Bob's One Lap adventure

OK, I've had sufficient time to disseminate the event and now time to write the novel. WARNING: there will be no TL:DR cliff's notes at the end. probably.

So, this actually started 16 months ago. I had just sent the money to my inlaws to purchase the truck last march when Time (sleepyhead) sent me an email asking if I wanted to fill out his one lap team. I was elated, and crushed at the same time. I knew there was no way that the finance manager (read: wife) would go with buying a new to us truck, my flight and return with said truck as well as this. So I had to decline with the caveat of "if you want me next year let me know.". So last fall Tim floated the same offer to both John and I. Things were a bit in flux at that time for me, but I said I'd give him a firm answer by january. Jan rolls around, the wife was not paying attention to what I was saying and absently said "you should just do it." Tim had an answer in minutes. 

You all read the trials and tribulations of car selection on Tim's thread, so no need to rehash old material. No one'sgot time for that. So, thursday before one lap, I took a half day from work, completely useless to my employer for 4 straight hours. Excitement and apprehension coursing through my brain. I mean, I'm about to spend 9 days and nights with 2 complete strangers. Granted, one has the same last name as myself, so he's probably fine, but still. So Tim gets in about 3pm. We get some cars and crap shuffled around to get the TL in with room to work. we had just gotten the car unloaded and started reinstalling the back seat as John rolls up. Luckily he brought beer. 

So we got the car up on stands, flushed out the brake fluid, changed the oil. Realized we didn't have a filter for a Honda on site anymore, so we used a Hyundai filter. It's the same threads, seals and bypass pressure as the honda but larger. So that'll work. I mean, we're running Korean wheels so a Korean filter will probably be betterer anyway. Did a quick test pack and test drive that almost ended in chaos. As we take a roundabout to find a redneck truck filled with kids pulling another redneck truck filled with kids. Second truck had no lights and the kids riding in it had eyballs the size of dinner plates seeing a stickered up race car flying around the corner at them. A little rubbing still on the fronts on larger bumps but manageable. We turn in around 10, knowing this may be the last night of good rest for the next week.

Next morning we drink some coffee, and head up to South Bend. 

Finally meet Seth. I missed him the previous year at Grissom and met Brian instead. I instantly realize why this man is so successful. You can't not like the guy. Full of energy, full of stories and fun. The man is a walking legend as we have all seen. Off to a good start. Soon after checking in and getting the car properly stickered and cleaned, I run into the next awesome thing that is one Lap. Howard. I will say this, when I grow up I want to be just like him. Loved the maple syrup, the stories and the energy. By this point, I'm almost reaching "new people overload". Tim is like a hummingbird in a familiar patch of flowers. He knows everyone, shares common stories and moves to the next. It's awesome to watch. 

Shortly after, the celebrity of the event shows up. Travis Pastrana comes up with the film crew to tape a segment for his show. We're all going to be internet famous now. My initial impressions are not favorable as I'm instantly thinking "great, another large headed celeb." I can now say I was wrong. but more on that later..... We go in for the driver's meeting and the Lap Puppy meeting. I'm surprised at how many puppies there were. I was expecting 5-10 of us, not 30+. We then went outside, hung around and talked with what would now be new friends then had the longest dinner of my life. I think it took 2 hours to get a cuban and fries and 2 cokes. We turned in early, overloaded with anticipation of tomorrow.

Next morning we grab breakfast at the hotel and head to the Tire Rack for the wet skid pad. Now, I came into this with no expectations of doing any competitive driving. I knew that I couldn't drive on track as I didn't have the suit, meet the requirements and all that. But somehow, it was decided by Tim and John that my FWD experience would be put to good use on the skidpads and autox. Then it got real.

That was the moment that I realized I was about to run a competitive lap for the biggest event in my life. Ho. Lee. Crap. All I can think of was the tip Tim had given me about how to get a better lap in on the reverse and where to turn, noting that most people were not. Wondering if this was good advice and did Tim really know what the heck he was talking about? One way to find out. I roll up behind the M3, and await my turn. 

Get the nod and away I go. Now, we were running basically a bone stock TL 6-spd on Genesis front wheels (18x8) in 245/40's and Kia Optima rear wheels on 225/40's. I knew that I'd have good front grip but I needed to be smooth or that thing would come around and bite me in the butt (something I should have remembered 7 days later). Make the first direction with a minimal amount of push and a little tail wiggle. make the right decision to follow Tim's suggestion and head back around the other direction. found just where the car would hold a tight line and not push before I hit the green flag and lights and just cruised. Plopped down a .747g on the pad, putting us 30th overall. Sweet. I didn't screw up. We started the packing routine that we would soon have down to a science and headed out to Autobahn. Since we couldn't get on track until 4pm local time, we stopped for a nice sit-down meal with our new friends in the Miata (scott and becky). Now, "sitdown meal" in one lap isn't what normal people think. It was Culvers. basically sitting down eating fast food. 

