very technical bits which caught almost half of the teams out.

I brought my camera with me, but accidentally left it in my bag at the hotel. The pics I have were taken by Erin and Derick: Flickr Photo Set

In other news, will it please stop raining so I can ride the motorcycle? :-)

Labor Day, as it actually happened.

The ride's actual route actually turned out to be very close to what was planned:



Highlights from the trip included:

• A nice chat at Seattle's Colman ferry dock with a gentleman carrying a parrot. His duck was in his truck (I kid you not.).
• Another nice chat with a septuagenarian Texan who was traveling the country in his small SUV. He had a very impressive setup in his vehicle for documenting his trip.
• Taking "action shots" of Dave and I on the road up to Hurricane Ridge. Hopefully I'll get some pictures from him soon.
• Saw a former coworker and friend of his (a guy who used to park his motorcycle next to mine at my office) at Hurricane Ridge.
  
• Lunch at a diner just outside Port Angeles with slow service because one of the two cooks had gone to jail during the weekend (doh!)
• The first 23 miles of highway 112 were recently oiled and graveled, making traction less than ideal. Dave told me later on that, at one point, his bike was not responding to steering input on one stretch of road. I just noticed that the bike felt a little bit looser than normal.

So, all in all, a good trip. Hopefully I'll be able to fit another trip in before October.

Bernie and the Wee-Strom

50s in Seattle, 40s on Snoqualmie Pass, and mid-70s in Ellensburg, Washington. Ya gotta love Washington state's weather. Today was a beautiful day for a ride out to the Yakima River Canyon and to have lunch with my friend Derick at the Yellow Church Cafe in Ellensburg. Happy Memorial Day. I won't forget this weekend for a while - it's been a fairly eventful one.

I've posted pics of that trip as well as some others here. Enjoy...

It's like I'm a mechanic or something!

The quote above is from my old friend Scott. It's his smart-ass quote for people that question his abilities as a mechanic. He's a talented guy and his services came in handy after we got back from the Olympus Rally in Shelton tonight.

Maureen, Scott, and I all went to the rally together in my car. We met up with Dave, Sarah, and Bob. Maureen left her car in my garage and left one of her doors slightly open. Her battery was dead by the time we got back to my house tonight. It took some work to get her car started, and Scott's expertise came in very handy. I'm very happy he's moving to the Seattle area.

In the meantime, Maureen wasn't the only one having car troubles. Erin called me. She got rear-ended on I-5 on her way to work. By a driver without insurance; who couldn't speak much English. What a not-so-fun night for her, too. I'm just happy she's OK.

To end, the rally was a lot of fun (albeit very wet). I've got a bunch of pictures to go through and tag. I'll post a link to the gallery once all the pics are online. Until then, here's a little taste of what it was like (click the pic for a bigger version).

And I'm still here to talk about it...

What a night. Here's the executive summary:

- I went on a night motorcycle ride with my friends Dave and Sarah
- At one point, I very nearly dumped my bike
- Dave bottomed out his bike and injured himself
- While inspecting his injuries, Dave forgot to turn off his headlight and drained his battery, requiring a jumpstart

Ready for the full story? I thought you might be.

I spent a good amount of time today putting up some new photo galleries of rallies past. I chatted a bit with Erin before she went to work and then called up my friend Dave to see what he was up to. He invited me over so I rode my bike up to his place in Kirkland to visit. He mentioned the possibility of a bike ride with him and his girlfriend, Sarah.

I got up to Kirkland and we nearly immediately got ready for the ride. By this point, it was nearly dark. After warming up his bike, we got moving. Dave led the way out to, I think, Woodinville. I really have no idea where we were. It was dark, and I was just trying to pay attention to Dave.

Dave led us down a very dark, wooded road. Toward the bottom of a steep hill, he started to brake very quickly and I responded in kind. My front wheel locked, and I tried to swerve at the same time. The bike did not respond well. I just felt the ass end start fishtailing. My feet had dropped off the pegs and as the bike jerked back and forth, I felt the pegs hitting my lower legs, right above the ankle. I was able to right the bike, although at one point, I really thought that the bike was going down, and it was probably going to be a highside, meaning it might toss me off. But, I'm a big guy and perhaps that's what kept me on the bike. I hope. Luckily, no serious damage - just a little bruise on one side. I am fine. The braking on my bike can be touchy and I gave it too much at that particular moment. Dave said he saw a deer and was trying to avoid it.

