jmaxwell
05-24-2010, 06:44 PM
Fun in the Mud, a 24 Hour D38 Adventure.
Postby jasonpatino on Thu Mar 11, 2010 3:52 pm
Saturday night, March 7th, 10:00 PM. I pull up to my buddy’s house in the Salton City. I was Looking forward to sleeping in a warm bed and getting a hot shower in the morning. Much better then my usual freezing cold tent behind Mike Maxwell’s trailer in the wet desert and killing the porta-potty with wet wipes in the morning. I thought I would have an edge for the race with all the good sleep I got. I had one thing on my mind #25V Phil Apostolakos. He took 1st to my second in the last race and I wasn’t going to let that happen again. (I am going to beat you Phil!). I got up early and made it to registration. It was freezing cold and raining at base camp, exactly what I expected after watching the thunder to the south the night before. I was wearing sandals as customary for me and cold weather. Something about living in Michigan for 4 years that makes you immune to the cold. I had butterflies in my stomach because I know what it is like to ride in this desert when it is wet and I was not looking forward to it. I made the commitment to do this race though, so that was that, I’m dong it!
I received my customary greeting from the Maxwell family of all smiles and happiness. It’s hard to believe I met this family two races ago and they already treat me as there friend and part of their inner circle. How great is D38? Mike gave me some lessons on how to silicone a bike before a mud race and Josh helped me unload my truck. After I paid my pit crew bounty of a cooler full of Coors Light, Mike rolled to the first check point to be ready for Josh and I with new goggles, gloves and gas. Josh and I got ready for the race.
Riding to the starting line I forged a few small rivers and navigated my way through some slick mud patches, It became very clear to me that the next 60 miles was going to be a torture session. I prepped my Go Cam and nervously waited for my start. Sign goes down and I stall my bike three times… Tarantula Hawk (My bikes name) doesn’t like the cold.
Starting line.jpg
three stalls....
I’m finally off and going. I fan out wide to the left to avoid the ruts created by the other bikes. Looking for high ground I’m feeling pretty good for my skill level. Feeling in control centering my balance on Tarantula Hawk I slide down a hill sideways while moving forward and remind myself this is going to be day of controlled sliding.
I forge a few more small rivers before I come upon a large deep river with about 8 downed riders. I remember Josh Maxwell telling his dad something about how he was going to be on his own on this race without his dads help. I remember saying don’t worry Josh, you know I’ll always be right behind you. This was a joke because Josh is so fast and I am so slow that I will naturally always be behind him. Little did I know that he would actually need my help this race. I scanned the downed riders making sure Josh wasn’t one of them. I noticed Josh’s bike upside down half in the water and I immediately went into rescue mode, my old firefighting training kicked in.
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Let's see is Josh in there? Oh ****, that's josh's bike...
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Getting to the wreck!
I jumped into the river and made it to josh where he very calmly told me "My leg is broken".
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"I've got a broken leg" he says calmly to me...
At that moment, my race had ended. I told him to hang tight, that I would go get some help and be right back. Cody, Briana and a few other riders were with him at the time. I swam back through the river jumped on my bike and headed back to start. I was in about fourth gear when I realized those crazy guys that ride the expert quads should be hauling butt in my direction any time now. I thought about how unsafe it was for me to be riding this direction with the kind of visibility we had that day. Luckily I saw a white truck and decided to utilize them in the rescue mission before I went any farther. The white truck was quick to respond. They made it back to start and within about 30 minutes help had arrived. They even loaded Josh’s bike and took it back to camp for us. Thanks guys!!!
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White truck helpers, thanks guys!
We took a plastic poncho and made a tent for Josh, where I sat with him and tried to warm his body by rubbing his hands and arms. The kid only weighs 80lbs (Okay, really 130 but I like to tease him…) and he is sitting in a puddle of water with severed Femur. This is one tough kid. After I evaluated Joshes injuries using the PQRST method (Provoking, Quality, Radiation, Severity, Timing) I was sure he was just dealing with a leg brake and nothing more serious. Cody's dad gave him his work phone for the ride so Josh got to call his dad and tell him he was okay. Not sure that phone is going to work very well after we turned it into a ball of mud.
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Dad, I'm Fine!!!!
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thumbs up from josh!
