I wish I was writing about our pro rider and their outstanding success at the first Texas National Motocross in FOREVER, but instead I'm going to tell you about our learning experience....er....uh...that's because WE DON'T HAVE A PRO!!!

First, let me say this: What ever you thought it would be, it was better. This event was, and will be, a true benefit to motorcycle riding, riders, and vendors, for the next several years.

Now, when you plan to go to any big outdoor event, you generally plan to bring lots of shade, water, and various other amenities to help keep you comfortable in such circumstances. Well, of course we didn't bring enough! Our borrowed generator, to replace the generator whose engine locked up at the last TCCRA race, wasn't quite large enough to run the air conditioner and the fan at the same time. Actually, it wasn't enough to run the AC without the fan. So, YEP, we ran the fan which really wasn't too bad because you were sweating so much it was like when you first get out of the shower and a fan blows on you........anyway, the new generator will be in this week and it is TWICE as big as the last one.

I don't know about the rest of you, but NCR relies on Me Maw State Bank to get by. If it weren't for family, we wouldn't be racing in the first place. For those of you that have to race Kate, blame Me Maw. For those of you that wouldn't get to race if NCR hadn't had the right part at the track, blame Me Maw, too. Anyway, Me Maw retired on Wednesday so she could get off work to go to the Texas Outdoor National Motocross Race on Thursday and watch her grandchild race on Friday. As soon as she got her walking papers, she went straight to Wichita Falls and purchased a brand new (to her) used golf car, equipped with a back seat which looks rearward, that also folds down into a flat bed for hauling stuff.

If there is anything in this world that a kid likes more than motorcycles, its Me Maw’s new used golf car. My point is just that when you get to one of these Texas Outdoor National Motocross events, you realize that it is about two miles from where you were assigned to camp to the parking area for the actual race. Hence the importance of Me Maw’s new used golf car to get her from point A to point B in a Comfortable fashion, with minimal delay and stress, as Me Maw is stressed enough having just retired from her source of banking material for racing and golf cars and stuff. Did you know that if your kids spend all day on Me Maw’s new used golf car and your generator won't put out enough juice to run the AC and, say, a charger for same new used golf car, the batteries will run completely down about half way from the camp area to the race area? We figured that one out. I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure that Me Maw never got to drive her new used golf car, once. We did get it to charge up enough to use it on race day, but the battery light was on again when we loaded up to leave.....just in the nick of time.

NCR and all of our folks are cross country riders and racers. We aren't very learned on this motocross business, but it looks like a lot of fun, right? Well, it was to us, but a bunch of those folks must be making their living on amateur motocross because they are WAY TOO SERIOUS about it. Most of them are afraid you're going to steal their speed secret or something, I guess. Otherwise why wouldn't you be friendlier? And fast...let me tell you, those mini riders are crazy fast and can jump farther than most big bike riders I've seen. Bullet proof and 10 feet tall at that age, I suppose. Well not all of them were too unfriendly, the Cajuns parked right next to us were great and we'll probably be seeing them at a few cross country events in the near future. Anyway, on Friday, the Texas Outdoor Motocross hosted an Amateur Day for folks like us to bring their best hopes for bragging rights and to see how we measure up to other folks from all over in motocross racing. In our case, we wanted to measure Kate against women motocross racers so she could decide if she wanted to continue her quest to go pro when she turns 16 in four more years, or if we needed to look more toward GNCC or a rich boyfriend/husband type of career at age 30 (when she can actually go on a date). Did you know that there are only 5 women motocross amateur racers in Texas? I was amazed! There is only one Pro Woman Motocross racer in Texas! And the women in other states like Louisiana and Oklahoma and New Mexico have such limited budgets that they can't travel all the way into Texas to race at the First Texas Outdoor National Motocross event in FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!! Okay, I'm being a little facetious about it, but DANG! We were really expecting to see a full field of girls and women and there just weren't any willing to show up. As it was, we saw what we needed to see and we measured against what was there and we were so pleased to hear all of the Texas cross country, TORN and TORO members yelling and waving for Kate as she rode on to claim her 5th place Overall in the first Texas Outdoor National Motocross Amateur Day in 19 years. By the way, she did issue a challenge to ALL TCCRA, TORN, and TORO female members to try to knock her off her motocross pedestal at next year's Texas Outdoor National Motocross Amateur Day. How can you resist a challenge from a 12-year-old girl?

There were relatively few crashes, virtually no cases of heat exhaustion (compared to a cross country race) and only a few arrests. Yes, there was some intelligent gentleman that decided in his drunken stupor that the huge Texas Flag, flying so proudly over the starting gates at the First Texas Outdoor National Motocross would make a great blanket to sleep in, in the back of his pick up truck. He got to spend the next night on a real bed in the local jail for his efforts and the Texas Flag was flying back in its rightful place for practice and racing.

Denise was commandeered by the campground swat team to seek out and arrest another group of hoodlums. As she was driving along in the parking area of the Pro Track, a gun wielding police officer tapped on her window and told her he was going to hang onto the side of her Tahoe while she drove him close to a white pickup truck up ahead where he bailed off into the back with another officer and arrested several more suspects for unknown crimes. All day Sunday we could hear her humming "Bad Boys Bad Boys, who you gonna call". We expect a career change any day.

Speaking of career change, Jeff Cox of PBJ photography has taken up truck driving and track preparation as a second career. Big Hal might want to give up cooking after his weekend. I bet he never cooked so much as he did for this event. There should be no shortage of track helpers at any of the cross country races because almost all of the track workers at the First Texas Outdoor National Motocross in 19 years were primarily cross country racers that volunteered and did a fantastic job of flagging, marking, repairing, preparing, and supporting the Freestone County MX.