Here's where I get jealous. Brock had a deal with Kia Motors to drive the new Stinger GT as his support vehicle. If I loved them before, I was enamoured after. The car, in bone stock trim was quick, beautiful and amazing to watch. 

Now, the first track event would seed us for the rest of the week, so all eyes were on Tim to see where we'd be running. Now, with One Lap the faster you are, the earlier you run. The earlier you run, the sooner you are on the road to the next stop. That gap between the pointy end and the slower cars was 2 hours+ most days. That's 2 hours of sleep/eating/rest. Very important. 

So out goes Tim. He runs it hard, but fact is the car is basically a 3400lb family sedan on a stock suspension. He turns in a respectable 63rd. As he's changing out of his fire suit, John and I pack the car and head out for East St Louis. We end up stopping for fuel at the same time as Scott and Becky in the Miata. As we're trying to get to the gas station somestrange teenager has the door open on his SUV, and is yelling "DRIFT IT!" through the intersection.... wow. 

We top up with fuel, as another teenager with a newer mustang rolls in. Sees the stickered up cars and asks the questions we will hear all over the country by dozens of people. When he asks Tim "how much horsepower does it make?" and Tim told him about 260 he nodded, and walked off. We all knew what he was telling his buddies at that point "I could totally take 'em". We headed over to Wendy's across the street after being serenaded by the sounds of a free revving Coyote for out second sit down meal of the week. About 2 hours later we make it to the hotel, check in and crash.

Day 1 of One Lap is in the books. What a ride. More later.

MOAR! 

And what a great week hanging out with you. The fact that you and John were happy for the ENTIRE WEEK was impressive to watch. 

I did have a great week! 

My real goal is to now campaign my own car but failing that, I would be more than willing to repeat this year's style program again next year.  

Its been a busy week since returning. 

So day 2 opens with us in East St Louis, at Gateway. Apparently we were sharing the venue with a Model T swap meet, but I don't know of anyone that actually saw a model T or parts. 

We get on the scooters and head out for a recon of the track. Off in the distance we are seeing rain clouds threatening. We get back and I check the car for air pressure and lugnut torque, we get everything ready and I lay down on the cool concrete for a nap. Apparently, I made OneNapofAmerica first day. lovely. Anyway I'm half out of it, headphones listening to The Pretty Reckless when John wakes me up to move, because Seth had a boo boo.

Up I jump, "Crap" is the first thought in my fuzzy head. Tim gets the car ready to go out and in comes Seth, still shaken, with the Civic. It's banged up, but still moving. Nothing appears to be leaking and all the tires are still pointed the right direction. All good signs at this point. Seth doesnt appear to be broken either so that's good. So I offer up Tim's tools as needed and basically watch the miracle unfold in front of me. Nothing broken but the condensor. So far so good. 

After I realize I'm going to just be in the way I head out to take pics of Tim on the track. (apparently the work laptop can't handle an SD card with pics, so photos will have to wait until home). Take some pics, come back to paddock and the Civic is back together for the afternoon runs and Seth and Brian have formulated a plan to get a new condensor locally to install tomorrow morning. GREAT! 3 other cars had an off  in the same area. 

More to come...

Sorry.... work getting in the way here. 

So.... lots of scary off's at Gateway, but Tim kept the right line and we were good to go later inthe afternoon. Packing by now was become routine and we were off. Somewhere in western Missouri we came across a bunch of signs for the Uranus Fudge Factory, "The best Fudge comes from Uranus!". Can't make this up. I think we laugh for a bit too long on that. Rolled into Tulsa to another open C6 bar and Pastrana hanging out with people. Had a few drinks, heard some stories then off to bed. 

Day 3 had us a Hallett. I, for one, loved that place. The elevation change, the shade, it was cool. It was also the first time I took the TL out between sessions for a "parade lap". Seth hopped into the passenger seat and we head off. We were following the RS boys in the EVO who was the first car behind the pace-suv. We made one lap, the pace-uv headed in and left us unattended. That went well.  

