Here is my journal from NATS X.
Wednesday 9/5/2007
I decided to fly to Nationals this year. Work constraints made it not too possible to dedicate 2000 miles of driving for me - i needed to not be exhausted this week. So anyway, I got to KC about 11pm. ZMann was my chauffeur and picked me up on time. He almost left me at the airport though, becuase i was so taken back at how good he looked and almost couldn't hold myself back. :lol: We went right to the casinos from the airport, and met up w/ NatsForever there. I lost about $250 or so while there. We all stopped gambling and went to an early am IHOP breakfast and sat around an chatted for a while….and got to bed at about 5am.
Thursday 9/6/2007
Got up at about 10:00am, went for a short jog (and by short, i mean ZMann), then to the hotel to see if any trucks had arrived. Nope, but Lisa had made it in her sweet rental Pacifica. ZMann needed a haircut so Lisa and I went to a lunch buffet so i could demonstrate how good I am at eating. 8-10 buffet trips later I was done eating. Dropped Lisa back off at the hotel and then went golfing w/ a Jim Sloan, Zmann, Gabe Estrada and Aaron Klinger. The first notable event of golfing was me breaking my driver hitting a ball – head went about 100yds, it was histerical. Then a couple holes later….
So after golfing we went back to the hotel where we were greeted by some sytys & owners. Sat around and bs'd for a while, whilst more trucks and owners rolled in. We made the ever-important trip to Chipolte for late night burrito dinner at about 9:30pm (they close at 10pm unfortunately)....where i managed to eat my 5lb burrito in roughly 1 minute and 45 seconds.
After chipolte, Smaug Danielle and MattW rolled in....well Smaug and I had talked about going to the casinos at some point, so we decided Thursday night is as good as any. Smaug, Danielle, Me, and BlackKnight went to Ameristar and got some SWEET lanyards. BlackKnight showed off his skilled prowess of a blackjack table. Let me assure everyone here....the "Black" in "Black Knight" is NOT short for blackjack. The guy was a busting machine and effortlessly ate some face cards for me so that i wouldn't bust out myself. I was very gracious, and thanked him w/ some friendly ribbing in exchange.
This time I came out $50 ahead, plus got my sweet lanyard. Drove back to the hotel at like 3am…got out of the car but decided we were hungry. This time went to Denny’s late night and ate some breakfast and I was even treated to their infamous Gravel Milkshake. This is a very rare menu item, only celebrities and millionaires get to have them. So we got home and i was nestled in bed at about 5:30am i think.
Friday 9/7/2007
Woke up at about 8:30 and headed outside to help w/ registration. Registered people (even took pics of the registrants - although we didn't get EVERYONE some people snuck away). Then we had a cookout. Hey Ken...LOOK:
What isn't missing in this picture? :rotf:
Part of what we all come to nats for...seeing rows of trucks:
Sometime you just have so sit and stare at a truck...to take it all in:
This is Loeryders immaculate truck. It even RAN this year!
The day turned to night, and most everyone had now arrived....so late night bullshitting session was in full effect. We went to a different IHOP this time for the late night breakfast, with a bigger crew of people. Me, Zmann, BlackKnight, Lisa, NatsForever, Dabney. I swear someone else or 2 were there, but can't remember. But Zach was lucky enough to find his future ex-girlfriend there. I'm not going to share his trade secrets of women seduction though...he has the most perfect lines to melt a girls heart - and we all got to witness him in action! This night i got to bed earlier than usual...about 4am.
Saturday 9/8/2007
Got outside by 9:00am to try to get Show n shine going and i also setup a small table of goods that i'm making/selling. I even rolled out some never seen products there and sold them at extreme low prices. All you slackers not coming to NATS are paying full price
Lined em up to head for the track:
Rolling down the highway 25 deep is always fun. BlackKnight and his brother even brought some bikes to have some fun w/ since his truck wasn't ready.
Once at the track, i spent about 30mins of everyone's time arranging the trucks into the NATS X logo...or attempting to anyway. Coulda used a slightly more aerial view, but you get the idea. Here's the group shot of all attendees (minus a few taking pics in the stands)
I'd like to thank everyone that let me drive their trucks and rentals down the track! I had fun beating on some cars. I even took a Syclone down the track in the grand prix. I'm sure the owner was less than happy to see it kick sideways at 100mph at the end of the track when i hammered the brakes....but in Non-Jeremy Duncan fashion i straightened it out quickly and no harm was done to the truck :lol:
ZMann and I even did a exhibition Grand Prix race where i was in a red/red/red/red/red ty (thanks minnesooootans) and we managed to have the closest slip for slip race i've ever been in. Thankfully i won....unfortunately Vinny is too old and technically challenged to actually hit the RECORD button when he interviewed us prior to the race. We would have had some very funny footage had Vinny not had a geriatric moment.
So racing finished and everyone piled into Gates to stuff their faces. Afterwards a big group of us went bowling where we ran a muck and had some very interesting occurances best left at the bowling alley. :lol:
Then of course Sunday's brunch is always a somber goodbye to everyone. The best parts of this being Primer Gear's George Blake once again graciously donating a transmission to raffle off...and Lisa MsMyclone Welch not only just making an appearance at NATS but giving everyone a very nice thank you. Her showing up was thanks enough for me - i had a great time seeing everyone get to interact with her, and don't think i once saw her w/o a smile on her face, and a small group of people with her.
Thanks to everyone that helped plan this event! Thanks to everyone that showed up! Thanks to those that registered even if you couldn't make the event. And to the rest of you... :fist: ....and you better make it to NATS XI.