Dave, is not fine. Dave, in the lead, took a left up a steep hill. Sarah was on the back of his bike, a Kawasaki Ninja 250R. With all of this weight, he bottomed out, and I saw a few sparks fly out from underneath his bike. I didn't think much about this until Dave diverted into a gas station. He diverted so quickly, that, again, I had braking issues. This time with the back brake. Just a quick lockup. So, anyway, Dave apparently pulled his groin in the impact of his bike bottoming out. He said he put a foot down as a reaction and somehow the bike jerking up after the impact not only hit him hard in the crotch, but also caused him to pull his groin. He was not happy at the gas station and was starting to limp.

Dave has some bad luck. Seriously. He had forgotten to turn off his bike at the gas station and when he finally did, he'd drained his puny little battery so much that he could not get the bike to start up again. Neither of us had jumper cables on us. And the cranking on his bike was causing him to flood the bike. Jumper cables at the gas station were $30.

Not long after this all started, another motorcyclist pulled into the gas station and saw our predicament. He said he lived up the street and had a mobile charger that we could try. He came back a few minutes later with the charger, which did not work. It was nearly dead. Both Dave and Sarah had left their phones back at Dave's apartment. So they couldn't call any of their friends for help. We decided I'd head back to Dave's place on my bike and get jumper cables out of his van.

Here I am in a place I'm not familiar with, and it's dark. It's also starting to rain. Dave directed me back to his place, and I left my phone with them. Once I got to his place, I called them. They told me that someone had jumped his bike and they got it running, but Dave then shut it off because they were waiting for my call! And then it wouldn't start again! Argh!! So, Dave had to find someone else to help jump his bike. It turns out, though, that the guy that originally brought the charger out was also the guy who helped Dave get his bike going. He had some motorcycle-specific jumper cables which worked perfectly.

Dave and Sarah did eventually get back. Safely. And from Dave's place is where I'm typing this. I still have a 25-mile ride home tonight, which might be rainy, but I've done it several times before so I'm not concerned.

Well, it was an interesting night. Hope you enjoyed the story.

Time

I find myself in a Pink Floyd mood today and that these lyrics seem to sum up my feelings right now:

Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun

And you run and you run to catch up with the sun, but it's sinking
And racing around to come up behind you again
The sun is the same in the relative way, but you're older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death

I had a physical yesterday. My first in years. I knew the doctor would focus on my weight. I mean, how can you not? I'm morbidly obese. He even wrote it on the slip I took with me to the diagnostic office where I had my blood drawn.

My mood yesterday was horrible as a result of the appointment. And I let the doctor's comments about my weight (he commented on my "thunder thighs" when he said I "carry a lot of weight in my thighs") and longevity (probably won't live much past 60) get to me.

My mood did not improve, and what was supposed to be a fun night with friends turned into me overreacting to a series of jokes. I haven't expressed anger like that in a long time, but it had been building all day.

Time's running out for me.

I'm back...

I don't even know quite where to begin about this month. It's just been shitty. This has not been an easy time. Don't know how else to put it.

Merry Christmas. I'm back from Connecticut (again).

To all of my friends who have supported me throughout this, thank you again. I'd do anything for you and I know you would too.

Casedom

About my trip to Connecticut...

The flights from SeaTac were completely uneventful. Thanks to a generous helping of frequent flyer miles I was able to score first class tickets this go-around. I feel pretty lucky to get this and the customer service rep at Northwest was incredibly helpful in helping me out with this. It was a redeye out of Seattle at 12:50am and I got into BDL at 11:15am. My dad met me there and after a longish walk to the car, we were on our way (he parked at the wrong terminal - doh!).

Seeing my grandmother for the first time in 6 months was great, but she's in really sad shape. She's on oxygen, has pneumonia, and has fluid in her lungs that she's having a hard time clearing out. My Aunt Sally and Uncle Fred spend all of their spare time with her and really have busted their butts to try to make sure she's comfortable and is going to somehow beat this. But seeing her like that was so incredibly tough. This is a woman who stands not much over 5 feet tall who takes shit from nobody. If ever there was someone who was full of piss 'n' vinegar, it'd be her. She's one hell of a woman.

Every time I visit with the family I learn something new about it. This is the trouble with having grown up 3000 miles away from the core family. I just didn't have the exposure to them over the years. Let's see what I learned...

