Kris' LAST Blog Post

Birthday Boy here!

I slept like I normally do...not very much. But today is a lazy day as we wait for Alison to get off work so she and Shawn can drive me up to the Border. Her cat is crazy, her couch is comfy, and the wifi is fast!

It's a sunny day in Seattle so I think I'll go take advantage of that!

Thanks for following my blog and asking questions, it's a lot harder than most think, but now I have a day by day account of this awesome season.

We didn't accomplish everything we set out to do, but we gave it our best with what we had. Thank You's go out to all of our sponsors and friends for helping us get thru this amazing winter of racing! The bug is back my friends, expect to see more of Team #661 in the future!

Shoutouts go out to our family and friends! Notably for me;
Brett "Turkey" Turcotte who helped us make our way around the pits and hooked us up with some contacts via text messages. Much love Turkey!
The Szachary's. Thanks for bringing us into the fold and introducing us to a group of awesome people!
My sister Krystal, who was constantly texting and reminding me that what I did this winter wasn't exactly "crazy" when it comes to me.
My Mom for driving me to and from the airport, and saving my bacon a few times along the way!
Dad for his knowledge about racing.
Colton my little bro, for the facebook messages every now and then. More appreciated than you know pal!
All my friends who let me crash on their couches over the course of the winter, you know who you are!
And those same friends who never failed to text or FB almost every single day.
And Plewzer! Brandon for being my eye back home. Watching every race and reporting back on what he saw from his perspective on the couch. It helped more than you know dude!
And all the friendly faces at the track that were always willing to help! So much of this would have been so much harder without all of you! I hope I expressed my gratitude like a true Canadian. Love ya all!!!

Kris' Blog #28

I-90 until we hit I-5 and Seattle! Traversing the country is quite easy. Siri hasn't been much help either, "Go West for 2000miles" is about as good as she is right now. South Dakota was uneventful except for seeing the Dead Presidents in limestone and 'climbing' the Wall. 

Hectic wind and a snowstorm topped off my South Dakota experience. But I love Wyoming and Montana so today should be fun. Seattle by noon Tuesday? That's the plan. That's also atwo full days ahead of schedule which kicks ass. I'm so glad we got those ten in on Sunday to jumpstart our journey. Clear blue and good roads ahead....Seriously, we are making HUGE time on this trip...hope things don't go sideways!


Ok so I jinxed us by writing that last part down. It's just a little past midnight and we are between Kalispell and Stateline. Almost made Idaho which was kinda my plan if not further. Unfortunately we hit some crazy snow conditions in the passes and were relegated to 20-50mph into Missoula. And again even slower leaving Kalispell. So we bunker down for the night and try our luck in the morning. My hope is to hit Seattle by noon and possibly sleep in my own bed Tuesday night. What a birthday present that'll be, come Wednesday morning! So that's the plan and we are just waiting for the trailer to get a little warmer since we just fired up the genset and heater.

Time for a little Motocross Mad Skills!

We hit the road at exactly 5:15am after a few hours sleep and all was going fine until exactly 8am. The front diff boiled all the fluid and spit it out the vent line catching fire to the truck. Now we got it controlled and put out without any major damage but we are still in a mountain pass with no front diff. I'll let you know what happens....

Tow truck to the beautiful town of Coeur d'Alene where we drop the truck off at the dealership and head to find the nearest wifi again.

Alison, Shawn's lady is an amazing woman. Lemme just say that first.
Not only did she offer to drive across the State of Washington to pick us up, she then offered up her airmiles to FLY Shawn and I to Seattle as the truck was going to be a solid week or two out of commission.

All we gotta do is find our way to Spokane....easier than anticipated...we were only 30 miles away!  Once there we hop on a turbo prop and the short hour flight later lands us in Seattle. 
Alison even took us out for dinner and didn't barely complain when Shawn and I bugged her about the whole "her being 'merican" thing. Haha. 

