After rain washed away hopes of racing at Husets Speedway near Brandon, S.D., I hitched a ride back to Minneapolis, Minn. and departed for my hometown via Denver International Airport. Upon arriving at the Garden City Regional Airport, I was greeted with the staple of the area; fierce wind. After a few years, you grow accustomed to always seeing a flag straight in the air.
My mom picked me up and drove us home. The house is a place that we have lived for over 20 years. Thanks to my dear mother, the place has been completely remodeled and looks nothing like the faux wood paneling and shag carpeting heaven that I grew up in. You have to hand it to Mom, she got things the way she wanted and spared no expense (much to Dad’s chargin.)
My folks have always been a big part of my life. Growing up was fair as my sister and I could cause more trouble than you would ever believe. Looking back on it now, I’m surprised our rearends didn’t meet the business end of my Dad’s boot more often. There were times of running away in stores, vicious fights and the time my sister sent me sailing into the kitchen all, cracking the dry wall (the true story of what happened that fateful day in ’06 may never be known as neither side can seem to agree on the series of events.) Either way, my parents were always there for both my sister and I and continue to be.
My first day at home was spent in the yard with a lawn mower and a weed whacker. Growing up, I hated mowing the yard until about the age of 16 then it became a bit of a religious ritual for me. Often, my Dad could brag that he had the best kept lawn and cleanest 18-wheeler. Trucking has been a huge part of my family on both sides as it seems everyone in my family has driven a truck at some point or another. In 2001, my parents were given the opportunity to form their own trucking company and that’s when the work began! Each weekend, there was always a list of things to fix or a truck or two to wash. I became very skilled and scrubbing layers of bugs of the chrome bumpers of a Peterbilt in nearly any set of weather conditions. As time has moved on and the kids have left the house, the local truck wash isn’t as busy as it no longer see’s the near mirror finish of Dad’s truck and trailer. With no more free labor, the old man takes the rig to Blue Beacon truck washes and complains that the crew of five grown men can’t match the quality of a wash job that he and I pulled off so many times.
Tuesday was a day for heading to the local gym for a workout, meeting with a few friends and a doctor’s appointment. I still never have gotten used to the forms you have to fill out for the insurance. With a clean bill of health and refilled prescription for acne in hand, I took off for Western Motor. The GM-Honda dealership is where I spent many summers in my late teens changing oil, washing and towing cars and, it seemed, getting in and out of trouble. My first summer was in ’06 when my next door neighbor, Wade Crawford, helped me out of a jam. I was working on a lawn crew for the city recreation department and hated the job. I went to talk to Wade one night and he told me to come down and fill out an application. Within a few days, Wade found a place for me working in the Tire Shop. The shop was an old service station where the Dealership kept their supply of tires and some fuel pumps. I was working with a two twenty something guys and was learning a lot. The first two weeks went smooth except for the day that I was backing a brand new Buick car around a pole and scraped the entire driver’s side. Without realizing it, I had caused so much damage that you couldn’t even open the driver’s door! Needless to say it was a long walk of shame to Wade’s office two blocks away.
During the rest of my time there which included all of my senior year and stints during summer and winter breaks, I learned a great deal about working in the real world. I learned that hard work was the biggest means to achieving things in life. It also taught me that life is a team sport. It takes a great team of people to satisfy a customer and to keep them coming back. I have several great stories from my time there but that could fill 10 blog entries. I will close this portion by saying that I am extremely grateful for the lessons I learned there and the people I got to work with. I tend to make fun of Wade quite a bit (I have a pretty good impression of him) but I do respect that guy quite a bit. He keeps a large group of people entertained and working well together which is the mark of an extremely gifted manager. Chris, Jimmy, Carrie and everyone else down there are also a great deal of fun and great people all around.
Tuesday night was exciting as Maegan arrived in Kansas. After getting lost in a small town she made it over to the house and we spent the next two days by relaxing and going to look at different things around town. It was pretty cool to be able to take someone around town and show them where you grew up and why it had such a profound effect on you. By the way, we also saw, “Cars 2,” which was decent but not as good as the original. We went to see it after we were turned away at the Holcomb pool because it was, “contaminated.” (YIKES!)
From there it was on to Dodge City Raceway Park and an exciting weekend of racing. The heat bothered some but made me feel right at home. The humidity is low in Kansas so it feels like stepping into a large, 360 degree hair dryer. With the wind and heat, I got a good tan and some aide when putting up the banners. The racing action was great both nights as Dollansky and Sides were the victors. Both are some of the nicest guys in the pits so it’s great to see them doing so well this season.
On Sunday, Maegan and I took off for Oklahoma City. She lives and goes to school in Norman so we stayed the night there and got to hang out some more before she took me to the airport on Independence Day. Air travel has it perks and downfalls. My downfall on the fourth was that I was delayed in Chicago for a total of two and half hours due to weather. However, on the plane to Charlotte, we did catch the Chicago fireworks from 10,000 feet in the air. Now that was COOL!
P.S. check out this awesome video that some of my friends with Dial House produced about Donny Schatz.
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