At this point we got settled and waited for the flat board to show up so we could transport. We talked about ways to take advantage of his current situation, talked about all the chores he wont have to do anymore, talked about the school work he would be able to focus on now that his schedule just opened up and talked about all the metal detectors he’ll be setting off in the future. The only time he showed pain was when we set his traction and moved him and his leg fell off the board, we won’t go there :evil: … After waiting on the mud for about an hour from the fall we were able to get Josh into a vehicle with some heat so that we could try to keep him warm.
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Getting warm in the Toyota.
We were trying to get a chopper to come pick him up so we could get him to the hospital but no one could get a clear answer on whether or not they would fly in this weather. It was finally decided that the Arctic Cat was going to transport Josh to Payne Road to meet up with an ambulance. After an hour and a half of waiting in the wet freezing cold desert we finally got Josh strapped into the arctic cat and moving toward his rescue pick up.
IN the arctic cat.jpg
Loading Josh in the Arctic Cat.
There where 4 bikes, one Toyota and two rescue vehicles in the caravan. The caravan went wide trying to find a way around the deep river that had raised a foot since the accident and find some high ground while the bikes stayed together for safety. Before we could even get going we had to pull another hydro locked rider starting his second lap out of the river
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Hydro locked rider
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Rescuing bikes from the river.
Then get Brianna’s bike started. Her KTM doesn’t like the cold either…
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Starting Briana's Bike.
Cody, Brianna and I navigated our way back through the course meeting up with the rescue caravan and rode with Josh back to Payne Road. When we got to the rescue receiving party we had an 80 foot by 4 foot river in the way with Josh’s dads Super Diesel submerged in the middle of it. I saw Josh’s dad on the other side and knew I needed to get to him to calm him down before he saw his son. I asked the firefighter on my side how deep the river was and he said it was to his knees… NOT! It was 4 feet deep but I didn’t know that till I got in the middle. Luckily, good ole Tarantula Hawk forged the river like any KTM 520 super tractor should.
Forging the river.jpg
forging the river wild! To the left we have the super diesel submarine, to the right we have mud, mud, and more mud....
I made it to Mike and gave him a brief update on everything that went down and what the plan was for getting him across the river.
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Briefing Mike on the situation.
Before you could blink an eye the rescue lead vehicle passed showing the transporting vehicle it could forge the river. Moments later Josh was across the river. I told the driver to stop the Cat and Mike went to his son and gave him a kiss on his forehead and said he loved him. Yes, my eyes are watering right now. If anyone has ever hung around Mike and Josh you know how much Mike loves his son, it’s amazing. Damn, stop making me cry Mike it makes it hard to type!
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Dads Kiss.
Now on to the next problem; Mike, in his mad rush to get to his son, decided to turn his super diesel into a submarine and hydro locked the engine. This super diesel was swimming with the fishes and we needed to get the truck out and Mike to the hospital. We could have had the BLM truck with the winch pull it out right then and there but the BLM Jerk Off said he couldn’t. It was against the rules… Really??? What Jerk off made that rule??? Probably one similar to the Jerk Off following the rule! Mike told me to go get my truck so we could pull his truck out, so with my new mission I tore off down the road looking for base camp. Usually I have perfect navigational sense of north, south, east, and west but today that was gone. I have limited knowledge of the surroundings so that made it worse. Luckily I ran into the rescue vehicle down the road that assured me I was going in the right direction to get back to base camp. The rain was coming down in large droplets. They stung my face like small rocks being thrown at me. I held up a hand to cover the open area of the front of my helmet as I held it down going 90mph in 6th gear, slowing down only to forge the rivers that where crossing the road. I finally made it back to camp.