Tomorrow is my birthday and I'm hoping I can land back in the Homeland for that. It's been a long day and I'm throwing in the towel. Today definitely got the better of me.

Kris' Blog #27

The Road Home

Considering Shawn opted out of racing today we had the choice to watch the racing all day and spend another night or take off after a few hours of racing action. 

As unlucky as we are on the racetrack, I'm pretty damn lucky when it comes to timing. Just so happens that the two race trailers that we needed to move for us to make our escape were GONE by noon. And with my strategic placing of the truck all weekend, we snuck in and loaded up.

We left Lake Geneva at 1:30 and made Sioux Falls by 10pm. By 11pm the roads were so bad we stopped and fired up the genny for the night.

At 4:30 we were awaken by a truck doing 360's on the road and burning laps around us. Time to leave! After a solid 4.5hrs of sleep we are ready for another day of putting miles behind us!

I made it to just past The Wall in South Dakota. An hour or so out of Rapid City and had to get Shawn Boy to drive. 

I was crashing hard after a 5hr Energy and Monster. Two things I normally never drink(steady diet of Monsters is the usual on our roadtrips tho) and I was done. 

Shawn woke me up to snap some pics of Mount Rushmore which was epic. Woulda have been nicer if they would let us park our truck n trailer but the "RV" parking was closed so we couldn't do much other than a couple drivebys which is bullshit. 

After that I fell back into a deep sleep with my neck craned worst that an owl on his perch. I woke up two hours later in Wyoming doing 75mph on a direct course to Gillette. Now's the time to mention that the Jackson Hole Hillclimbs are this weekend and I haven gone for ten years. I'm going to be SO CLOSE! 

Alas, I made a promise to two young lads that I would be at their birthday party this Saturday and when it comes to family and friends, all I got is my word, so Jackson will have to wait until another time. See you soon boys!

Kris' Blog #26

Practice was way too early in the morning and I'll be the first to say I slept thru that like a CHAMP. 

Unfortunately Shawn's jacked elbow kept him from hanging onto the sled and it was best for him not to ride around in last. 
The difference between riding around and racing is huge. If that's all that is happening then it's not worth the entry fees, injuries, fuel or time to put unneeded miles on the sled. 

It's unfortunate since we are so far from home and it is the last race of the season but alas, can't tempt fate sometimes. 

Instead we pack up the gear and go watch some racing instead, keeping a close eye on the parking lot situation to see if we can split early.

Kris' Blog #25

Amateur 16-29

Holeshot goes to the #661
Daudt takes the lead and Shawn is following close behind. Unfortunately. Mechanical forces Shawn to get the black flag and his race is over. When Shawn and two others collided his side panel popped loose and after a quick lap of 'the wing' flailing around it finally came off and because it was the clutch side they had to DQ us from that heat.

Sport Heat One

Because of a clerical error Shawn was left off the "racers board" and had to get pencilled in as last gate pick for every race today. Which kills my strategy for gate picks and kills Shawn's confidence since we basically don't get to pick our gate.
And with that, Shawn gets pinched off the start and is in last going up the hill again. But in a show of true Mountain Riding fashion Shawn KILLS it going downhill and passes himself into 3rd!!! One whoops section later and half way around the next righthander Shawn tips over by himself and gets pinned under the sled....dejected, he gets help from a course worker and finishes his laps by himself. This meaning that we don't make the night show today.

Two last place finishes in his first two heats does not bode well when there are 90-some people vying for 10 spots in the final. However, we still have some racing before the day is over and I want Shawn to put every effort into finishing well as he can. Our last day of the season is Sunday. And every race he's getting better and better. We'll use these last two heats as practice and go into tomorrow with a head full of steam. It's our last kick at the can and our last chance to show everyone that the boys from the WestCoast will be back for another year!