Here's the part where I out myself. OTher than the tight drivers space and wierd clutch, the TL is an absolute pleasure to drive. It was also the easiest vehicle to rev-match down shift I've ever driven. I felt like a pro 3 days in. Being a dedicated Korean car and domestic truck guy, I was deeply ashamed. DEEPLY ashamed. But it is a great car. Had me dreaming of how much better it would be with 275's, an exhaust and intake etc. Luckily I've since come back to my senses. 

Tim goes back out, does his thing, doesn't crash, we pack and head out in record time. Long trek ahead of us but we were out early (2:30). By now, we had gotten into a rhythm. Tim would crash in the back seat after leaving the track, I'd take the first shift and John navigated and took the second shift. 3rd shift I'd switch to the back seat, Tim would take over and John in the navigator seat. It worked really well and we all got a chance to rest. 

Many hours later we rolled into the hotel in Limon around midnight. 

Until the next installment....

Please don't hurry your writing. Trust me when I say that you'll find this again in a couple of years and you'll appreciate the detail that you put down on paper now.

Work is doing it's best to put me under right now. I definitely don't have the thought capacity to finish this this week. Hoping Thursday from home I can put some more together and actually get pics uploaded. 

Bob the REAL oil guy. said:

Sorry.... work getting in the way here. 

So.... lots of scary off's at Gateway, but Tim kept the right line and we were good to go later inthe afternoon.

I dunno if it was "the right line"... but it was certainly the "low risk line" 

Packing by now was become routine and we were off. Somewhere in western Missouri we came across a bunch of signs for the Uranus Fudge Factory, "The best Fudge comes from Uranus!". Can't make this up. I think we laugh for a bit too long on that. Rolled into Tulsa to another open C6 bar and Pastrana hanging out with people. Had a few drinks, heard some stories then off to bed. 

I think some OneLappers couldn't resist a closer... inspection...

OK... so where were we? oh, rolling in Limon,CO around midnight. We get some sleep, up early grab a bite and head out for High Plains. I will say that this place is awesome. great track, way out away from civilization etc. Hopping on the scooters the three of us head out for a look at the track. Halfway down the main straight I realize two things. One, I'm not in shape at all. Two, I'm no longer at 800' above sea level. 5300' is affecting me and my laziness for sure. Some great hills and turns, beautiful location. 

My folks were on vacation and stopped by. They stayed in the hotel across the street from us the night before. They showed up just before Tim headed out for the first session. We headed over to the covered viewing area,

Tim comes in from his session. Brakes are feeling weird and we are seeing almost 100* higer temps on the rotors from left to right, and tire temps taht are pushing 40* higher on the right front. Now, at Hallett we had seen extra tire wear on that side so we were keeping an eye on it. Tim makes the right choice to rebleed the fronts. So up she goes, we pop the wheels off, bleed the right side, no big deal. fresh fluid, no air. Move to the drivers side and first push a ton of air. So it looks like the air in the drivers side was overworking the passenger side to do all of the braking and punishing the tire with our lack of camber. 

So, to my parents surprise, I drag them into the car and out we go for the parade laps. They were surprised and mom told me that is was her birthday (now tomorrow) and mothers day all wrapped into one. Afterwards we take a break, and get Tim ready for the next session. He heads out, John and I head to another vantage point to watch. As soon as he hits the finish we head back to paddock. I say my goodbye's to the folks in anticipation of a fast temp check, pressure check and pack. After this session, the brake temps are within 10* of each other, tire pressures and wear looks more normalized since we had swapped front tires from side to side. Hoping this is the "fix" we were looking for we pack up and head out. As we are leaving we see the Prius still making laps leading to the rest of the weeks joke. At the same time Cake The Distance pops into my head thinking about the lines

As they speed through the finish, the flags go down.
The fans get up and they get out of town.
The arena is empty except for one man,
Still driving and striving as fast as he can.

