On Tuesday the 6th. we left Seal Bay and drove over the Malahat highway to Victoria, stopping in Duncan to pick up some groceries. Once again we were struck with a hard hit of sticker shock!
We arrived at Western Speedway in the afternoon, and tried to call the track owner, but with the lousy cell coverage at the track, and the fact that I kept getting his voicemail when I did get a signal, it was later that we finally heard from him. Turned out the reason I only got voicemail was that he was at his father's funeral! I felt bad to take his attention away just for us. We spent the night in the parking lot of the track, and next morning both the track owner and his manager, Harold, showed up. We sorted out arrangements for our Saturday gig, and they asked if we would display the car for that evenings hornet car races. We agreed, and said we'd even take the car onto the track and run a lap or two. They were really appreciative, and offered us a car to use while we were in town, so Marlene could visit her Mom.
That evening we got the car out and parked it by the ticket booth. People showed some interest, but not a lot. Our friends Ron and Cheryl arrived, and we had a nice visit with them, and shared a few beers. Then it was time to take the car onto the track. We had some help pushing into the track, and then I fired up the car. I made some fire, and started a fast pass, then the car died. No power... again. I was pissed. I knew it was probably a blown master fuse, but I didn't know what caused it. Anyway, I got to work trying to figure things out, and people were now leaving the track, and NOW they were interested in the car! Nobody seemed to realize that we had a problem, they were just wowed by the noise and fire we'd made. Some people who lived nearby came into the lot all white faced and worried about what all the noise was, and Ron calmed them down, explaining that it was a jet car.
Next morning I was up at 6 am working on the car before the day got too hot. I traced every wire in the car, and found what I believed to be the problem. After a few hours of working, it was time to clean up and go into town to visit Marlene's mom. We had a nice picnic in the park, and made arrangements for Marlene to visit again the next day.
Friday morning I drove Marlene into Victoria again to her Mom's place, and there she met her friend Nancy and the three of them went to a concert in the park. Apparently the music wasn't very good. Later, Nancy's husband Harley picked up Marlene and Nancy and they came out to the track. We had a nice little visit, and Nancy and Harley said they would try to come next night to see us perform.
Saturday we cleaned and prepped the car, and relaxed until it was time to move the trailer onto the track. Once set up there we relaxed and waited until show time. There was a good crowd in the stands, and the drivers and crews we met were nice folks. The announcer was the most professional one we've met yet, and he kept hyping up the crowd about our upcoming performance. They even played the US national anthem for us!
I made a run at half time, and then we waited through the racing, until it was over, then we pushed the car into position for our burn. The car ran well, the burn looked great, and I got to run a few laps. Then the fire crew tried to put the fire out using fire extinguishers. I'd warned them that wouldn't work, but they knew better. Well, they couldn't put the fire out. After using up 17 extinguishers, and trying the garden hose, they finally called the fire department who sent out two trucks which put out the blaze in about 5 minutes. All this time they wouldn't let the fans come down for autographs, so finally I took a box of hero cards and went up into the stands. I signed lots of cards, and was pleased to see Nancy and Harley had come, along with their son and his girlfriend. The fans had lots of nice things to say to us about the show, and we were really happy.
The folks at Western Speedway were great, and very professional. They were also the first track to tell us to get whatever we want from the concessions, on the house. We packed up and moved the rig near the parking lot exit for a quick getaway in the morning.
Sunday morning we were woken up by the sounds of arguing, coming from the vendors lining up for the flea market they hold at the track every Sunday. Since we were awake, we packed up and hit the road, arriving at the ferry terminal just in time to roll onto the 9 am ferry. Disembarking from the ferry at Tsawassen, we headed east towards the mountains and our first overnight stop in Kamloops. We were shocked to see the price of gas in Vancouver was even higher than Victoria, at $1.19 a litre.
Once we hit Merritt, we ran into extremely high crosswinds. I had to work to keep us on the road. Marlene didn't realize just how windy it was until she got out at the gas station in Merritt and just about blew away. Even the semis were having trouble with the wind, which lasted all the way to Kamloops. At the Kamloops Walmart we found a quiet corner and relaxed for the evening. The wind died down and we thought we would have a calm drive through the rest of the mountains, but we were wrong. About an hour after leaving Kamloops we hit the wind again, and it lasted all the way to our next stop in Airdrie, AB. It was howling mercilessly all night, and again in the morning as we drove the final stretch to Edmonton. We stopped to dump our tanks at Wetaskiwin and watched a fellow bravely climbing on his motor home roof to tape down a vent cover that had broken loose in the winds. We couldn't even keep our fridge lit, the wind was so intense! As we approached Edmonton the wind eased, but it started pouring rain, and continued to rain for our whole 2 weeks in town!
We had a nice visit with Miranda, and her boyfriend Colin. Marlene spent some time with her sister and we also got to visit with Danielle and her family and my nephew Brian. We had lined up a last minute job at Castrol Raceway, so we got to put on a show for family and friends on the dirt track there. The show went well, but we were not impressed with the operation of the track. Too much down time, and the fans got bored.
All in all we enjoyed our break in Edmonton, but now it's time to hit the road again. We have two gigs in Idaho next. We leave tomorrow early, and hope to cross the border on Wednesday morning. Stay tuned...
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