Motor School 2009

Oh the joys of attending Motor School - once again! I'll give Chris this...he is one dedicated fellow! From May 19-31st he belonged to the motor squad. Seriously - his life was entirely theirs. Granted, he came home at night, but they had worn him out so much that he pretty much passed out each night by 9. So-as is tradition- the girls and I headed south to Cedar.

We got back the day he had his big obstacle course test. Many cones + motorcycle + driver= a truly stressed out situation! He did great. It did take 2 tries (they are allowed 3 tries) but he did amazing on the one he passed.

Victoria - bless the poor dear! She tried so hard to video the event, but she was soooo wobbly! We were getting seasickness watching the video over again...so needless to say...we will not have footage to share with all of you.

Even the instructors were impressed with his time. Yeah, I would love to share that with you...but I have no idea what that time was since they do not disclose that information! (FYI: HE rocked that course....and yes, that is sexy to me!)

Here is the remaining class members after week 1.

Another tradition they have is a dinner the last night of school at the Timbermine Restaurant in Ogden. The little wivies (spouses) wait there and watch as they all ride in on their white stallions.

Right after this smiley picture...he had to practice the brake and escape move since someone dropped their bike! Nice huh? It caused a little pileup. I do have pictures...but I do not want to embarrass the causer - they should have this mastered at this point in the game!

I love this picture.

Cute guy + very nice smile + smokin' hot uniform complete with gear=yummy!

Look how happy we can be. When we can have some time with each other. Babysitters are truly wonderful people!

Now we wait and see if he gets called to join the elite group of motors...again. (Like I said - he is a determined guy.)

Las Vegas: The Fun Never Ends!

Hello sin city!

This weekend marked our annual exodus to Vegas.

Not the Vegas you know? Well, this is about an hour and a half west of Vegas, actually. This is where MY story begins. (But I will get back to me in a moment.) Chris participated in the Baker to Vegas Relay Run. That is, Baker CA to Las Vegas, NV it covers 120 miles. The stretch is divided into 18 legs. Chris had his leg in Pahrump again and it was 5.3 miles long. (Enough to kill me, if I had tried to run it!)

It really was beautiful, in a totally desolate kinda way! Let me introduce Angie. She is pictured below with me. We were driving partners. You see, the team had a bunch of last minute cancellations & they apparently needed runners and drivers - so that is how we both came to be a part of this. (Chris was also supposed to be an alternate but was assigned to run.) So we both got roped into more than we bargained for - Angie & I had a "shift" of about 12 hours. That was the time leaving the hotel to the time we returned. Normally - if I go, I am there for support....as in "Go babe! You are doing AWESOME! WAHOO!!!" While I sit comfy in the back of the support van for about a half hour or so.

After a short discussion about my ability to get car sick with the slightest things, I was designated official DRIVER. YES!! (I really like to be in control.) Angie was labeled the "HELPER." She was in charge of writing down individual stats, manning the short-wave radio and occasionally a water passer. (The writing/reading thing would have made me hurling in no time.) Now, my job was to do the following: drive the van behind each runner - not too close, but pretty darn close, keep an eye out for upcoming runners, straddle the white line on the far right, come up on the side of the runner periodically to check on them so they could get water etc. and while doing all that - make sure I didn't run into any other vehicles or people! It is harder than you think - trying to maintain the steady speed of approx. 6 miles per hour with a runner on the side of you, making sure you keep pace and do not drift away or into them so they can hand water bottles in and out effortlessly - is truly a learned skill. Fortunately, I did AWESOME!! I didn't even run into any reflector poles on the side of the road. (Unfortunately, the driver before me did! She totally scratched the crap off the right side of the van!)

This is a video of Chris running. You can hear that stinking radio going off - can you imagine that for 7 hours in the van? All the support vehicles had the radios so they could communicate where runners where and when it was safe to pass, you know - in case your runner passed theirs. We had about a half hour of quiet - until we realized that Angie was sitting on it & that the batteries had died!

I know that I probably broke a handful of traffic laws to get that video - but I knew how much it would mean to all of you! Did I mention that I had 2 other cops in the car with me?? He, he...

And this picture was actually in the Deseret newspaper in Salt Lake!! He had just finished up his leg. Pictured from left to right: Police Chief Chris Burbank, my Chris and Steve Winters heading into his leg.

In case you were wondering...the team placed 10th in their division again. (The team picture will be posted once I get one.) The girls were spending the weekend with my parents and pretty much, besides the race...we barely left the hotel! We didn't even go anywhere on the strip. You know what? I was REALLY ok with that.