Grandpa Pete - Obituary

Mr. Raymond Leslie Clark, known as "Spotted Turtle" and "Mr. Pete", passed this life on Monday, December 26, 2005. He was born June 28, 1919 in Robeson County, NC to Barto and Emma Sampson Clark.

He was a World War II Navy Veteran. He was one of the few remaining Specialist "Q" personnel that worked on the development of RADAR for the Naval Research Laboratory during WWII. "Mr Pete" was a retired public school educator and Indian activist. Most of the young Indian people actively involved in carrying on traditional Indian ways were given their native name by Spotted Turtle in the original Cheraw language. His former students will always remember him for not only his ability to teach, but also his ability to write with both hands simultaneously.

Spotted Turtle was a mainstay in the traditional ways of the tribe. He was the Senior Elder in the Lumbee Tribal Elders Council and a recipient of the coveted Henry Berry Lowry Award. A phrase heard often around the Elder's Fire was, "Ask Spotted Turtle." That option is no longer.

He was preceded in passing by his wife Estelle Revels Clark, his parents, a brother Tracy Clark, and three sisters, Wilma Clark Sanderson, Juanita Clark Revels, and Vernette Clark Williamson. He is survived by his brother Barto Clark, Jr. of Pembroke, and sister Ann Clark Burleson of Leland, NC. He leaves behind three sons and their wives, Ray and Kat Littleturtle, Dennis and Linda Clark, and J. Michael and Tabetha Clark all of Pembroke. He is also survived by 10 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren. He left behind a global family from pow-wows, spiritual gatherings, elders councils, other tribes, and tribal leaders too numerous to list.

The Call

The call came at 12:06AM Dec 27, 2005.

The call, in this case, wasn't something I wanted to hear. The first sign of something bad was that when I did not get to the phone in time, my cell phone began to ring. I called the number back and talked to Dad. The news, as expected, was not good. The bad news was the Grandpa Pete had passed into the clearing.

Grandpa's health had been fading for some time and I went to see him in the hospital on Dec 17 after the Locklear Christmas party. That was my chance to say goodbye.

I am about to head down to N.C. to join the rest of the family. It is rare that we are all together, but when the patriarch of your family is gone, that's one event that can bring the Clarks together.

I hope to see several people that I haven't seen in years, and Grandpa's stature in the community ensures that a great gathering is about to occur.

Elliot

Ché sent out several pictures of Elliot. If you haven't had a chance to look at them, please contact him. There are several shots of the proud father included that are worth a look.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone.

Self Explanatory

Dallas Cowboys at Washington Redskins
7		35

Holiday Celebrations

Tracy and I are down here in NC for the Locklear Family Christmas celebration. We had to make a quick trip to try so young Kellie could get back for a mandatory cheerleading event, so we are preparing for ride back to VA.

We just found out this morning that Ché and Natalie had their baby girl this morning. Elliott was born around 3:00AM this morning. Another Clark enters the world. Now that's something to celebrate. Congratulations to Ché and Natalie. Welcome to the rest of your life!

More details to follow.

School Issues

We just recently discovered that the Prince William County planning committee has recommended that our community be placed in a different elementary school. This is somewhat confusing because the school in question is literally across the street from our development. I have become involved with the planning committee and I just submitted a white paper explaining my position that my kids remain at the school.

This is going to be resolved one way or another by February, but I will provide updates as they come in.

Additional Raleigh Pictures

Ché sent me additional N.C. State football game photos to post, so here are a few more shots for your viewing pleasure.

Raleigh 2005 Photo Album (Submitted by Ché)

Grammy & Grandpa are in town

We have been fortunate to have both my Mom and Dad (aka Grammy & Grandpa) here for a few days. Although Dad visits us here in Virginia often, it isn't often that Mom accompanies him. We are expecting a big snowstorm tonight, so they may be here longer than planned.

No snow yet.

Christmas Season

The Christmas season was officially kicked off for the Clark Clan on Sunday when we selected, installed and decorated our tree. Tracy and Kara were responsible for the selection and they managed to select an excellent specimen. As we did last year, we decided to buy natural or 'real' tree. We went a slightly different route by opting for a Frasier Fir instead of the Douglas Fir. I don't think that Tracy agrees with me, but I find the shape of the Fasier much more appealing than the Douglas. She is second-guessing herself, but I think she made a good choice.

This weekend the plan is put up the outside lights.