Threw my helmet in the camper and grabbed my dog and girlfriend Ruby. Ruby had spoken with Mike and informed me that Mark was going over with another truck to help pull him out. I was able to talk to Mark before they left to confirm the plan, and then ran back to the trailer to get my truck. At this point I needed to make a choice, take 10 minutes to change into dry clothes or jump in the truck and get back to Mike. I chose the latter. I figured I’d be swimming in the water to hook the truck up anyways so why bother changing, plus, I had too much adrenaline in me to be that cold. Still padded, booted and muddy as hell, I jump into my nice clean truck, threw it into four wheel drive and tour out of camp. My cooler, spare riding gear and my bike ramp still in the bed. I won’t lie, this was fun. In fact I was having so much fun with my truck that when my left side hit a water puddle at 50mph I rocked an unintentional high speed 180 on Payne road. I realized I couldn’t correct the spin half way through so I went with it controlling the slide and keeping the truck from going into the irrigation canals. Remember the girlfriend Ruby? Well she was sure I did this on purpose and decided she should be wearing a seat belt shortly thereafter. I figured it would be best to let her think I was in control the whole time… Surprisingly no complaints about the near disastrous incident from the GF, I don’t know, marriage material???
Moments later I’m back at the seen of the super diesel submarine. I pull up next to the tow companies truck that Mike was in and I rolled my window down. Mike was soaked from the river and was now entering hypothermia trying to get warm in the truck. His teeth were chattering, his body was shivering and his brain was definitely not thinking straight. Geez Mike, what’s the point of all the extra padding if it doesn’t keep you warm?... The tow company informed me that there was an F250 on its way to hall the super diesel submarine out of the wash. With Mark there to supervise the truck rescue, my thoughts turned to getting Mike back with Josh. As if my mind was being read by someone in Mike’s truck there was unanimous decision for me to drive Mike to the hospital coming from all the people around him. At first Mike said no because he needed to get his truck out. Remember the part about him not thinking straight… So it took the lot of us yelling at him to make him understand the truck will be handled by Mark and the crew there and he needs to get his *** in my truck to get him to the hospital. Reason finally caught up to his shivering brain and he jumped in my truck. Sitting three across in the front seat with my Pit Jamma in the back we tear down the road to get Mike to the hospital. Mind you, a little slower then before… Luckily I remembered to ask for directions from the tow company and it was easy to get there. I cranked the heater, which hasn’t worked well since I rebuilt the top end of my truck, and stuffed some girl scout cookies in mikes hand to try to get some food in him. I remember the truck smelling of soiled gym socks and wet dog but damn those coconut, caramel, chocolate girls scout cookies are the SHIAT!!!
We strategized (I know it's not a word) the game plan on the way to the hospital. I dropped Mike off and set back to camp. I had to get to Mikes super diesel submarine to empty it of all its belongings before it went to the tow yard, get the quad out the back of the submarine, get Josh’s bike, his gear, and pack the trailer up so I could hall it to Mikes house in San Diego. As I pulled out of the hospital I saw KFC… Okay so I stopped at KFC for some fried chicken mashed potatoes-n-gravy and macaroni-n-cheese. Big boys need to eat… It always looks and smells better then it tastes. Unfortunately the short bus retards (no offense to retards or short buses) that ran the counter at KFC didn’t put a spork (spoon and fork) in my bag. Now, I don’t feel so bad about spreading a plethora of mud and water all over their floor, but boy did I get some disdainful looks. By the time I got through the second breast of chicken I was over it anyways. Nasty food that fried chicken…
We are almost back at camp now taking a left on Evan Hughs and Forrester and I spotted something out of place on the corner of the road. Can you imagine what it was so far from base camp? Ill give you a clue, what has two wheels, the numbers 21 and a very wet human being? Yep, you got it, lost rider. Kristy was standing on the side of the road calling her friends at camp from a strangers phone. Mascara was running down her cheeks, not sure if that was from crying or the rain but either way she was not happy. I stopped the truck and asked if she needed a ride. At this point I was shirtless because the adrenaline was gone and my cloth armor and ride shirt started to make me cold. I could see she wasn’t sure about jumping into a truck with a shirtless guy but when she saw me jump out wearing very muddy bike gear on the bottom half she immediately knew her hellish 21 mile journey had ended and one of her own was their to pick her up. Luckily we didn’t take the time to unload the bike ramp when we left camp so that made things much easier getting her bike strapped in and yes, I put a shirt on. However you should have been there because my keg belly is something awesome to behold…
As we are heading down Huff Road I see mikes truck on the corner of Payne and Duff. I pull the truck to the right to make a U turn and the mud on the shoulder won’t let go of my truck. I can go forward and backwards but I just cant go left. Luckily, Mark was there to pull my truck out by the tail. Unfortunately this left the right side mags covered in mud inside and out. I knew for sure I would have to clean that before I got on the freeway to get the balance back in the wheel.