Well the second heat of Amateur didn't go as planned. Altho Shawn crested the start hill in 2nd and held onto third coming down the hill until the chicane portion of the track where he got booted off track by a kamikaze move by another sledder. Instead of using the race line and jumping out of the chicane the 4th place rider cut the corner and dove right underneath Shawn. Shawn basically landed on the guy sideways and that's all she wrote. Two different lines converged and only room for one sled. He came back to pass one more sled and was hot on the heels of 5th place but he couldn't muster any better in the short 3 lap Heat. Amateur is done for the day and Shawn has that fire lit for the second Sport Heat. He's worked up pretty good so hopefully that means he comes out for the final race of the day guns a blazin'.

I was kinda thinking this may happen, a repeat of bad gating and a jacked up elbow saw Shawn ride to a 7th place finish to round out the day in his last Sport race.

Meow it's time for a hot tub, maybe a lazy river run and some pizza. Then back to the track to watch tonight's finals.

Kris' Blog #24

Geneva Showdown
Amateur 16-29

The track is rough already and it's only Friday. But since everyone has the same track to ride on I'll leave it at that. Lets just say arm-pump is the word of the day!

Today is going to be an uphill battle, Shawn has little energy so conserving it is key. Keeping things smooth and relaxed off the track should help his on track performance.

Heat One is the lone heat for the Showdown today. Shawn gates 2nd and picks a good rut. I angled him just a little crooked from everyone else which gives him a straight shot up the hill where most guys are slightly angled to the inside. A good jump off the gate has me cheering already! At the top of the hill I watch for brake lights and everyone except for Shawn lights up. That's what I like to see! Dion Guinn is a buddy of ours on the #613 Green Machine and both he and Shawn crest the hill 1-2. Around the first corner Shawn has the inside line and as they come down Shawn passes Dion for the lead!

It wasn't to last tho as the #661 sled bobbled at the bottom of the hill and swapped hard, twice, as he entered the set of whoops going into the first righthander. Shawn looses control and the sled goes over the bank. Now stuck between lanes Shawn has to wait for track officials to help him get the sled back and going again. He rejoins the race pulling up the rear and finishes the line shortly after the 6th place machine. Valiant ride considering he was so far back.
Now we wait to see if they put everyone into the final or clip the last two finishers in the Heats.

 The sun has been hiding all day long. Lets hope things clear up for the next two days of racing. It sure would be nice to get some sunshine on raceday....even just once this year. Meanwhile...it's raining....ugh.

Yep, that's rain...

Kris' Blog #23

We left The Dells around 1pm and traversed our way down towards Lake Geneva while exploring a few towns along the way since we had nowhere to be today. 

Once we did roll they Lake Geneva tho, WOW, what a town! It's quite small (7000+/- people) but absolutely beautiful. Typical resort/lake town similar to Sylvan Lake/Salmon Arm type area. And some of the houses are amazing spreads! We saw one house that I swear was an actual castle. It only needed a moat and draw bridge and you would have though it had stood for 400 years.

We found our way to Grand Geneva which is the Golf/Ski Resort where the racing takes place. This place is HUGE and definitely worth a shiny penny to stay at. There's probably 3 hotels in the resort and everyone of them is top notch for sure. One even has a Waterpark in it!

Then there's the ski resort within the resort. The 'mountain' isn't terribly big but it definitely does what it's intended for, which is short steep runs and a terrain park. The hill also has its own lodge which is amazing in itself.
After checking out the race track and being in awe compared to what we are used to, we unhooked the trailer and headed into town to find some fuel for the sled and for ourselves. We found ourselves at 'Champs' bar and had these huge burgers that only cost $3. Insane!

After a few brews to wash down the delicious dinner we headed back to the trailer to warm her up for a night of sleep. Tmrw we find out where we are supposed to park. I'll also narrow up the ski stance for Shawn, as well as soften up the rear skid. This course has 3 gnarly downhill sections with rhythm sections and braking bumps so I don't want the sled to kick out from Shawn when he's on the brakes coming downhill.
Check ya guys later!