Basketball Season Begins

Austin just began his third season of basketball in the Gainsville District Boys 10 & Up (10U) league. He has only been to a couple of practices, but he has already said that this is the best team he has played for. For Austin, that means that he is gettin the ball more often.

He really enjoys the game, despite being handicapped by by 'vertically-challenged' genes.

Raleigh Pictures

Tracy took a few pictures on the Raleigh trip and I put them online. Click on the camera below to view.

Raleigh 2005 Photo Album

40 & Falling Apart

Turning 40 has both its good points and bad points. Reaching this advanced age has allowed me to add more life experience to an already imposing intellect invoking awe and wonder for those who know me. It also has its bad points. Jimmy Gallant and I took our boys out to a local trail to ride about two weeks ago and at some point during the ride I demonstrated the proper use of the rear brake on a dirt bike to slide through turns. The point of this exercise being that this enables you to take the turn faster. I am firm believer that if you are not trying to ride faster, then don't bother to ride at all. I successfully demonstrated this maneuver to Austin a number of times, then let him back on the bike.

Some time later, Austin wrecked the bike on a back trail. I heard the bike stop, ran over to investigate and found him sitting on the ground next to the bike. A quick physical check revealed no problems, but the bike was a little worse for the wear. There were big clumps of dirt covered the throttle controls, and once cleaned off, the bike looked fine. I started the bike and the throttle was stuck open. I had overlooked the broken throttle cable. When I put the bike in gear, it immeadiately wheelied on me, and I had to shut it down. Jimmy and I figured out how to adjust the throttle cable so the idle was normal. A life lesson that I learned from my Dad is that once you wreck a bike, the best possible thing to do is get back on it, even if you don't want to. The idea being that you must not be afraid of a motorcycle. Respect the bike, but don't fear it. With this mantra in mind, I told Austin to ride it back to the truck. He told me that he was having trouble bending his hand and could not grip the throttle. Fearing further injury, I told him to walk back to the truck and I would check the bike over under power. We talked about the wreck and we looked at the scene. There was a dried rut in the trail, he had hit it going too fast and the bars were turnd on him. Once this happened, he went down. I explained to him that wrecking while you are going too fast is how you learn to ride. This is how you get faster.

On the way back, I did one more power slide through the last turn. This turned out to be a bad idea. I was going too fast and the small motorcycle slid out from under me. My reaction was to put my left leg out to steady the bike and my shoe grabbed something on the ground. I felt my knee pop and I stopped the bike. Please note that the bike did not fall over. I was unable to put any weight on the knee for awhile, but the pain quickly went away.

The next morning, all was not well. I could not walk without a limp, so I went to the doctor to get it xrayed. No broken bones, but I had a pull anterior ligament. Ice, Ibuprofen, and a couple of weeks would take care of the problem. Two weeks later, I am fine. I still can't run on it and I had to cancel the triathlon I was planning to run next week, but there is always another one.

For the record, Austin's hand was merely sprained and was fine by the next day.

Back Handspring

Time Stamp: 7:06PM, November 27, 2005
Location: RAH! Cheerleading Gym

Everyone who knows her is aware that Kellie takes her cheerleading seriously. For the past several years, young Kellie has been laboring towards the next step in cheerleading stunts. The stunt that she has been attempting to master is the back handspring.

This maneuver involves jumping backwards from a standing position, arching your back, landing on your hands, and rotating back to a standing position. Here is an example sequence. Try and picture it without the training aid shown here:




Kellie has been to private sessions to get this down, Gymnastic classes, and has attempted this nearly every cheer practice for years. All her instructors said that she has the mechanics down, the problem is all between the ears. They were right. At the timestamp above, I observed Kellie effortlessly throw a back handspring twice is succession. I don't know what happened to allow this sudden development, but she now knows that she can do it, and that's all she needed.

The next time you see her, congratulations are in order. She has worked very hard for this.

Raleigh Road Trip

The day after Thanksgiving, we packed the car and the kids up and headed to Raleigh to attend NC State's last home game. Tracy and Uncle Mike had talked for some time about attending a State game. It all came together on the last game of the season. The ride was uneventful as the significant event of the day was waiting for us in Raleigh.