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Serious Mag Mud!!!
We emptied the belongings from Mike’s truck, pulled out the quad, suited up with my spare helmet and wet gear and were about to go when I realized we didn’t have the quad keys…. SUCK! Loaded the quad back in the truck and tore off back to base camp. Mike was able to pick the quad up at the yard with his father n laws truck on the way to the next hospital so no loss there. Stopped by the paramedic trailer to get josh’s stuff but Cody already took it back to the trailer, what a good friend… I Drove to OTB to get my gas tank that was held for me at the 30 mile mark, thanks OTB! Whoever used half gallon your welcome. Then dropped off Krista at her camp. On our way there we met the sweeper that sent Krista in the wrong direction and he apologized for loosing her. When her crew saw us coming they all got up and applauded her return. Thanks for the beer guys! Krista asked if they had seen her dad, unfortunately he was still out there…
Now I have never had a trailer before and I didn’t even know how to get the back loading door open. Thank God for Mark and his kids cause they basically took over from there. They loaded the bikes, strapped them in, collected all the gear from my truck and got the camper ready to go. Cody went back to sign in to try to get me worker points so that I could get some credit for being there, thanks Cody! While Marks 11 year old grandson Adam basically hooked up the trailer to my truck on his own. What a helper! Unfortunately something was wrong with the light hook up so the rear lights on the trailer didn’t work. I figured I could talk my way out of any ticket with the days incidences so I wasn’t to worried. On the positive side, my brake controller registered the brakes on the trailer so that made me very, very happy. Before I left, I pulled up to the sign-in to see if all of the riders where back yet. There faces where grim as I walked up and I heard “We can’t let anyone spend the night out there”. Well that answered my questions… what a mess that race was. I was really concerned about getting the trailer out through the mud so I decided to try to drive it through the back side of camp to Wheeler. Luckily my truck made it just fine and we were on the road.
I headed to the gas station on Evan Hughs to get some water to clean the mags. Unfortunately they had no water only air, suck! I drove to the 8 and that little stupid voice in my head thought, “Naw you can make it, the rims are fine.” Yea… Anything above 45 MPH got the front end shaking like 7.6 earthquake. I was not sure there was a gas station between forester and the Mountain Pass so I U-turned at Dunaway and headed back to Imperial to try to find water. It took me about 45 minutes with that damn gas station hose trickling out water like it was the last water on earth and every 60 seconds typing in the stupid code 652 to the water dispenser to keep it going. Is it really to costly to set the timer for 5 minutes Arco????!!!! Ruby offered to help and as she put here painted nails on the tire I laughed and gave her the water hose. That job won’t destroy the paint on your nails… All the while my hands where getting torn to hell to get that damn mud out of my 20” rims. On the flip side, I now have the smoothest fingers in the world.
40 miles from camp to tire cleaning and we are on the road. We where feeling triumphant like the worst was over. That was up until we got to the pass… I was not sure how my truck would carry this trailer and I was not sure it had what it took to get the thing up the hill. My truck handled the pass doing 45 MPH at 6500 RPM’s foot on the floor, every second of the way expecting my truck to spit a rod or knock a rocker off its cradle. I secretly applauded my friends Wayne and Justin who helped me rebuild my top end. I was feeling pretty good like the worse was behind us again until, we hit the fog. Zero visibility, 100% pucker factor. I remember Ruby trying to show me a picture on her camera and me wanting to throw her camera out the window; I guess she couldn’t read the pucker factor on my face. We made it through the fog and finally to Mike’s house where I dropped his trailer in his front drive. No, I didn’t hit anything and that tear on the side of the trailer was there Mike, I swear!!! I met Josh’s step sister and step brother in law, who also had a bike in the back of his truck. Had a nice conversation, watched there baby throw up and was on the road back to Irvine.
10:00 PM March 8th. By the time I made it home I was to beat to clean anything so I unloaded the truck took a much needed shower and hit the bed. In fact it’s Wednesday and I still haven’t washed my truck… I wrote D38 Desert Racing on the back tailgate just because I thought it would go nice with the chunks of mud that completely cover my truck, inside and out.
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D38 Desert racing all the way!
