18th - 23rd May

The weeks continue to roll around, and we've just realised we've been here a month tomorrow. Colin's feeling he's not getting anywhere, as we haven't bought any vehicles yet, and have been mostly 'playing' since we arrived.

I have to admit, the only sweat I've worked up is walking up the strip in temperatures of around 85F. Quite pleasant really. You'll be pleased to hear the weather turned to shyte last weekend, and we actually had to put jackets on. Prior to that it had reached the 90's and we were getting a taste of summer. The rain came at a bad time, as it was one of the big drag events here at the racetrack. The Fremont Reunion Drags, held in conjunction with Street Rod and Nostalgia Eliminator Drags.

Friday night was also sprint cars on the Oval Track here, and after a light shower in the afternoon, the rain began more seriously about 7.00pm. All further racing was cancelled, but fortunately the test and tune guys on the strip had pretty much finished by then anyway. Colin was the starter for the day, and enjoyed his new role (don't worry Plank...you're job is safe!)

I was told there were some Kiwis at the strip, so set out to find them. Not too hard, just cruised around the pits in Nancy's golf cart, listening for the tell tale accents. It wasn't long before I found them...four blokes from Pukekohe club. Took them on a guided tour of the outfit here, and Nancy organised some free passes for the rest of the weekend for them. Think they were pretty stoked. Met up again on Saturday and arranged for them to get on the back of the crew truck with the Nitro Fever gang. Don't know if they'd experienced Nitro at close quarters before, but their eyes were sure shining!

We've experienced a bit of everything this week. Have seen two street people lying on the footpaths on different occasions. One looked dead, so I got out of the car to check him out. Kept a reasonable distance in case he either had a gun or some unsavoury disease, but soon detected slight movement in his chest area, so figured he was just sleeping. It's hard to believe America still thinks it's such a wonderful country while these people are still around.

The vice President was in town yesterday on some form of political propaganda mission, so traffic was a bit sluggish. Not sure why they feel the need to close roads while these people drive through...paranoia I guess. Having said that... a policeman was shot yesterday while trying to catch 4 Mexicans in a stolen car. He was on foot trying to stop them and they ran into him. He ended up on the bonnet of the car, and shot one of them through the windscreen! They returned fire and shot him in the leg. I hear he's doing O.K.

Colin and I went to a Mexican Flea Market on Sunday, seeing as the drags were cancelled. It really is bargain city but after a couple of hours, everything begins to look and sound the same. I could have wandered around a bit more, but HE reckons there's only so much foreign cr*p he can take! No soul that man! Think I'll have to go to Mexico without him. We then went to the pictures to see The Da Vince Code. Good movie and very faithful to the book. Hanks plays a good role and there's some pretty believable special effects. Finally got to see King Kong too. Not all that impressed, but the effects were amazing.

To date, I have still not had a lot of success with the photos on this blog. Tried again last night, but it wouldn't accept them. (They were all clean too!!!) I've got myself a library card now, so don't have to get temporary code numbers all the time. Lots quicker.

Better publish this before this computer drops me off like last time. Take care everyone.