When we arrived at chez Ché, I placed the Sequoia keys into the pocket of my pullover. I took a few steps toward the house and decided that it was little hot for the pullover, took it off and placed it into the truck. I closed the door, watched Tracy close the passenger door and remembering the keys, opened the door to get the keys back. Rather, I tried to open the door, which was now locked. Needless to say, I was little pissed off, but contrary to public opinion, I was not pissed at Tracy as it was clearly my fault. When things had settled down a bit, Ché called the county sheriff's office and two deputies arrived a short time later to try and get the doors unlocked. They each worked on the front doors with a slim jim, but eventually gave up and left. We called a locksmith, who arrived much later that expected, and he also tried the slim jim approach. Lesson: Don't try and open a Toyota Sequoia with a slim jim. You will be wasting your time.

Eventually the locksmith used an air bladder and extension rod to actually push a metal rod into the car to try and unlock the door by pulling on the door lock lever. This simple act was compounded by the Toyota's anti-theft feature of auto locking the doors. When he pulled on the lever, the car locked itself and repeatedly honked the horn. He tried this for a long time, and just when I was about to secure a large rock from Ché's backyard, Natalie's father Mike came out to investigate. The locksmith told Mike that he was trying to engage the door handle at the same time the locking lever was moved and thereby opening the door before the car could lock itself again. Mike offered to try the door handle while the locksmith worked the lever. I was admittedly skeptical as I had seen this attempted several times that night. The locksmith pulled the lever, Mike pulled the handle, and the door popped open on the first try.

I owe Mike a heartfelt thanks for his mad door opening skills. I retrieved the keys, paid the locksmith and closed this sad event of my day. Please note that Mike's intervention did not save me any money. The locksmith insisted on his fee despite the assisstance. If you need a SUV and are financially prone to stealing one, you might want to try a Chevy Tahoe instead. I am speaking from experience.

We went back to the hotel and made plans to see everyone the next day. We arrived at Party Tent #5 at around 10:00 teh next morning. Uncle Mike had arranged (paid?) for a party tent in front of the RBC Center (Basketball/Hockey Arena). We were in front of the party zone which featured vendors and other activies before the game. My girls got their faces painted with NCSU logos. This, coupled with the NC State hooded sweatshirts we had picked up at WalMart the night before, enabled them to look the part of seasoned Wolfpack fans.

The stadium has undergone a radical change since my last visit. There is a new fieldhouse, new stands on the south end, and a huge addition to the alumni side that contains the new pressbox and luxury suites. The Wolfpack are big-time compared to the teams that played during my tenure.

Of the kids, Austin enjoyed the game the most, as he was the only one to watch the entire game. Of course, he is the only one of my kids who understands the game. Kara is too young, and Kellie spent the entire game dazzled by the Wolfpack cheerleading squad, only looking at the game if cheers erupted from the crowd.

Once the game was over, we went back the party tent where everybody was anyway. The only people to watch the entire game were Uncle Mike, Dad, Tabitha, Rudy, Austin, Natalie's dad Mike, and myself. We wound down a little and everyone met up at Ché's house for the after party. I managed to keep the keys in my hand this time.

Who was there? Here is who I remember attending:

Denny & Tracy	Denny & Linda	Kellie	Austin
Kara	Kate Love (Kellie's friend)	Uncle Mike & Tabitha	Ché & Natalie
Rudy	Tito	Trent & Deborah	Rudy
Kyle & Donna	Mike & Gail	Dawa & David	Ché's friends

The highlight of the weekend was getting together with family and friends to have a good time. I don't have the luxury of having my family around on a daily basis and its good to see everyone again. I got to spend time with my Mom and Dad, Uncle Mike, Ché, and Dawa. Natalie's parents are great to talk with and have made themselves a real part of the family.

As far as the game goes, the Wolfpack did me proud. After a slow first half, they rallied and sent Maryland home for the season. The Wolfpack became bowl eligible and will continue their season for another game.

Final Score:

Maryland Terrapins at NC State Wolfpack
14		20

Thanksgiving 2005

This year Tracy and I hosted Thanksgiving here at our house. Chuck arrived the day before so that he could accompany Tracy and Kellie to the opening of the movie Rent. I never really could get a firm grasp of Chuck's impression of the movie, but Tracy and Kellie both gave a thumbs up, Five-Star review. Rent is in its 10th season on Broadway and is a musical that Tracy has seen nearly a dozen times, and Chuck has seen multiple times as well. Tracy already has plans to drag me to the 'Movie of the Year'.

Chuck drove his 'vehicle' north for the visit. For those of you not well versed in Chuckspeak, the 'car' is the Boxster and the 'vehicle' is the Cayenne. Please contact him directly for further clarification.