I can never look at a newer Prius and not think of that song. So back on the road we go. Knowing that we have 12 hours of driving ahead of us, it's almost 3pm.... we're not sure if we're even going to get a hotel at this point. Whats the point? We drive and drive, stopping for fuel and gas station food. As we get into Cresson, I'm rolling through town at 2:30am. John has made the executive decision that yes, we are getting a hotel even if just for a few hours and a shower. So I'm rolling through town, 34 in a 35. I know it's a small(ish) Texas town, we're in a stickered up racecar. Lets not draw undo attention. I come up to a light just as it changes. As I am sitting through the longest light I've ever seen, the cop we had just seen a few blocks rolls up beside me. I see he has his window down and is motioning for me to roll down mine. Now..... I'm just seeing brighter lights roll up behind us now. This is an important detail that my sleepless mind hasn't registered yet. The cop shouts over to me "Hey, slow down! They're all following you and turn off your bright lights." Now, I'm tired. I know that there hasn't been anyone near us for the last 150 miles. We've played lone car on the road for a long time. I also know that I was going LESS than the speed limit and I don't have my brights on. So I tell him "yeah, I was going 34 in your 35 and I don't have my brights on." He's now adamant that I was going too fast and have my brights on. I'm trying to be pleasant but this guy is just flat out wrong. So I repeat that I don't have my brights on and am not speeding (while sitting at the light) and he mumbles again something about they're following us and damn LED lights (which we don't have). The light turns green and I drive away, he does a u-turn and now I can see what those lights are behind me. It's the Toyota team. Theyve caught us in town and the lead Avalon was running his bright lights. It finally dawns on me that he has us confused with them. 

3am, we roll into the host hotel. It's full, but the sister hotel next door has rooms. We all pile in and are asleep in seconds. 

Day.... god we have no idea anymore. We know we're in Texas. We know we have to get to NOLA today. We know we're tired. It's hot. It's sunny. I grab a half hour nap in the shade, then watch Tim's first session. check the tires and brakes fresh off the lap and everything appears to be good. We chat with the VW crew who has been struggling all week. They're already down one car at High Plains. They're tired, and it shows. Tim heads out for the other half course of the morning. Checked tires and brakes once more. All good. 

Take a break and hear about the Evo RS has to remove the trans for an emergency flywheel repair. Take another quick nap and watch as Tim heads out for the afternoon session, now focused on car preservation and trying to not slip any more places in class. Comes in, we check once more brakes and pressures. All look good. We do our usual super fast pack. By now we even have all the cords under control and everything has it's place. Off we go to NOLA. 

Holy crap.... Lousiana you need to learn how to build roads. Seriously. We hit some of those so hard it was kidney busting in our luxury car. I can't imagine how the stiff cars handled it without exploding. We get into the hotel, get checked in and John and I proceed to wander around the hotel, lost as hell. I left my phone in my lower pocket, so I don't know that Tims been sending me a text. Apparent;y the car is dead. We finally get to the room and I find a list of texts from Tim. Apparently the battery cables hadbeen shaken loose. but every 5 minutes the alarm starts going off. so Tim pulls the battery cables and comes to the room. 

Next mornign we head out to the car, and reconnect the cables. No alarm. Everything seems to work. So off to the track we go. Awesome locale IMO. I check the car, and we had been slowly increasing the rear pressures to see what worked best. So instead of 40, I left them at 41. Apparently that was the wrong thing to do. or at least.... maybe tell Tim next time. Coming into turn one, Tim spins and ends up in the grass. Whoops. \ Tim comes in, we lower the rears, fronts are still looking good. I lay down and take a nap on the balcony because Tim had jumped 3 run groups. Perfect. I awake to silence. NO people around at all. Crap... lunch break. So I head over to get some food. took an hour to get through the line and getting the food. Had some amazing crawfish beignets. 

Afternoon session, John's sister brought us foods. lots of fruits and veggies, something we had not been eating a lot of the last few days. In fact, I'm not sure we'd eaten anything but gas station food in two days by this point. And she brought a case of water. It was awesome, she was great and it was nice eating some decent foods again. 

Tim heads out, doesn't spin, still in the same early run group and we're out by 2pm. Woohoo! Living the good life! Off we go to Bowling green. This is an easier drive than the last few days. Even better that this is once again familiar roads for me. We will roll into BG fairly early, allowing us the chance to stop for a decent meal. We see a sign for Chik-fil-a, then can't find it. It ends up being in a little mall in BFE Mississippi. We eat, restroom break and hit the road. Getting into BG we get a decent nights sleep (at least 6 whole hours) and a shower. Next morning is an early session, autox and afternoon session before the final leg of the trip. 

Haven't forgotten about this.... but the wife is trying to kill me with projects. More tomorrow night since she is out of town!

Bob the REAL oil guy. said:

Haven't forgotten about this.... but the wife is trying to kill me with projects. More tomorrow night since she is out of town!

PROMISES, PROMISES...

Keeping my promises, just late.....