It's Throwback Thursday! Sideways hats and cheesy pickup lines is the order of the day! Hahaha

We park the trailer as the clusterf*ck was starting in the upper parking lot. Deciding it was a good time to leave the mayhem we hit the road to find some breakfast and wifi.
We found this cool little breakfast spot that was literally dedicated to eggs and the creatures that hatch them. Egg Harbor Cafè. Well...only chicken eggs, but still, the ode to the Rooster was very apparent. Now I'm including this in my blog because, as some of you may know, I'm kind of an 'Eggs Benny' aficionado and rarely EVER order anything else when I go out for breakfast....and this place was definitely in the top 2 places I've ever eaten Eggs Benny. So delicious.
However no wifi. So back to McDicks it is for a few hours to catch up on the world of social media and 'Words with Friends'.

When we get back to the track we find A LOT of angry people who were refused entry into the upper parking lot. Instead they park down below at the airport strip. Oh yeah, The Grand Geneva has an airport too...
We go to register in the main hotel and even tho they may have an airport, the Resort doesn't have a working ATM machine. ANYWHERE in the resort which means I can't buy my PitPass for the day. This means I'm relegated to the Pits only, for today. I can't go into the lodge or the vendor area but oh well. I'll get it figured out for the weekend.

We hit up Champs again for $3 Chicken burgers and then get invited to chill out in the Szachary hotel room for a few hours. Those guys are mint! And Canucks too! We bench race for most of the night and give each other a hard time about favorite hockey teams, which I win considering the Canucks won tonight!!! Yessss!

Kris' Blog #22

We have to meet the insurance adjuster in Minneapolis on Monday so we decide to get on the road ASAP. Saint Cloud is the destination for tonight. 

After a few pops at a local tavern where we watched our beloved Canuckleheads lose yet another game, this time to the Wild of Minnesota, we come to the conclusion that we deserve to find a motel for the night instead of roughing it in the trailer.

Motel 6 here we come! Haha

A few signatures later we had our own beds and a shower at our disposal for the evening. Shawn has a woman in his life now and after several one-liners back 'n forth over FaceTime I figure it's time to take a look at the 500 or so pictures I took over 3 days of racing.

 ***You can find them here.....***

About 6hrs later 4:30am rolls around and I'm finally tired enough to sleep. Unfortunately before 10am rolls around I'm wide awake uploading all the pictures to the Teams Facebook page.


By the time we are ready to leave its almost noon. No worries tho. The adjuster isn't meeting us until later in the afternoon.
One fun filled stop at Mall of America, an adjuster, and an ill-fated trip to Old Country Buffet, we set out sights on Wisconsin. 

BTW-if you can avoid Old Country Buffet I highly recommend that...

A few hours on the road sees us pull into Tomah, Wisconsin where we decide to rob some wifi from the local McDonalds. After an intense conversation with a lady that works at McDonalds about police abuse and warning us against breaking the law we decide to find some shelter. It would do us well afterall. It's 2am and we pulled into town at around 9pm. Well we didnt get far cuz I'm writing this at 4am and we basically moved from McDicks, across the lot to the truckstop and tucked ourselves between a couple big rigs. And this is where I finally say goodnight!

Well we didnt drive far, but we weren't planning on it either. 
Wisconsin Dells was only an hour away and am I sure glad we decided to stop here. The town is one big tourist attraction. Amusement parks, waterparks, mini-golf, you name it! 
Shawn tells me it's a spitting image of Niagra Falls. Such a cool place. 

We spend the day driving the backroads looking for a trailhead or even just a place to unload the sled for a few hours to no avail. So we turn our focus on the waterpark at Mt. Olympus an take advantage of all it has to offer. What a sweet place!

We were thinking of hitting up a practice track just outside of Chicago but opt not to instead. Sure it's only 3hrs away but a 5hr round trip for a few hours at a track filled with dozens among dozens of others isn't really a good practice. It's hard to test much when there's so many guys on the track at once. Especially trying to put in some fast laps at race pace.