• Case Avenue in Winsted, CT, is not named for my family. There's apparently another Case family in Winsted and there's no relation. My family is based in Colebrook.
  
• My grandmother is an institution in Colebrook. In the wintertime, she bakes and gives food to the guys who plow the roads by her house. They gave her a cute card with all of them holding out their stomachs with some cheesy poem about how they'd miss her cooking this winter.
  
• Apparently there is such a thing as "Case temper." My cousin Mitchell and I talked about this. Cases are usually very happy-go-lucky, but once the fuse is lit, get away. Our temper is not a pleasant one. Anybody who knows me well might have seen it at some point. If you have, sorry.
  
• I learned more about how my Great Uncle Paul lived in his final days, and how everybody else in the family took so much care of him. He had his last cigarette the day before he died of lung cancer. He was a cool guy.
  

I'm sure there are more little tidbits I'm forgetting, but those are the ones that stick out.

Friday was a rough day. Grandma was incredibly frail and weak in the morning. She was having a really hard time breathing. Things were looking really bleak, and she was given a dose of morphine. By 6pm, she was up and talking again and was doing a lot better. But things were rough and I must've been on the verge of balling my eyes out at least 3 or 4 times. My poor cousin Mitch spends all of his spare time with her. I've got so much fucking respect for him after seeing how much time he spends with her and how much he loves her. It makes my 4 days here seem insignificant.

Mitch is 4 years younger than me and he reminded me of one of his earlier memories of my visits out to Connecticut. I exposed that poor boy to 2 Live Crew. He was 9. I was 12 or 13. Talk about corrupting the youth. The thing he didn't know was that his father caught me exposing him to it and luckily I didn't get the shit beat out of me. And my parents never said a word to me about it. I don't get it. And Mitch said that we looked at a Penthouse, but I don't remember that. He joked that he didn't know what the hell he was looking at at the time (in reference to female anatomy). Ah, good times.

Mitch and his wife, Renee, have been very warm and welcoming. Had drinks with them Friday and Saturday night at their apartment and watched Garden State and bunch of TV with them. Mitch and I talked about how there is such a thing as a Connecticut accent, and we compared notes on pronunciation of common words. Considering Renee's a speech and language pathologist, this was even more interesting. This trip has been great considering all of the time I've spent with my family.

But, my grandma. It's anybody's guess when she's going to go. Yesterday we thought was it, but by the evening she was better. And today she was weak in the morning but by 8pm she was up and talking again. And with the steady stream of visitors today, how could she not be. These past four days I've seen so many people that remember me when I was "this high." Do I remember them? Not so much, but the family here is so well known it's amazing to me. This is something I don't have in Seattle, and it's very appealing. I got to see my aunt Barb (removed via divorce) for the first time in 10 years today. Of course she gave me shit for not calling her, but I got to see her for a little while.

So that's Connecticut. It's yet another family reunion of sorts. It's emotional because of my grandma's situation, but she might pull through enough to at least go home. My mom's an RN and worked in nursing homes, so I've been exposed to it before. It's just tough to see someone as vital as my grandma in the same sort of place. It hurts.

Sunday's events with her were pretty good. I got to spend a couple hours with her alone and she filled me in on some of the events in the family. I was hoping to ask some more historical questions but most of what's on her mind is stuff that's happening right now to certain people in the family. She's holding on to what she's got so she can see this family stuff through.

Today was better for her. She actually managed to have more than just a smoothie, and had a bit of a turkey grinder my Aunt Sally brought me. Yum yum yum. I'm going to miss grinders, but I think there's a place in Seattle I can go to get them.

Overall, this was a really good trip. I bonded with more of my family (particularly my cousin Mitch and his wife) and really got to see my grandma more than ever. I'd like to try to go back twice a year, if possible. We'll see how that works out.

So, I'm back. And happy for it. I missed all of my friends.

It gonna (did) snow!!

Much like another friend last night, I got a call from a friend who needed some help. Seems her bus couldn't make it all the way back into Renton last night due to a nasty snow and ice storm. From the news reports, for some people it turned their 30 minute commute into a multi-hour nightmare. So she and I met up near my office and I took her back to my house where she stayed the night. In addition, I picked up another friend of mine at her apartment and she came and visited. By the time it would've been time for her to head home, the ice had started forming and I was not feeling too comfortable with going down the long, steep hill to her place. She stayed the night, too.

At about 2pm today, I left the house to take both of them home. In addition, I picked up my ex-girlfriend and took her into SeaTac. So I was playing chauffeur for a few hours, on many patches of ice. Fun stuff.