So Friday morning we wake up at the host hotel, eat the best breakfast we've had all week. We learn that two cars fell to traffic accidents by inattentive drivers (not ours, others). One of the HHR's was t-boned, one camaro was rear-ended and totaled.  My nerves are starting to kick in. Today is the auto-x between track sessions. Up until this point, it's all been on Tim for competition runs. Apparently Tim and John think I'm some sort of expert at this crap in FWD cars. "Expert".... no. But I do have a few hundred runs in FWD cars so I guess that will have to do. We get there, get the car unloaded and Tim heads out to walk the track and I head over to walk the auo-x. Great course. I've run at Bowling Green before in the Forte. Decent surface, but the slope can really screw with you if  you're not paying attention. The group that set this one up knew what they were doing. It was simple enough to not get lost but enough little spots to nail you if you are new. I like to think I figured those out on the first walk, but who knows. 

Scott and Becky were finishing up getting the Miata ready so I offered to walk them through because he's never done auto-x before. Helping new people always seems to help me see it better, so my intentions weren't entirely altruistic. On one of my walk/scoot throughs I chat with Seth. He's my goal/bencmark for the day. If I cant close that gap or beat him today I'll be on cloud nine. 

Tim heads out, gets the car nice and hot for me....

My folks had shown up by this point and we watched (me watching nervously) with John and Seth. Checkered flag drops for Tim and we head down to the air pump to increase the rear tires. I, rightly, figured that we'd need all the rear pressure I could get into those tires to help rotate. 3500lb car on stock suspension I'll need all the help I can get. 

We get them up around 50 switch drivers and I head over to get my 3 runs. Boy this feels familiar. Same place, I get 3 runs to make it work. As I approach the line I automatically start second guessing my choice of pressures. Remember, we're running a staggered set up. 245's up front, 225's out back. Crap.... maybe we don't need that much pressure. Should I drop them real quick? and then the car in front of me rolls out and I'm up next. Well hell. I guess we'll figure it out on course. What's the worst that could happen? Spin it? Meh, I got two more runs and I can make the changes if I need to. 

Chat with Spoolpigeon at the starting line for a minute then it's time to go.

OK. not bad. Ran a low 43 second run. Very conservative. The car was just loose enough to do what needed. I envision a high 41, low 42 run in the car. Tim catches me on the return to the line asking if I wanted to make any changes. Nope. She's perfect. I roll up waiting my next run. Thinking of all the mistakes and tentativeness I had in all the wrong places. Also realizing that the two big off camber turns (the last right before the finish) I made the correct choice to give up a little there because the grip really dropped off for the first half.

OK, head our for my next run. More the same. Got the car tripod'ng several times so I was doing it right. 

Ran a 42.596 (according to the photos my Dad was taking). Not bad, but I just KNOW there's another half second in it. At this time, I'm unaware of what anyone is running. We're pretty much hot lapping and there's nothing getting posted. That's probably a good thing.  As I return Tim gives me the "pep talk" and told me to bring out "all the agressive". Those are words that will haunt me for years. Now, it's not Tim's fault of what happens next. It's all on me and I know it. 

So now I know the course, I know the car. I'm loving the LSD because corner exits are amazing. Brakes are decent, car is rotating. I think "i can pull off a 41.9." I was close. Sort of. Last run. Laser-like focus. Flag drops, I'm on it. Turn in on that middle slalom cone and know instantly I done berkeleyed up. I feel it hit the rear wheel. Well.... it COULD still be standing in the box. I'm not looking in the mirrors and I just drive. And drive I did. 

I was right.... 42.0. Hell yeah. +1. berkeley. Well, at least my second run was respectable. That 42.5 should put me top half at least. (just checked the results and they're wrong. it has me at 34th with a 43.000. first run was a 43.443, second run was 42.956 according to the photographic evidence. Sadly doesn't move me in place). 34th overall, 3rd in class. Could have gone worse. But that 42.0 would have moved us 10 places up to 24th. Now, talking with Seth, top 25 was my "omg I'll be the king of the world" goal. More importantly, that would have me beating Seth straight up. 

Well, hell. Shoulda coulda woulda's don't get anything so we get the car back to conservative track mode. Tims slips into an early group and we hit the road early. We get through Louisville just as rush hour is starting. We decide to stop on the south side of Indy to grab dinner. We hit Arbys, Tim orders coffee... they don't have any. Luckily there's a Starbucks across the street, so Tim and John grab some coffee and off we go. We get into South Bend around 9:30. We had decided that we'd just swap the fatties and skinnies because the shoulders were gone on the fronts. 20 minutes later the wheels are swapped, we check in, get unpacked andcleaned up and then hit the bar.