It's Wednesday morning as I write this and the sun is shining! Time to get cleaned up and check out of this hotel and find where our next adventure takes us.

Kris' Blog #21

Shawn is in two regional classes, one being his normal Sport class, the other being Amateur 16-29 which basically consists of all the same players. It's an early morning for Shawn's drivers meeting is before 8am.
The Amateur class is run in the morning and Sport is his afternoon class.

Shawn ripped a helluva start in his first Heat only to be black flagged because the starter said he jumped the light. Despite protests from every person behind the gate watching, the decision stood. So we got last in that heat despite riding his best race so far this season. 

After that, Shawn's starts were more mental than anything and he wouldn't find that lightening quick form again for the rest of the day. Altho his second heat saw a mid pack start Shawn quickly climbed into second and held that position to the checkered flag. In the final, another dismal start saw Shawn jump the tabletop in front of the stands fighting for 4th but a corner later he jumped himself into second thru the rhythm lane and held off two hard charging Polaris' for his first podium of the year! 

That's what I'm talkin about!

With renewed confidence Shawn was ready for the afternoon racing in the Sport class.

Two solid 2nd place finishes in his Heats saw Shawn qualify for the final with, you guessed it, 2nd gate pick. 
Unfortunately he spun pretty bad off the freshly groomed start and never could recover finishing in 5th place. Not that there wasn't drama tho, Shawn was quite upset that another rider had passed him under a yellow flag but to be brutally honest, the flaggers had been missing things, ignoring things, not reporting things, whatever you wanna call it, all weekend long and this was no exception. 
Much like life, such is racing and we held our heads high knowing that both sled and rider could fight for the win given the chance.

Meow it's off to Lake Geneva for the Season Finale and the end to our race experience in 2013!

And one more shot of our sleeping accomodations! Gonna miss doing this....maybe!

Kris' Blog #20

We woke up at the crack of 10 O'clock and rumbled around till the drivers meeting in which Shawn went to, I decided to pull the sled out and make some final adjustments.
Practice went as practice does, nothing spectacular, I noticed I needed to make a few changes to the rear shocks and reduce rebound speed as the sled wouldn't settle down for Shawn when he needed it to.

First Heat saw a very close call to jumping the green light as Shawn rocketed to the front of the field to the first corner, unfortunately he let off the gas as the starter pointed to what he thought was him. It was actually the sled next to Shawn that jumped the light. Not knowing what to do Shawn let the field go by and basically pulled up the rear. Unfortunately for us that means that making it to the night show is not in the cards today. Even tho there's one more heat, and an LCQ, finishing last in heat one is not what we needed. We had a talk later on about restarts, red, and black flags. And if you don't see either flag, it's game on as usual. Live n learn I suppose.



Meow it's time for Heat Two to try and finish the day on a good note. Shawn's getting ready so I should stop writing just about meow.

Heat Two just finished and the result wasn't what I was expecting. A close 'jump start' in the first heat scared Shawn I think, he was slow out of the gate for the second heat. It's frustrating since I know his sled is one of the quickest to the first corner. That's racing tho, Shawn crossed the finish line for the first lap in 7th and was closing in on 6th when a couple untimely errors cost him 7th place. With one lap left to go Shawn piled into a jump face and his tooth dislodged from his mouth! Yeah you read that right, to those that think this is an easy sport, when was the last time you got jarred so hard that your tooth fell out?!?

But with that, a couple finishes outside the top 5 and our day is done. We didn't qualify for the night show which is a major PITA and a letdown for our sponsors but with a new day comes new opportunities and tmrw is ripe for the taking!
As for meow, we become spectators and head to the stands to cheer on our friends for the night show finals.

*Note to self* Do not eat the chilidog at the concessions. More like chilisoupdog. Where's my spoon?

The Hill Pub is our destination tonight. And we hit the trifecta! Good grilled chicken burger, wifi, and good looking waitress! Hell, they even serve Blue Moon on tap! BONUS! Time to hit the track to watch the finals for the night. Cheers friends!

