Our weekend

Brandon and I spent our weekend near Goldendale, Washington at a 24 hour motorcycle race for Brandon's youngest brother Luke. He has been doing some serious races lately, and this was the most recent to add to his resume.

We woke up early Saturday morning to drive to Centerville - which is about 5 miles from Goldendale, Wa. The race was at Starvation Ridge, about 5 miles from Centerville. It was such a beautiful place, and it was like a Mecca when you broke over the ridge and saw the hundreds of campers, trailers, vans, and motor-homes parked along side pit row. It was amazing. We got to the race about 30 min. before the start, and Luke was racing first on his team of 6. He was so pumped, so excited, so happy! He was in his element.

The start of the race is exhilarating, so many people, all watching and waiting. There are several different of classes of racers, and Luke was racing in the beginner class this time. So you wait for your class to be called and you all lay your bikes down in a line. When the green flag flies you race to your bike, stand it up, start it, and you are off! I have never seen anything like it, and it was pretty crazy.

After Luke took off Brandon and I walked up on a hill to see if we could find Luke. The race track is 22 miles long, out in a CRP field, so we didn't find him easily. We finally decided to stand near this little pond, where the racers have to slow down and make a sharp turn, and what do you know, we saw him! I didn't realize it was him in time to take a picture, but he saw us and revved his motor so we knew he saw us.

He didn't have to race again until dusk, so we spent some time cheering his teammates on, checking times, munching goodies and visiting in the camper. It was so great for us to spend this time with him, and I know it meant a lot to him for us to be there for him. He is so knowledgeable about this stuff, and he is good.

A 24 hour race means the team races for a full 24 hours, some teams have as many as 7 members, some only have one! Luke's had 6, so he raced once in the daylight, once at dusk, and then plenty in the dark, as he had great lights on his bike and helmet. So I felt like a new mom trying to sleep in the camper knowing Luke was out racing in the dark! He would come in and try to get a bit of rest, and then go back out. Each time I would wake and wish him good luck. I can't believe people do this, but I guess it must be fun for them. He raced 5 times in the middle of the night (each time doing one lap= 22 miles, about one hour or so). He was tired in the morning! We hung around until the end of the race, they earned 2nd place!

Well, I'm sure this is a weird post, but it was just so absurd that people do this, but we loved every second of it. It was important to us, and to Luke. He did great-