I think it’s about time I wash the truck, don’t you?
Jason Patino
777V
Postby jasonpatino on Thu Mar 11, 2010 3:52 pm
Saturday night, March 7th, 10:00 PM. I pull up to my buddy’s house in the Salton City. I was Looking forward to sleeping in a warm bed and getting a hot shower in the morning. Much better then my usual freezing cold tent behind Mike Maxwell’s trailer in the wet desert and killing the porta-potty with wet wipes in the morning. I thought I would have an edge for the race with all the good sleep I got. I had one thing on my mind #25V Phil Apostolakos. He took 1st to my second in the last race and I wasn’t going to let that happen again. (I am going to beat you Phil!). I got up early and made it to registration. It was freezing cold and raining at base camp, exactly what I expected after watching the thunder to the south the night before. I was wearing sandals as customary for me and cold weather. Something about living in Michigan for 4 years that makes you immune to the cold. I had butterflies in my stomach because I know what it is like to ride in this desert when it is wet and I was not looking forward to it. I made the commitment to do this race though, so that was that, I’m dong it!
I received my customary greeting from the Maxwell family of all smiles and happiness. It’s hard to believe I met this family two races ago and they already treat me as there friend and part of their inner circle. How great is D38? Mike gave me some lessons on how to silicone a bike before a mud race and Josh helped me unload my truck. After I paid my pit crew bounty of a cooler full of Coors Light, Mike rolled to the first check point to be ready for Josh and I with new goggles, gloves and gas. Josh and I got ready for the race.
Riding to the starting line I forged a few small rivers and navigated my way through some slick mud patches, It became very clear to me that the next 60 miles was going to be a torture session. I prepped my Go Cam and nervously waited for my start. Sign goes down and I stall my bike three times… Tarantula Hawk (My bikes name) doesn’t like the cold.
Starting line.jpg
three stalls....
I’m finally off and going. I fan out wide to the left to avoid the ruts created by the other bikes. Looking for high ground I’m feeling pretty good for my skill level. Feeling in control centering my balance on Tarantula Hawk I slide down a hill sideways while moving forward and remind myself this is going to be day of controlled sliding.
I forge a few more small rivers before I come upon a large deep river with about 8 downed riders. I remember Josh Maxwell telling his dad something about how he was going to be on his own on this race without his dads help. I remember saying don’t worry Josh, you know I’ll always be right behind you. This was a joke because Josh is so fast and I am so slow that I will naturally always be behind him. Little did I know that he would actually need my help this race. I scanned the downed riders making sure Josh wasn’t one of them. I noticed Josh’s bike upside down half in the water and I immediately went into rescue mode, my old firefighting training kicked in.
Finding the reck.jpg
Let's see is Josh in there? Oh ****, that's josh's bike...
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Getting to the wreck!
I jumped into the river and made it to josh where he very calmly told me "My leg is broken".
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"I've got a broken leg" he says calmly to me...
At that moment, my race had ended. I told him to hang tight, that I would go get some help and be right back. Cody, Briana and a few other riders were with him at the time. I swam back through the river jumped on my bike and headed back to start. I was in about fourth gear when I realized those crazy guys that ride the expert quads should be hauling butt in my direction any time now. I thought about how unsafe it was for me to be riding this direction with the kind of visibility we had that day. Luckily I saw a white truck and decided to utilize them in the rescue mission before I went any farther. The white truck was quick to respond. They made it back to start and within about 30 minutes help had arrived. They even loaded Josh’s bike and took it back to camp for us. Thanks guys!!!
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White truck helpers, thanks guys!
We took a plastic poncho and made a tent for Josh, where I sat with him and tried to warm his body by rubbing his hands and arms. The kid only weighs 80lbs (Okay, really 130 but I like to tease him…) and he is sitting in a puddle of water with severed Femur. This is one tough kid. After I evaluated Joshes injuries using the PQRST method (Provoking, Quality, Radiation, Severity, Timing) I was sure he was just dealing with a leg brake and nothing more serious. Cody's dad gave him his work phone for the ride so Josh got to call his dad and tell him he was okay. Not sure that phone is going to work very well after we turned it into a ball of mud.
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Dad, I'm Fine!!!!
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thumbs up from josh!