Saturday racin' starts with some course changes to inspire some passing lanes, by all accounts it's working.
Heat One saw Shawn pull a ski on everyone off the line but he chopped the throttle too soon and got squeezed out. He rounded the first corner in last. However a big pileup in the Ski-Doo rhythm section allowed Shawn to jump up into 2nd! He triple/doubled around about 5 guys and was holding a solid 2nd. It wasn't to be tho as two miscues saw him venture off course and enter the course in 4th where he stayed for the remainder of the race. We are going to need a 1st or 2nd to put us into the LCQ for a shot at the night show.

Well Heat Two didn't pan out....at all. Pulled a decent start from the outside but rounded the first corner in last again. I thought Shawn would have a fire lit under his ass since the guy right in front of him has never beat him. To no avail tho. 4-7 doesn't make the LCQ so we loaded up the trailer and headed out to spectate for a bit. A quick bite to eat at the Hills Pub again tonight and we'll be back to watch the night show. One more weekend to prove we belong on the big stage. Regional racing commences again tmrw before we make the trek back to Wisconsin for the Lake Geneva National Final. 

I'll update everyone after the Regionals tmrw! Adios!

Wait a sec. Pro Open Final saw Martin dominate but the race if the evening went to Tucker. The #68 absolutely tore thru the field after getting kicked off course on the first lap to finish 5th. 
The man was possessed! Knifing thru the field and crossing lines like I've never seen before. The most intense ride I've seen Tucker ride in a long time! Well deserved for a man that was in absolute rails all night. 

This shakes up the points a bit but a betting man wouldn't bet against the younger Hibbert to take the title in Geneva. 
WOW, what a race!!! Honourable mention to Tim Tremblay who piloted his Amsoil Racing Ski-Doo to a close second. Another 5 laps would have seen an epic battle between the two frontrunners, and not for a second would I hesitate to think Tucker would have made the podium. Again, the guy was ON FIRE!!!

Kris' Blog #19

So today is the official travel day for Shawn n I to Fargo North Dakota. The race itself is in Glyndon, MN but with Fargo being the closest major centre, it's considered a 'Fargo race'

My flight is scheduled for 8am so I have to be at YVR by 6. Good thing I moved down to the Coast for a few months. And good thing my lovely mum is willing to forgo some sleep to drive me to the airport. I tried going to sleep around 10pm but I'm finding insomnia is kinda taking over my nights. I do however get a couple winks between 10 and 1am. After wrestling with partial conscienceness for a few hours I fall into a deep sleep. Then like a lightening bolt I am up and wide awake at 4:18am. I decide to start packing up my gear and have a shower well before my scheduled wake-up time.

After almost a full two hours waiting in lines to pass thru customs and security, I'm finally on a US Airways flight to Minneapolis via a stop in Phoenix first. I sleep almost the entire way, one weird dream(I dreamt the plane landed in Denver and wild horses were all over the runway, and everyone acted like it was an everyday occurrence) Anyways, when I actually did land in Phoenix I had less than 10 minutes to make my connecting flight. A LONG jaunt to another terminal and I make it just in time for them to call my section of the plane to start boarding. A chance glance behind me and who do I see? None other than the pilot of my finely tuned #661 stead. Shawn had flown in from San Francisco and by chance ended up on the same bird to Minneapolis. He too almost missed the flight, in fact he was the last person thru the gates!

We caught up on the happenings of the last month and tried to figure out our game plan for the next two weeks. We ended the flight with some battling of Mad Skills Motocross on our phones.

We hit Minneapolis at 5pm and after zigzagging thru St.Paul we found our rig and trailer just where we left it. Lemme tell you, I had a sliver of doubt that it may not be there. But not to worry, everything was there just waiting for us. One slight bobble was that another truck had backed into the front corner of the the Blue Ram and took the passenger headlight out of commission. They also did quite the number on the front fender making it impossible to open the passenger side door.