Wednesday 9/5/2007
I decided to fly to Nationals this year. Work constraints made it not too possible to dedicate 2000 miles of driving for me - i needed to not be exhausted this week. So anyway, I got to KC about 11pm. ZMann was my chauffeur and picked me up on time. He almost left me at the airport though, becuase i was so taken back at how good he looked and almost couldn't hold myself back. :lol: We went right to the casinos from the airport, and met up w/ NatsForever there. I lost about $250 or so while there. We all stopped gambling and went to an early am IHOP breakfast and sat around an chatted for a while….and got to bed at about 5am.
Thursday 9/6/2007
Got up at about 10:00am, went for a short jog (and by short, i mean ZMann), then to the hotel to see if any trucks had arrived. Nope, but Lisa had made it in her sweet rental Pacifica. ZMann needed a haircut so Lisa and I went to a lunch buffet so i could demonstrate how good I am at eating. 8-10 buffet trips later I was done eating. Dropped Lisa back off at the hotel and then went golfing w/ a Jim Sloan, Zmann, Gabe Estrada and Aaron Klinger. The first notable event of golfing was me breaking my driver hitting a ball – head went about 100yds, it was histerical. Then a couple holes later….
So after golfing we went back to the hotel where we were greeted by some sytys & owners. Sat around and bs'd for a while, whilst more trucks and owners rolled in. We made the ever-important trip to Chipolte for late night burrito dinner at about 9:30pm (they close at 10pm unfortunately)....where i managed to eat my 5lb burrito in roughly 1 minute and 45 seconds.
After chipolte, Smaug Danielle and MattW rolled in....well Smaug and I had talked about going to the casinos at some point, so we decided Thursday night is as good as any. Smaug, Danielle, Me, and BlackKnight went to Ameristar and got some SWEET lanyards. BlackKnight showed off his skilled prowess of a blackjack table. Let me assure everyone here....the "Black" in "Black Knight" is NOT short for blackjack. The guy was a busting machine and effortlessly ate some face cards for me so that i wouldn't bust out myself. I was very gracious, and thanked him w/ some friendly ribbing in exchange.
This time I came out $50 ahead, plus got my sweet lanyard. Drove back to the hotel at like 3am…got out of the car but decided we were hungry. This time went to Denny’s late night and ate some breakfast and I was even treated to their infamous Gravel Milkshake. This is a very rare menu item, only celebrities and millionaires get to have them. So we got home and i was nestled in bed at about 5:30am i think.
Friday 9/7/2007
Woke up at about 8:30 and headed outside to help w/ registration. Registered people (even took pics of the registrants - although we didn't get EVERYONE some people snuck away). Then we had a cookout. Hey Ken...LOOK:
What isn't missing in this picture? :rotf:
Part of what we all come to nats for...seeing rows of trucks:
Sometime you just have so sit and stare at a truck...to take it all in:
This is Loeryders immaculate truck. It even RAN this year!
The day turned to night, and most everyone had now arrived....so late night bullshitting session was in full effect. We went to a different IHOP this time for the late night breakfast, with a bigger crew of people. Me, Zmann, BlackKnight, Lisa, NatsForever, Dabney. I swear someone else or 2 were there, but can't remember. But Zach was lucky enough to find his future ex-girlfriend there. I'm not going to share his trade secrets of women seduction though...he has the most perfect lines to melt a girls heart - and we all got to witness him in action! This night i got to bed earlier than usual...about 4am.
Saturday 9/8/2007
Got outside by 9:00am to try to get Show n shine going and i also setup a small table of goods that i'm making/selling. I even rolled out some never seen products there and sold them at extreme low prices. All you slackers not coming to NATS are paying full price
Lined em up to head for the track:
Rolling down the highway 25 deep is always fun. BlackKnight and his brother even brought some bikes to have some fun w/ since his truck wasn't ready.
Once at the track, i spent about 30mins of everyone's time arranging the trucks into the NATS X logo...or attempting to anyway. Coulda used a slightly more aerial view, but you get the idea. Here's the group shot of all attendees (minus a few taking pics in the stands)
I'd like to thank everyone that let me drive their trucks and rentals down the track! I had fun beating on some cars. I even took a Syclone down the track in the grand prix. I'm sure the owner was less than happy to see it kick sideways at 100mph at the end of the track when i hammered the brakes....but in Non-Jeremy Duncan fashion i straightened it out quickly and no harm was done to the truck :lol:
ZMann and I even did a exhibition Grand Prix race where i was in a red/red/red/red/red ty (thanks minnesooootans) and we managed to have the closest slip for slip race i've ever been in. Thankfully i won....unfortunately Vinny is too old and technically challenged to actually hit the RECORD button when he interviewed us prior to the race. We would have had some very funny footage had Vinny not had a geriatric moment.
So racing finished and everyone piled into Gates to stuff their faces. Afterwards a big group of us went bowling where we ran a muck and had some very interesting occurances best left at the bowling alley. :lol:
Then of course Sunday's brunch is always a somber goodbye to everyone. The best parts of this being Primer Gear's George Blake once again graciously donating a transmission to raffle off...and Lisa MsMyclone Welch not only just making an appearance at NATS but giving everyone a very nice thank you. Her showing up was thanks enough for me - i had a great time seeing everyone get to interact with her, and don't think i once saw her w/o a smile on her face, and a small group of people with her.
Thanks to everyone that helped plan this event! Thanks to everyone that showed up! Thanks to those that registered even if you couldn't make the event. And to the rest of you... :fist: ....and you better make it to NATS XI.