I can see why a bus couldn't do much for making it into Renton - the roads were just coated in compact snow and ice. Luckily, they'd been sanded, which improved traction a bit, but overall they were very messy.

Needless to say, I didn't make it to work today. And I'm going to try my darnedest to make to work tomorrow as I've got some stuff going on there that requires my attendance.

Please let my commute go smoothly tomorrow :-|

Covered under warranty

Went to go see a movie with a friend on Monday (The Black Dahlia, I didn't like it) and the temperature light came on in the car. Checked around, and found the coolant reservoir really low. Bought some distilled water and filled it up. Light didn't come back on.

I took a closer look at the engine and saw pools of coolant on top of the transmission. Made an appointment, got it in today, and when I showed it to the service advisor and we actually saw a drip come from a hose. Turns out a coolant flange was faulty. They replaced it. Under warranty.

Woo, didn't have to pay a thing. Woo.

Saw Jackass 2 tonight. Much better. Very funny.

About my weekend, and another ride report

Was back out on the Olympic Peninsula this weekend. Met up with a bunch of friends in Sequim and saw a friend's band play at the 7 Cedars Casino. Had a great time with them Friday night and ended up pretty sloshed, but I managed to get some riding in on Saturday.

The weather called for rain later in the day, and luckily I managed not to get caught in any. I started in Sequim, and rode up 101 to highway 112. Highway 112 is an interesting road. Heading west, most of the road is downhill and some of the twistier stretches of the road are downhill making for some interesting riding. Perhaps it was the previous night's drinking, but I felt like I was not quite riding as well as I could. The two times my foot grazed the ground had me either worried or laughing, as I was riding pretty hard. In any case, I still had a good time. I then made the mistake of riding down highway 113 to get back to 101. I should've turned around and rode 112 back to Port Angeles. 101 before Lake Crescent is really boring, and then I got stuck behind several cars on 101. Ah, well.

The rest of the ride was uneventful and I managed to get onto the Edmonds ferry just in time. The weather's really starting to change, so some of the colors I saw on this ride were stunning. In any case, I hope to keep being able to ride even as it gets cooler.

Ride Report - Around North Bend, Carnation, Duvall

Today I took the first of what I hope will be many rides with 3 other guys, two of which I met for the first time today. My friend Dave, who has a Ninja 250, met up with me at Fry's Electronics in Renton. Joining us was the leader of the group, Tim (Ninja 250), and Mike (Suzuki SV650).

Tim knows the roads really well, and led us all on about 5 hours of riding some excellent twisties. Went up Highway 900 from Renton to Issaquah, and then road up to Fall City. Road out to Tiger Mountain, and then to Rattlesnake Lake. Then had breakfast at a place called Gordy's. Not a shabby place for breakfast.

Tim then took us up to some excellent twisties up around Snoqualmie Falls. There was a bit of rain the night before, so some of the roads were a bit wet, but had no major issues with them.

After Snoqualmie, we went further north, all the way up through Carnation and Duvall, and then ended the ride in Monroe. Dave and I broke off from the group and rode back down to Renton so he could get some warmer gloves for our ride tomorrow.

Two close calls, that certainly had the "pucker factor": 1) Locked up the rear wheel on a downhill 70 degree right turn. I was taking up the rear, and had to do some hard braking. I braked in the turn and the back wheel locked and then started fishtailing. I got control back and did not have any problems. 2) While entering a very congested I-405 in Renton, I almost rearended a car that stopped in front of me while I was changing lanes. Got within inches of his rear bumper, but did not make contact.

For all of that, I'm OK, the bike's OK, and I'm looking forward to another ride tomorrow.

Tomorrow - the Olympic Peninsula

A long ride.

Is the subject a metaphor for my life, perhaps?

I just got back a little while ago from a decent ride through Seattle. Rode up the viaduct to Western, then up 15th NW, then went all the way around Magnolia. From there, I continued north. I went through Ballard, and then rode to Shilshole and stopped at Golden Gardens for a few minute break. After that, I rode up through Loyal Heights, then back down to Ballard again, and then cut over through Phinney back to 99. What a nice, calm ride. The bike's now past its first 600 miles, and yesterday I performed its first oil change, chain lubrication/cleaning, and inspection (with the help of a friend, of course). I am, so far, having a lot of fun riding the bike.