Thru that all, the trusty Cummins roared to life and within minutes we were on our way to Elk River to set up for the night. Once in Elk River we found a nice little Irish pub where we feasted on burgers and beer.
We then find out that ERX, the practice track we were expecting to go to on Thursday to dial in our suspension settings some more, was closed! With no other public track open on Thursday we decide to drive to Fargo. Only another 3 or so hours away.

We finally hit Fargo after some crazy fog, at around 2am. Next on our list is to find a place to plug in the trailer and get some heat going. After driving around for almost an hour we hit the jackpot behind a Bingo Hall. Which is where I'm typing this out at. We are waiting in the truck, while the trailer heats up so we can possibly get a few hours of sleep. It's almost 3am central time which means I've been up for 21hrs and have had a grand total of about 5hrs sleep in the past two days...the things we do to do the things we love. Haha.

Our 8am wake-up call came from a lady that works at the Bingo Hall kicking and screaming about us paying for the stolen electricity we used. She was about to call the towtruck, call the police, call Scotland Yard on us! After not allowing us to explain or reason with her Shawn and I both told her to send us the bill. You have our plate # lady, good luck with that.

By 9am we arrived at BRRP and realized we aren't actually allowed to park until 2pm as the Pro parking was taking place beforehand.

So it was nap time! Around 2-3pm we finally rolled into our proper spot in the pits and started to set-up. We worked on the sled for about an hour, changing the position of the rear torsion springs and swapping rear shocks w a new setting. After looking over the sled properly and going over my checklist we decided a good meal was in order.

Enter Morty's Bar & Grill. I'm still not used to seeing kids playing inside of a pub, let alone playing Buck Hunter for what seemed like hours. It was pretty cool. What wasn't cool is that my beloved Canucks lost....again. Only this time it was to the worst team in the League. Oh Columbus fans you must have been proud of your Blue Jackets.

The food was ok, not the greatest but what can you expect in a town of 1400 people? Glyndon is literally one stop light along the highway and adios! I was burnt out right around 9pm an wanted to head back to get some sleep, Shawn had other ideas, however as Team Manager I won the conversation and we headed back to BRRP-home of the Fargo National. Which is another thing, Fargo is two towns away and in a different state but gets the recognition of hosting the National. Call me crazy but that makes little sense.

Shawn had first shift to fill the generator with fuel in the middle of the night while I took over the next two. Pleasantly warm tnite despite it being 15f outside.

Kris' Blog #18

Shakopee Regional

Contents of this blog are no longer available, please bare with me as I recount the events from this day.

Kris' Blog #17

Shakopee Day One/Two

Contents were deleted, please bare with me as I try to recall all of the events of this weekend.

Kris' Blog #16

We had a good day of testing at ERX Motorsports Park in Elk River. The new shocks evoke some confidence in Shawn which is always a good thing. And it didn't take me long to get the settings I was after. When you know how to set-up Fox Floats, tuning them in is quite a simple process.

The facility at ERX is pretty nice, the whole track and operations are run smoothly and we will definitely be coming back for more practice days.
From Elk River we hit the highway south towards Shakopee. We also stop at the first Menard's we see. It's becoming a bit of a ritual to stop at Menard's, usually because we need something, but more often because every store is EXACTLY the same. It's like I've been to everyone of them!

We stroll into Shakopee and decide to find some grub, after driving the length of town we finally come across an Applebee's. Even better is the trucks of Levi Lavallee and Team Schuering also in the parking lot.
3hrs later, one failed pick-up attempt and a few Jameson Gingers later and I'm ready for bed. We were going to rough it and spend the night in the trailer but we found a sweet deal at a Super 8 so we decide not to freeze our asses off and sleep in beds for the weekend. Late night, early morning....smells like SNOCROSS to me!!!

Kris' Blog #15

This entry begins with New Years. Bare with me, but it's how this will start.

