Sightseeing and racing!

Las Vegas!

We had a fabulous time in Las Vegas, but we are so very happy to be back in our home state where the color green dominates the landscape.  After arriving in Las Vegas on Tuesday evening, we grabbed a quick dinner at Chipotle (my new favorite fast-food type restaurant!) and headed down to the Strip to see the lights and sights of Las Vegas.  Shortly after seeing a few of the big hotels/casinos, the kids promptly fell asleep in the car.  The lights and buildings were astonishing, especially after living most of my adult life in central West Virginia where most buildings are under four stories tall and the stars shine brightly in the absence of bright city lights.

Where is the fence??!!?!?

The next day, we piled in our very small but very fuel efficient rental car for the long four hour drive to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.  The drive was long and tedious.  The southern Nevada and northern Arizona landscape leaves much to be desired in the minds of an east coast family.  I don’t think we saw a single animal other than a few birds circling high in the sky.  Trees are a scarcity until you get within 30 miles or so of the Grand Canyon.  The landscape is barren and flat which made the drive seem so  much longer than 4 hours.  When we finally arrived at the Grand Canyon, I am not sure who was happier to get out of the car, the kids or the adults.  The South Rim is a popular tourist attraction but we were told by a shuttle bus driver that we picked a perfect day for visiting the park – the weather was perfect and the crowds were light.  You could have fooled me.  The viewing areas were crowded with people from all over the world.  English was not the language most frequently spoken by people I was near.  The views were stunning and astonishing.  It is not possible to describe the grandeur of the place without seeing it with your own eyes.  Even looking at the pictures we took, the place does not look real, but more like a back drop to a movie set.  Many of the viewing areas were protected by fences so that you could not fall.  However, there is a trail that winds around the rim of the canyon that is not fenced at all.  The paved path meanders along the rim only 3 feet from the edge of a cliff in some places.  This made for quite a nerve wracking day for the parents of three fearless children.  My dare-devil son insisted on walking very near the edge of the canyon.  His sisters insisted on following him.  I insisted on walking as far from the edge as I could get.  My husband took some pretty amazing photos of the kids from some rather perilous positions.  I sat far from the edge, trying not to hyperventilate.  Our day at the canyon was amazing and I am glad we went, but I was also ecstatic to leave the great heights of the Grand Canyon.

A quiet drive back to Vegas after a long day!

The next day, we took the (thankfully) short drive to visit the amazing Hoover Dam.  Yet another day of height anxiety with a little claustrophobia thrown in for good measure.  My kids started the visit off by running and jumping as high onto the concrete wall as they could to see the dam.  Oh my.  We took the power plant tour of the dam.  This involved cramming into an elevator with 50 other people and going down some 500 feet.  The elevator opens into a tunnel of rock.  I was alright until I realized just how much land was above my head.  The tour was very interesting though.  It is amazing to think that we were capable of this kind of technology in the 1930s.  Hoover Dam uses water to very cleanly provide enough power for something like 3 million homes.  Amazing.

Scary tunnel far under ground.

Hoover Dam.

Trey Canard and Jeremy McGrath

We did not spend a lot of time sightseeing in the Strip.  Quite frankly, Vegas is not very appropriate for little kids.  However, we did go to the Strip one afternoon to go to the DC Store for an autograph session with Trey Canard, Jeremy McGrath, Nate Adams, Robbie Madison, and a few other DC-sponsored athletes.  After getting some autographs, we walked to Caesar’s Palace to see where Evil Kneivel famously jumped the fountains.  It took some time and some searching old youtube videos to do it, but we finally figured out his path.  Probably the funniest thing happened when we saw a “statue” and told the kids to go stand by it so we could get a few pictures.  The kids were wary but they went to stand next to the odd looking statue anyway.  Once the kids were posed, the statue came to life and just about scared the pants off our youngest daughter.  She jumped and yelled.  They were not expecting that!  My son put a few bucks in the artist’s bucket and the statue fist bumped him.  Good times!

Nice "statue"!

On Saturday, my son and I went to the Supercross race at Sam Boyd Stadium.  I had never been to a Supercross race so it was quite the experience.  It was amazing to see Kevin Windham perform his final awesome transfer!  The racing was great and it was wonderful to be able to spend some one on one time with my son.  It was an evening I will never forget.

Las Vegas Supercross!

The Amateur National Arenacross Championships took place on Sunday.  It was a long and nerve-wracking day but my son came home with an eighth place finish in the nation and no bad wrecks or injuries.








We had a great vacation, although it was not very relaxing!  Now, it's time to get ready for our next racing season - hillclimb! 

Amateur National Arenacross Championships 2013

The Las Vegas crew - Billy Morehead, Nick Morehead, Cael McCutcheon, and Matt Roberts. 

What happens in Vegas doesn’t always stay in Vegas.  In fact, several Moto Mom Books riders brought home some hardware from Sin City.  Cael McCutcheon finished 8^th in the nation in the 65cc 7-9 class.  Matt Roberts had a strong showing in the Arenacross Novice class with a 6^th place finish and Billy Morehead landed on the podium in the Over 40 class with a second place finish.  Brandon Dawson finished 10th in the Schoolboy Senior 13-16 class and 12th in the Arenacross Lites class.  Nick Morehead ran into some bad luck when he was involved in a wreck that put a hole in his motor case, ending his day before the mains started.  Congratulations to all the riders who competed in the 2013 Amateur National Arenacross Championships in Las Vegas!