My life has changed very much in the past year, and even moreso in the past seven months. I've made new friends, strengthened other friendships, and ended a long relationship. In the past year, I've made two trips to India, a trip to Canada, a trip to Vegas, and a couple other business trips. I bought a new car for myself after my ex's car died. She got the current car I had at the time, and I just gave it to her when we broke up. I bought a bike just a couple of weeks ago.

So yes, while I've made many interesting trips and met new people, I've also made mistakes along the way. I have made some poor personal choices that have interrupted my life and affected others. I have dragged my friends through this crap, and while they've been great, they shouldn't have had to deal with this. I love my friends for all they've done for me, and I feel truly lucky to have them in my life.

I find myself feeling lonely far too often, even though I spend plenty of time with my friends. Coming home to an empty house has been depressing, as well. Unfortunately, in these moments of loneliness, I feel weak, and I've done stupid things to try to ease the loneliness. Very stupid things.

There was a time when I had no problem being alone and, in fact, I relished in it. I loved being introverted and antisocial. Those days are behind me now, and I find I want to spend time with my friends as much as possible. But spending all of this time with friends only provides temporary relief from the crap in my life that I need to take care of. I'm working on that.

So again, to my friends, thank you for being there and listening to me. You've seen how crazy I have been the past few months, and I think that might get a little worse before it gets better. Bear with me. I'm working on straightening myself out.

There are situations and people in my life that have contributed to my state of mind, but it's all of my own doing. There's someone that says I have a guilt complex about this, but I find it hard not to. I made the mistakes, I have to live with them.

So enough of the emo rambling.

Anyway - my birthday is in 2 weeks - party on the night of the 12th, people! At my house. You're all, of course, invited.

Fat guy on a Ninja

That was me on Saturday. My friend Dave bought a Ninja 250R and his girlfriend and I played chase car as he rode it around. It was interesting to see him get better at riding the bike and it appears to be working out pretty well. I rode it around a bit myself and it was pretty easy to get used to. But I'd be more interested in something like a V-Strom 650 as it looks more like what I'd like to ride.

I'm taking a training class at the beginning of July with Dave. Looking forward to it. haven't decided if I am going to buy a bike or not. I guess it depends on how much I like riding.

Had a BBQ on Friday, got a visit from my friend Derick last night, and had some interesting drama in my life this past week. I hope that the drama will soon be over as I'm getting sick of it.

I'm in Vegas now...

So I've made it to Vegas, with the help of my friend Maureen who was gracious enough to join me on the drive down and helped out with the driving. Highlights:

- Gorgeous sunset outside of Pendleton, OR
- Got a speeding ticket in Utah, around milepost 171 on I-15. 89 in a 75. I think my speedometer actually was at 95, but I'll take the reduced fine.
- Got into Vegas a bit early so we went to Hoover Dam before going to the hotel.
- I had been driving the Jetta TDI so much that the turbo in it stopped working on the way into Vegas. It made getting to Hoover dam a bit slower as I was missing about 40% of power in my car. The turbo started working when we left the dam.
- Got a rock chip in my windshield. I'm going to have to get that repaired while I'm here.
- I'm wearing the most obnoxious Hawaiian shirt right now. Oh man, this thing is loud.

Enough typing. Time to go have some fun.

Woo, off to MPLS again, and other stuff.

Well, I'm off to Minneapolis next week to go do some install work at a very large corporate customer of ours that is headquartered there. Should be interesting, and it'll be a new experience for me -- I've never really been on point for an install like this before, but the customer seems to like me so they asked for me specifically.

More importantly, I got some news today that an old friend from high school was in a boating accident while on vacation in Alaska. Sadly, he did not survive. It still hasn't quite hit me yet. We stayed in contact after high school and we visited each other several times over the past few years whenever our paths crossed.

I think back to high school, and I remember how much of an uptight little perfectionist I was. I was so angry at my personal situation that I couldn't take a joke. Some of that remains with me today, but I have mellowed a lot over the years. And he was the one person who flat out told me - stop taking everything so seriously. After he did that, sometime around 10th grade, I was finally able to start coming out of my asshole shell and start socializing more without feeling like everybody hated me or was making fun of me behind my back. Oh, I was still an asshole through the rest of high school, but I think it was his encouragement, and encouragement from others that started to change me.

It still hasn't quite hit me yet. It probably will when I go to the funeral or memorial service back home. I just hope I don't miss it due to being in MN.