New Year's Eve I decided to take two special ladies out on the town. Of course waiting is the name of the game with women. So first it was Sarah I was waiting for, then after a good few hours it was off to Nicole's and wait some more. 
Quick beverage at Nicole's moms house and off we go downtown. We meet up with Dan and Jessica, apparently seeing them out is rarer than the next apocalypse. Had a quick drink and headed to our final destination for 2012. 

Dancing, drinking, and of course, being responsible with a quick phone call to RedNose brought 2013 in with style! We finally said our goodbyes and headed home. Finally getting to sleep around 4am I knew I had to drive to Vancouver the next day. Hoping it wouldn't be too bad of a day I settled in for some sleep. Maybe Nicole would make me breakfast in the morning?

Well so much for morning. Woke up at the crack of noon and moved slowly for my first hour of conscienceness.
Finally we decide to get the day on the road and grab my nephews from their grammas house. Then off to Denny's for a big ole American sized breakfast. Thank god for all day breakfasts!
After waiting an abnormally long time we ate and headed back for home. Once there I said my goodbyes and set out to my house for a shower and to pack for the trip to Shakopee.

By the time I swapped trucks(borrowed my dads truck to make the trip over the Coquihalla) and packed what I could remember to, I hit the road around 7pm. Not usually a big deal, but wintertime brings snow, ice, and lots of fog thru the winter pass.
It was slow going as I try my hardest to make sure I arrive safely and after a quick stop in Merritt to diagnose a power steering issue I was back on track.

Coming down the SnowShed Hill I encounter a plethora of police vehicles. 2-car accident at the top of the hill has littered it's way down to about the midway point to the SnowShed. With 2 vehicles behind me I keep a look out in my rear view mirror as I try to slow down as quickly as I can. Sliding and slipping down the hill I finally reach the accident at a controlled speed. All three of us pass the accident scene and continue towards the lower mainland. 

By 11:30 I finally pull into the Penthouse Quayside. Residence of my lovely mother and step-dad. Once inside I find fresh sushi and a cold drink awaiting. Mom and I make small talk for an hour and we finally decide that a 4am wake up would suffice for my 7am flight out of YVR.
By 1am I settle into bed and start sawing logs. But as they say, "You can't sleep your life away!" I woke up before my alarm was to go off. I must be excited to get back East again and test our metal against the fastest guys around.

One quick stop at Tim Hortons and YVR it is. Smooth check in and an hour wait at the terminal sees me trying to get back into my Bob Dylan biography after finishing an Emilia Earhart biography.
Finally we board and hit the airwaves to Pearson International. Toronto here I come!

So I had fully anticipated reading the entire time on the plane but my body had other thoughts. As soon as I was strapped into my seat I passed out. I didn't even stay awake to witness the take-off which is my favorite part about flying! I slept straight thru to Toronto and was quite weary-eyed as we left the plane and headed to US Customs.
Again after having to explain what snowmobile racing is, and why I'd fly across the country to partake in it, the customs agents let me thru. Now to find my Terminal for the connecting flight to the Twin Cities.

Now these particular Air Canada terminals aren't even on the airport maps, infact they are more like storage containers connected together. Down flights of stairs, thru small corridors, and segregated by glass walls from the other airport patrons I finally see the Bird that's gonna take me to Minneapolis. 

Just as we start boarding the plane Shawn shows up out of breathe. He ran from his connecting flight, got pushed thru security and customs to barely make this flight. This one is a small CRJ200 Bombardier jet that will take us the remaining 2hrs to our destination.

Speaking of which, our truck is unavailable for pickup tnite. Which was my plan. I was hoping to get Shawn a solid day of practice but we may have to settle for half of one. I want to dial in our new Fox Racing Shox for the race sled.

Tnite we find a hotel and make our way to Lino Lakes in the morning to pick up the rig. I'll update you again tnite if there's something newsworthy! Happy New Years friends!!!