The dinner was good and Alyce and Tracy outdid themselves as usual. Of particular note was the tangerine walnut cranberry sauce. This is an Alyce orginal that never grows old. We invited our neighbors Ron and Amanda McCormick over for the festivities as well. They were accompanied by their young sons Trey and Jackson.

In the event that Chuck or Tabitha forgot the score to the afternoon football game, I have placed it below for reference:

Denver Broncos at Dallas Cowboys
24		21

Report Cards - Update

Kara

Course	Grade
Reading	S
Writing	S
Speaking	S
Listening	S
Math	S
Social Studies	S
Science	S
Art	S
Physical Education	S
Music	S
Handwriting	S
Technology	S
Work Habits	S+
Conduct	S+

Modern Communications

A few days ago Kellie brought her new laptop to me and wanted to know how to accept a file sent to her by a friend. I took a lookat the problem and saw that the file in question was being sent via an Instant Message (IM) client. In this case, the IM client was AOL Instant Messager (AIM). Being somewhat curious at this point, I began to observe what she was doing. It seems that one of her friends was having trouble with a homework assignment and had asked for Kellie's help. The problem in question was handed out that day in school. Since Kellie did not have the particulat piece of paper on hand, her classmate simply scanned the page on her scanner, sent the file to Kellie, and the two began to discuss the problem.

This doesn't sound particurlarly unusual until you understand that at no time during the discussion was there any spoken communication. The entire event took place during a chat session while Kellie typed happily away on her wireless laptop. Times have changed since I was in 7th grade!

I wonder sometimes if my kids truely understand the advantages in communication they have today. Kellie has at her fingertips quicker access to more information than my entire town library had when I was her age.

Report Cards

Report cards came out today. Read'em and weep.

Kellie

Course	Grade
Language Arts	A
Spanish	B
Social Studies	A
Science	A
Math	A
Physical Education	A
Chorus	A

Austin

Course	Grade
Reading	B+
Writing	B+
Math	C
Social Studies	C+
Science	B

Halloween

Last night, the kids celebrated Halloween and I thought you might want to see what they wore. Kellie: Little Miss Muffet, Austin: Zombie, Kara: Pirate.














This year we made it a party, invited several friends over to sit around the fire bowl, and set up a haunted house in our yard to scare all the kids for our amusement. I think the adults had much more fun than the kids. It seemed that we didn't have as many trick or treaters as we did last year, but I may have missed several of the kids, because not all of them dared to enter the haunted house.

Invasion of the flesh-eating bat

This morning, Tracy discovered that something was fluttering in our artificial Fica tree. She sent me to investigate and I discovered that a flesh-eating bat had invaded the house and was about to devour us all.

Actually, it was a bird that had somehow made its way into the house. It must have been there overnight, but we are not sure how it got in. I opened the front and back doors to entice it to leave, but it keep making short trips to the curtain rod or flower arrangement, always returning to the Fica tree. I shooed it out of the tree and it flew upstairs. Anticipating this, Tracy had secured all the upper floors doors to keep it from flying into someone's bedroom. I got the bright idea to move the Fica tree into the fornt doorway, so that when it returned to the tree, I could easily force it outdoors.

After moving the tree, I returned to the bottom of the stairs, but neither saw nor heard the intruder again. I made a lot of noise, but couldn't rouse it. The entire time I was doing this, Skeeter was lying at the top of the stairs, watching me with great interest. This will become important later.

My attempts at making the bird appear from it hiding place having failed, I then went upstairs to flush it out. Halfway up the stairs, I discovered the dead bird lying on the stairs just below where Skeeter was sitting. It had been right next to her the entire time, but failed to gain her interest. I guess she's not much of a bird dog.

I do not know how the bird met its demise, but I think that it might have run into something because its head looked somewhat deflated when I threw into the backyard.

Went to the Neurosurgeon Today

I had my follow-up visit to the Neurosurgeon this morning and it went well. I was given a standard neurological examination and despite the objections and opinions of a few of my associates, I passed with flying colors. The entire office visit took less than five minutes.

There was one additional piece of information that I picked up during the interview. I have previously told my audience that I experienced an intracerebral hemorrhage. Since that time, I have consulted a few medical resources, most notably the Merck Manual, only to discover that most resources describe the event as a small stroke. I spoke to the doctor about this, and he reaffirmed that an intracerebral is bad news. He also told me that that wasn't what had happened to me. It seems that I relayed some incorrect information in an earlier post. What I experienced is known as an subarachnoid hemorrhage. This is bleeding outside the brain tissue as opposed to inside the brain (intracerebral). The effects are not nearly as severe as no brain tissue is destroyed. He also informed me that a "venus structure" is simply a vein, vice an arterial structure or artery.