Then it hits me..... we made it. No failures. Not even a single argument between the 3 of us (outside the realm of discussion where I believe we may have solved the world's problems). We have one event left, then banquet and home. Ho.Lee.Crap. I just completed something I thought was for rich people. 

Now, let me say this is NOT a cheap event. It's a helluva a lot more expensive than $40 for an autox or even $250 for a track day. But doing it the way we did it wasn't bad. Split the entry, split costs and I brought food for lunches for the first 4 days. This is something that is really accessible. Put that with the comraderie and the way EVERYONE is helpful and willing to share shade and chairs and tools and it's just an unbelievable event. I think I compared it to Solo Nationals week, but instead of sitting around Lincoln all week and driving 6 minutes over 2 days we spend all that time driving across the country. It's amazing.

So.... last day I took no photos. It was raining, we were winding down and I didn't even think about it. "Dry" skid pad.... well not so much. It was for us because today they reversed the run order. We ended up being about the 10th car out. Once again I'm the one doing it. I head out, smashing it. Turn in to take the green flag and the ass end steps out..... WAY out. Like, I'm pointed at the flagger, wheel countersteering, feeding more gas and remembering what Tim told me a week before "don't spin and don't hit the flagger. Brock frowns on people hitting theflagger". I catch it, make my two laps left, turn around and make the 2 right. overall 25th. Now that number is misleading.... it started raining about 10 cars behind us. so the really fast cars got screwed. But that's one lap. This time I'm 4th in class, just behind the Camry. 

we pack up, watch the last of the cars and then go get food and the awards ceremony. This last part all kind of blurred together. Before I know it we've said our goodbyes, shared contact info and are on our way home. 3 hours later, we're unpacking the TL one last time. Seperating our gear, shaking hands and saying our good byes. And then, just like that it's over. Wow.

So, what do I think? I think I have been plotting what the hell I'm going to do in 2020. Yes.... I'm doing this again. It would take TEOTWAWKI, a divorce or a meteor strike to keep me away. They say that people are addicted to crack with just one hit. I'm here to tell you that E36 M3 for amatuers. So, I still have to figure out how to get wheels and tires for the wife's Forte and an exhaust on it without her noticing. Then I got to find another idiot that wants another addiction. I'm hooked. Seriously, utterly hooked. I don't have kids, I have the wife and our two dogs. The closest I have felt this much passion is the day I decided I was going to marry her. This is second. 

crap. looks like I picked up a new addiction. Damn you Tim! Thanks for everything. John, thanksfor letting me do the things I could and all your help and support as well. The two of you made this a trip to remember until my last days. I really can't thank the two of you enough for this opportunity. I mean it.... you guys are the best. 

Thanks for being there Bob. I'm going to beat you at autocross next time too. 

In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :

No. No you're not. But you keep thinking that. 

i'm glad i came in late for this so i didn't have to wait for all the updates...

it was great to meet you - hope you see you there again ;)

apexanimal said:

i'm glad i came in late for this so i didn't have to wait for all the updates...

 

it was great to meet you - hope you see you there again ;)

SCOTT!

bobzilla said:

apexanimal said:

i'm glad i came in late for this so i didn't have to wait for all the updates...

 

it was great to meet you - hope you see you there again ;)

SCOTT!

Becky!

Scott's wife has a tights collection that makes my 12 year old daughter jealous. In fact, they have some of the same tights. One Lap needs more Scott and Becky. Scott and Becky need more AC. 

In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :

I'm still curious whatever happened to that poor pillow.

Wife???

ok:

1. we're dating (still - even after the trip and my cranky-ness)

2. thanks for the welcome again! we're planning on 2019, and i'm having some exciting things being shipped to me right now...

3. our decision was: a. run the miata again, b. get something else. If we had to get something else it would financially prevent me from entering next year... but we decided we could do it in the miata again! we will be making a few tweaks to make it more temperature manageable in there (still sans a/c though)

4. the pillow turns out is washable... and was - HEAVILY. 

5. her leggings accomplished her mission of helping her to meet more people! i'll have to up my boardshort game if i'm to ever hope to compete with her...

In reply to apexanimal :

It's good to see you on GRM and good to have you both in our gang!

Wait, are you two not married? I thought if you weren't married at the start you were married by the end. I'm pretty sure Tim and I are married........

I'm glad you'll be back. Now we just need Bob to get the truck in shape. 

I tried to marry Bob but he refused to consummate.