Cael with his 8th place plaque and two proud sisters!

Heading to Vegas!

The plane tickets are booked, the hotel reservations are made, and the bike and gear are locked and loaded!  We are heading to Vegas, baby!

Cael practicing turns at Grandpa's.

Our family has been busy getting ready for yet another racing season.  We did not do much racing this winter, at least not motorcycle racing.  Our new family hobby is RC car racing, but that is a story for another time.  We only went to a few arenacross races, but it was enough for Cael to qualify for the National Amateur Arenacross Championships in Las Vegas. 

Kallie jumping a double at Grandpa's.

Katie jumping a little double at Grandpa's.

 So far, we have had some great spring weather that has allowed us to get out and ride as much as possible in preparation for the arenacross championships.  The girls even practiced on their first real track this past weekend!  Thanks to Billy and Kelly Morehead at Mountaineer MX Park for the opportunity to get in some great practice!  The girls did a great job riding and they had a fantastic time doing it.  Kallie was a little scared when she heard she would be riding on a real track, but she quickly got over her fears and did not want practice to end!  Cael spent most of the weekend riding and probably would have kept riding right into the school week if he could.  He has been doing his part to prepare for Vegas!  

Cael getting some air at Mountaineer MX Park.

While we are in Las Vegas, we are going to take the kids to see some of the wonderful sights of our great country.  We will be going to see the Hoover Dam and Lake Mead, which I have not seen yet.  We will also be making the trip down to the Grand Canyon.  It is a four hour drive from Las Vegas but it will definitely be worth it for the kids to see such an awe-inspiring sight.  Our country has many beautiful sights that we feel the kids must see so we will be checking several off our list with one trip.

Kallie at Mountaineer MX Park.

Katie at Mountaineer MX Park.

 

Time to get back to work.  As all you Moto Moms and Dads know, our job is never finished!  Stay safe, be well, and hug your kids because they grow up way too fast!

 

Katie and Kallie after practicing at Mountaineer MX Park.

                    Thank you Billy and Kelly at Mountaineer MX Park!

Girls rule!

The year 2012 was a benchmark year for this racing family.  This was the year that my daughters started racing.  They started riding in 2010 with some very shaky rides on a Yamaha TTR50 which they shared.  Luckily, that motorcycle had seen better days and was used to being slightly abused.  Let’s just say that the concept of braking was lost on these girls for the first several attempts.  In fact, there is a commemorative dent in their grandpa’s Mule to mark the occasion on which Katie “forgot” where the brakes were. 

 Thankfully, my husband is a patient man.  As I shuttered with fear and literally convulsed several times watching my babies bravely attempt what comes so naturally to their brother, my husband merely yelled instructions and encouragement to his newest pupils, with the occasional dejected head shake thrown in for good measure.  Watching Cael race is nerve-wracking.  But I have gotten used to it for the most part.  Watching the girls ride is a whole different level of horror for me as a mother.  I am not sexist.  I believe girls can do pretty much whatever boys can do and in a lot of cases, we can do it better.  And I believe that my girls have become very tough and resilient from years of dealing with their not-so-gentle brother.  But, (yes, BUT!), when I watched them learning to ride motorcycles, my heart was hammering out of my chest  and my hands shook with the need to whisk them away to some much safer activity, like sitting calmly in a padded room with nothing sharp and no moving parts.  I almost collapsed with relief when their practice session was over.

The second year of riding was much better than the first year of riding, for the girls and for me.  For one thing, Katie and Kallie grew a couple of inches over the winter and got stronger, too.  It also helped that they had finally figured out how to use the brakes!  Knowing how to ride a motorcycle gave them a new confidence and a sense of pride that was not there before.  For my part, I started taking high doses of Valium before each practice session.  Just kidding. 

So after one more year of learning the basics and practicing, the girls competed in their first hillclimb race in June 2012.  The week before the first race, the girls were so excited they could barely sleep at night.  They each had their own motorcycle by now, which they had promptly given names.  Kallie named her Yamaha motorcycle Yoko and Katie named her Honda Hailey.  The excitement continued…until we got to the race.  Then the fear and nervousness set in.  Their previously joyful faces quickly turned serious.  Possibly for the first time in their lives, they got quiet.  They were close to tears as they put their riding gear on.  Thankfully, their class was second so they didn’t have much time to ponder their fates. 

 They nervously watched the four wheelers tackle the hill and soon, it was their turn.  With three kids all in the same class, we had to recruit some help from some of our hillclimb friends.  My husband stayed at the bottom of the hill and got the girls ready for their first runs.  Our helpers stood ready to help the girls and their bikes down the hill.  Katie was the first to tackle the hill and after she went, my nerves calmed down a little.  Of course, they did fine and they were so excited and proud of themselves.  They were the only girls in their class that day and they did not finish last.  The man handing out trophies overheard us telling the girls what a great job they did in their first race.  He was kind and considerate enough to find some trophies for Katie and Kallie.  You would have thought those trophies were made of gold.  The girls could not have been happier and I could not have been prouder of them.  They competed several more times that summer and got better every time.  It is probably just a crazy coincidence, but I noticed a couple of gray hairs in the mirror recently!