He reiterated that it is very unlikely to reoccur, and that I am under no restrictions. If you are interested in looking into what happended, I found some good links on the subject below:

Neuroland.com
Strokecenter.org
Wikipedi.org
InteliHealth.com

Laser Mania

Austin had his birthday bash over the weekend and from the looks of it, all the boys had a grand time. Obviously held late, the big party was held at the Shadowland Laser Adventure Center in Chantilly, VA. We had the party after his actual birthday, once we found a suitable gap in our schedule and the available dates offered by Shadowland. For those of you not in the know, Shadowland is an organized laser tag center. You play by donning your laser tag suit and entering the arena. Once inside you are divided into Blue/Red teams and the battle begins. The basic objective is to shoot your laser gun at opposing team members and collect points.

I played the first round with the boys, but sat out the second round as the whole dark room/flashing lights experience gave me a headache. Recent events have forced me not to ignore this, so I didn't push it.

Simply put, Austin and his associated gang throughly enjoyed the experience and can't wait to go back. Tracy and I on the other hand were able to put up with shrieking and jostling that only a band of 9-11 year old boys can produce only because the entire affair was not taking place in our house!

Here's to parties at some other place than home!

Oktoberfest

Morton's BMW had their open house (Oktoberfest) on Saturday and I met Dad at the dealership to check out the shop and eat some free food. I had the opportunity to get a first hand look at his new bike. Here it is for your viewing pleasure:

Dad's is the same color as pictured, it only differs in that his will have a rear luggage box behind the seat. As expected, the BMW riders were in full force.

This was my first time on my bike since the incident, so I had a productive day.

Status Update

I have spent the last week or so looking into the causes and effects of an intracerebral hemorrhage. Nothing that you read is going to make you feel any better, so I am viewing what happened as something that I did not cause nor could I prevent. Having said that, you may be pleased to hear that I have completely recovered. I have no physical or mental repercussions from the incident, and depending upon your perspective, I remain the charming, fascinating, witty, or degenerate character I have always been.

Back Problems

You are never too old to learn something. The lesson of the day is that after 40 years on the planet, I have discovered that several days after a spinal tap, my back hurts like hell! Several kind souls have assured me that this is normal, but the fact remains that for the first time in my life, I cannot touch my toes. A minor inconvenience perhaps, but a real nuisance nonetheless.

I'm Back!

I am back after my first overnight stay in a hospital in 28 years. I had a small brain hemorrhage last week, but all seems well.

I went to bed last Wednesday night with the worst headache I have ever had. It started as pressure at the top of both of my jaws and it felt like my head was going to explode. I tried to sleep it off, but after 3 hours of trying to deal with it, Tracy sensed something was wrong and called my Doctor. The Doctor strongly suggested that we go to the ER, and I reluctantly let Tracy drive me there. The look on the face of the female EMT at the hospital echoed my own feelings; What kind of (insert appropriate effeminate word here) shows up at the ER with a headache?

The ER physician, armed with my family history of brain aneurysm (my paternal grandmother died from this in 1986), went about a standard series of tests to see if that might be the cause. Here was the plan: run a CT scan to look for something odd, and if nothing explanatory could be found, tap the spinal fluid to look for blood where it shouldn't be. The CT scan was negative and they prepped for a spinal tap. Spinal taps, familiar to mothers around the globe, involves the insertion of a big needle into your spinal cord to remove samples of spinal fluid. The rationale was that there was small chance that a negative CT scan would still mask the presence of any blood leakage, but a spinal tap would be the definitive answer. As you may have guessed by now, the spinal tap showed a "gross amount of blood", and Prince William Hospital informed me that they had done all they could for me, and that I would be transported by helicopter to Fairfax Hospital.

It is safe to state that the concerns expressed internally by me and observed in the EMT staff about visiting the ER for a headache disappeared and a sense of urgency emerged. I was airlifted from Prince William and took a relatively short (10 min) ride to the bigger medical facility in Fairfax County. Tracy made the same journey by car in 65 minutes.