At this point we got settled and waited for the flat board to show up so we could transport. We talked about ways to take advantage of his current situation, talked about all the chores he wont have to do anymore, talked about the school work he would be able to focus on now that his schedule just opened up and talked about all the metal detectors he’ll be setting off in the future. The only time he showed pain was when we set his traction and moved him and his leg fell off the board, we won’t go there :evil: … After waiting on the mud for about an hour from the fall we were able to get Josh into a vehicle with some heat so that we could try to keep him warm.
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Getting warm in the Toyota.
We were trying to get a chopper to come pick him up so we could get him to the hospital but no one could get a clear answer on whether or not they would fly in this weather. It was finally decided that the Arctic Cat was going to transport Josh to Payne Road to meet up with an ambulance. After an hour and a half of waiting in the wet freezing cold desert we finally got Josh strapped into the arctic cat and moving toward his rescue pick up.
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Loading Josh in the Arctic Cat.
There where 4 bikes, one Toyota and two rescue vehicles in the caravan. The caravan went wide trying to find a way around the deep river that had raised a foot since the accident and find some high ground while the bikes stayed together for safety. Before we could even get going we had to pull another hydro locked rider starting his second lap out of the river
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Hydro locked rider
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Rescuing bikes from the river.
Then get Brianna’s bike started. Her KTM doesn’t like the cold either…
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Starting Briana's Bike.
Cody, Brianna and I navigated our way back through the course meeting up with the rescue caravan and rode with Josh back to Payne Road. When we got to the rescue receiving party we had an 80 foot by 4 foot river in the way with Josh’s dads Super Diesel submerged in the middle of it. I saw Josh’s dad on the other side and knew I needed to get to him to calm him down before he saw his son. I asked the firefighter on my side how deep the river was and he said it was to his knees… NOT! It was 4 feet deep but I didn’t know that till I got in the middle. Luckily, good ole Tarantula Hawk forged the river like any KTM 520 super tractor should.
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forging the river wild! To the left we have the super diesel submarine, to the right we have mud, mud, and more mud....
I made it to Mike and gave him a brief update on everything that went down and what the plan was for getting him across the river.
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Briefing Mike on the situation.
Before you could blink an eye the rescue lead vehicle passed showing the transporting vehicle it could forge the river. Moments later Josh was across the river. I told the driver to stop the Cat and Mike went to his son and gave him a kiss on his forehead and said he loved him. Yes, my eyes are watering right now. If anyone has ever hung around Mike and Josh you know how much Mike loves his son, it’s amazing. Damn, stop making me cry Mike it makes it hard to type!
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Dads Kiss.
Now on to the next problem; Mike, in his mad rush to get to his son, decided to turn his super diesel into a submarine and hydro locked the engine. This super diesel was swimming with the fishes and we needed to get the truck out and Mike to the hospital. We could have had the BLM truck with the winch pull it out right then and there but the BLM Jerk Off said he couldn’t. It was against the rules… Really??? What Jerk off made that rule??? Probably one similar to the Jerk Off following the rule! Mike told me to go get my truck so we could pull his truck out, so with my new mission I tore off down the road looking for base camp. Usually I have perfect navigational sense of north, south, east, and west but today that was gone. I have limited knowledge of the surroundings so that made it worse. Luckily I ran into the rescue vehicle down the road that assured me I was going in the right direction to get back to base camp. The rain was coming down in large droplets. They stung my face like small rocks being thrown at me. I held up a hand to cover the open area of the front of my helmet as I held it down going 90mph in 6th gear, slowing down only to forge the rivers that where crossing the road. I finally made it back to camp.
Threw my helmet in the camper and grabbed my dog and girlfriend Ruby. Ruby had spoken with Mike and informed me that Mark was going over with another truck to help pull him out. I was able to talk to Mark before they left to confirm the plan, and then ran back to the trailer to get my truck. At this point I needed to make a choice, take 10 minutes to change into dry clothes or jump in the truck and get back to Mike. I chose the latter. I figured I’d be swimming in the water to hook the truck up anyways so why bother changing, plus, I had too much adrenaline in me to be that cold. Still padded, booted and muddy as hell, I jump into my nice clean truck, threw it into four wheel drive and tour out of camp. My cooler, spare riding gear and my bike ramp still in the bed. I won’t lie, this was fun. In fact I was having so much fun with my truck that when my left side hit a water puddle at 50mph I rocked an unintentional high speed 180 on Payne road. I realized I couldn’t correct the spin half way through so I went with it controlling the slide and keeping the truck from going into the irrigation canals. Remember the girlfriend Ruby? Well she was sure I did this on purpose and decided she should be wearing a seat belt shortly thereafter. I figured it would be best to let her think I was in control the whole time… Surprisingly no complaints about the near disastrous incident from the GF, I don’t know, marriage material???
Moments later I’m back at the seen of the super diesel submarine. I pull up next to the tow companies truck that Mike was in and I rolled my window down. Mike was soaked from the river and was now entering hypothermia trying to get warm in the truck. His teeth were chattering, his body was shivering and his brain was definitely not thinking straight. Geez Mike, what’s the point of all the extra padding if it doesn’t keep you warm?... The tow company informed me that there was an F250 on its way to hall the super diesel submarine out of the wash. With Mark there to supervise the truck rescue, my thoughts turned to getting Mike back with Josh. As if my mind was being read by someone in Mike’s truck there was unanimous decision for me to drive Mike to the hospital coming from all the people around him. At first Mike said no because he needed to get his truck out. Remember the part about him not thinking straight… So it took the lot of us yelling at him to make him understand the truck will be handled by Mark and the crew there and he needs to get his *** in my truck to get him to the hospital. Reason finally caught up to his shivering brain and he jumped in my truck. Sitting three across in the front seat with my Pit Jamma in the back we tear down the road to get Mike to the hospital. Mind you, a little slower then before… Luckily I remembered to ask for directions from the tow company and it was easy to get there. I cranked the heater, which hasn’t worked well since I rebuilt the top end of my truck, and stuffed some girl scout cookies in mikes hand to try to get some food in him. I remember the truck smelling of soiled gym socks and wet dog but damn those coconut, caramel, chocolate girls scout cookies are the SHIAT!!!
We strategized (I know it's not a word) the game plan on the way to the hospital. I dropped Mike off and set back to camp. I had to get to Mikes super diesel submarine to empty it of all its belongings before it went to the tow yard, get the quad out the back of the submarine, get Josh’s bike, his gear, and pack the trailer up so I could hall it to Mikes house in San Diego. As I pulled out of the hospital I saw KFC… Okay so I stopped at KFC for some fried chicken mashed potatoes-n-gravy and macaroni-n-cheese. Big boys need to eat… It always looks and smells better then it tastes. Unfortunately the short bus retards (no offense to retards or short buses) that ran the counter at KFC didn’t put a spork (spoon and fork) in my bag. Now, I don’t feel so bad about spreading a plethora of mud and water all over their floor, but boy did I get some disdainful looks. By the time I got through the second breast of chicken I was over it anyways. Nasty food that fried chicken…
We are almost back at camp now taking a left on Evan Hughs and Forrester and I spotted something out of place on the corner of the road. Can you imagine what it was so far from base camp? Ill give you a clue, what has two wheels, the numbers 21 and a very wet human being? Yep, you got it, lost rider. Kristy was standing on the side of the road calling her friends at camp from a strangers phone. Mascara was running down her cheeks, not sure if that was from crying or the rain but either way she was not happy. I stopped the truck and asked if she needed a ride. At this point I was shirtless because the adrenaline was gone and my cloth armor and ride shirt started to make me cold. I could see she wasn’t sure about jumping into a truck with a shirtless guy but when she saw me jump out wearing very muddy bike gear on the bottom half she immediately knew her hellish 21 mile journey had ended and one of her own was their to pick her up. Luckily we didn’t take the time to unload the bike ramp when we left camp so that made things much easier getting her bike strapped in and yes, I put a shirt on. However you should have been there because my keg belly is something awesome to behold…
As we are heading down Huff Road I see mikes truck on the corner of Payne and Duff. I pull the truck to the right to make a U turn and the mud on the shoulder won’t let go of my truck. I can go forward and backwards but I just cant go left. Luckily, Mark was there to pull my truck out by the tail. Unfortunately this left the right side mags covered in mud inside and out. I knew for sure I would have to clean that before I got on the freeway to get the balance back in the wheel.
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Serious Mag Mud!!!
We emptied the belongings from Mike’s truck, pulled out the quad, suited up with my spare helmet and wet gear and were about to go when I realized we didn’t have the quad keys…. SUCK! Loaded the quad back in the truck and tore off back to base camp. Mike was able to pick the quad up at the yard with his father n laws truck on the way to the next hospital so no loss there. Stopped by the paramedic trailer to get josh’s stuff but Cody already took it back to the trailer, what a good friend… I Drove to OTB to get my gas tank that was held for me at the 30 mile mark, thanks OTB! Whoever used half gallon your welcome. Then dropped off Krista at her camp. On our way there we met the sweeper that sent Krista in the wrong direction and he apologized for loosing her. When her crew saw us coming they all got up and applauded her return. Thanks for the beer guys! Krista asked if they had seen her dad, unfortunately he was still out there…
Now I have never had a trailer before and I didn’t even know how to get the back loading door open. Thank God for Mark and his kids cause they basically took over from there. They loaded the bikes, strapped them in, collected all the gear from my truck and got the camper ready to go. Cody went back to sign in to try to get me worker points so that I could get some credit for being there, thanks Cody! While Marks 11 year old grandson Adam basically hooked up the trailer to my truck on his own. What a helper! Unfortunately something was wrong with the light hook up so the rear lights on the trailer didn’t work. I figured I could talk my way out of any ticket with the days incidences so I wasn’t to worried. On the positive side, my brake controller registered the brakes on the trailer so that made me very, very happy. Before I left, I pulled up to the sign-in to see if all of the riders where back yet. There faces where grim as I walked up and I heard “We can’t let anyone spend the night out there”. Well that answered my questions… what a mess that race was. I was really concerned about getting the trailer out through the mud so I decided to try to drive it through the back side of camp to Wheeler. Luckily my truck made it just fine and we were on the road.
I headed to the gas station on Evan Hughs to get some water to clean the mags. Unfortunately they had no water only air, suck! I drove to the 8 and that little stupid voice in my head thought, “Naw you can make it, the rims are fine.” Yea… Anything above 45 MPH got the front end shaking like 7.6 earthquake. I was not sure there was a gas station between forester and the Mountain Pass so I U-turned at Dunaway and headed back to Imperial to try to find water. It took me about 45 minutes with that damn gas station hose trickling out water like it was the last water on earth and every 60 seconds typing in the stupid code 652 to the water dispenser to keep it going. Is it really to costly to set the timer for 5 minutes Arco????!!!! Ruby offered to help and as she put here painted nails on the tire I laughed and gave her the water hose. That job won’t destroy the paint on your nails… All the while my hands where getting torn to hell to get that damn mud out of my 20” rims. On the flip side, I now have the smoothest fingers in the world.
40 miles from camp to tire cleaning and we are on the road. We where feeling triumphant like the worst was over. That was up until we got to the pass… I was not sure how my truck would carry this trailer and I was not sure it had what it took to get the thing up the hill. My truck handled the pass doing 45 MPH at 6500 RPM’s foot on the floor, every second of the way expecting my truck to spit a rod or knock a rocker off its cradle. I secretly applauded my friends Wayne and Justin who helped me rebuild my top end. I was feeling pretty good like the worse was behind us again until, we hit the fog. Zero visibility, 100% pucker factor. I remember Ruby trying to show me a picture on her camera and me wanting to throw her camera out the window; I guess she couldn’t read the pucker factor on my face. We made it through the fog and finally to Mike’s house where I dropped his trailer in his front drive. No, I didn’t hit anything and that tear on the side of the trailer was there Mike, I swear!!! I met Josh’s step sister and step brother in law, who also had a bike in the back of his truck. Had a nice conversation, watched there baby throw up and was on the road back to Irvine.
10:00 PM March 8th. By the time I made it home I was to beat to clean anything so I unloaded the truck took a much needed shower and hit the bed. In fact it’s Wednesday and I still haven’t washed my truck… I wrote D38 Desert Racing on the back tailgate just because I thought it would go nice with the chunks of mud that completely cover my truck, inside and out.
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D38 Desert racing all the way!
I think it’s about time I wash the truck, don’t you?
Jason Patino
777V