When I got to Fairfax, they did another CT scan, essentially ignoring any and all tests administered by Prince William. This scan was again negative, so they injected my blood stream with dye, did another scan, and found what they were looking for, a small amount of blood where it shouldn't be. This scan did have some encouraging results. There was not an aneurysm, but a burst venus structure in a blood vein. This was good news on a number of counts; First, blood vessels are returning blood to the heart and are a low pressure system, rather than arteries which actively pump blood throughout the body and are high pressure systems. This meant limited bleeding. Second, these types of leaks typically seal themselves after a short time, thereby limiting the damage to the brain. Bottom line is that if the leak had occurred in my arterial system, you wouldn't be reading this. Third, this type of leakage would simply be absorbed into the body.

I was more than a little surprised at the number of people who visited me in the ER on Thursday morning. I can only guess that everybody was convinced that I was going to die and they wanted one last look at me. In fact, when Richard asked for me at the information desk, he was asked "Did you know him?" I can't and won't try to explain that response. Here is who I remember being there:

Tracy, Alyce, Dad, Ricky, Francine, Frank, Jimmy, Darrell, Ron, Amanda, Jennifer, Richard, and Marge.

The ER staff was probably wondering just who the hell was in bed #4. I had never been injected with Morphine before, but it did the trick. To all accounts, I was alternating between lucidity and unconsciousness, with little to no overlap. I woke up at 1PM to an empty room and I was admitted to the hospital in the Neuroscience ward. Everyone fund out where I was when I called Tracy. Francine was in the hospital when I was moved, but I thought everyone had left so there was a little confusion about where I was.

I was introduced to a new aspect of computer networking while I was there. I was admitted by a neurosurgeon after he reviewed my CT scans. I found out later that he reviewed the scans via a computer screen in the OR while he was performing surgery. Pretty cool use of the technology. He came up later that day to say that he wanted to keep me for observation overnight, do another CT scan and evaluate my condition before I was released.

I had the last CT scan at 2:30AM the next morning. Based on our conversation the previous night he told me that he would be by in the morning to look over the scans. He also told me what had happened, and that there was very little chance that it would happen again. He also reiterated that fact that I did not have an aneurysm. I took this as good news.

As it turned out, I was not released from the hospital until 5:30PM on Friday. My day was spent waiting around the room becoming acquainted with the antics of my roommate. He was a 20yr old male, whose wild moped ride ultimately had him carom off a parked truck and crack his helmetless skull on the road. The highlight of the day was the following exchange I overhead during his interview with a speech therapist:

Q: "Who is the President of the United States?"
A: (After a 5 second delay) "Bush"

Q: "Who was the first President?"
A: "Lincoln"

Q: "What are the two major political parties in the country?"
A: "I don't know"

.
.
.

Q: "How are Airplanes, Cars, and Bicycles alike?"
A: "They all have wheels."

This last case has proven somewhat controversial when retold, but the correct answer is 'They are all forms of transportation.' Several people are of the opinion that none of his answers would have changed had the test been administered a week earlier. I found the entire interview entertaining. Less entertaining was listening to he and his mother argue the entire day.

I call Tracy and she picked me up about an hour later, whereon we proceeded to sit on I66 for 2 hours trying to get home. A little 'Welcome Back' from the local traffic patterns.

I am trying to take it easy, and the only real complication is that my back is killing me from the spinal tap. The aftereffects have proven to be far more painful than the procedure itself.

That's the story, but rest assured that I am fine, or at least I feel fine. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who came to visit me while I was in ER. It's nice to have that many friends.

A Picture Share!

Like my braces?

Rubbing Elbows at RTJ

Using her connections from Doc Harry's and Glory Days Grill, Tracy got a 4-day gig working the President's Cup held at Robert Trent Jones golf club in Lake Manassas. Yesterday, she either met or saw Sonny Jurgenson, John Riggins, Steve Buckhantz, Frank Herzog, Phil Mickelson, and Tiger Woods. The second day, she shook hands with former President Bill Clinton and was in the same room as former first lady Barbara Bush. The cult of the celebrity is running strong in Bristow.

The Tale of the Dragon

This past week I took a 4-day weekend to make my first trek to the Appalachian Mountains to ride the Dragon in Deals Gap, NC, one of the most famous motorcycle roads in the country. My Dad, Uncle Mike, and my cousin Ché had been planning the trip for a few months now, but the planning was done and it was time to ride.

Tracy suggested that I borrow Ricky's bike trailer to cut some of the seat time off the trip, and in retrospect, that proved to be very good advice. Last Wednesday night, I drove over to Ricky's house and picked up the trailer. I have never towed anything with the Sequoia since we bought it, and despite my misgivings, the trailer connected to the hitch and all the lights worked!

I had planned to pack the bike up Wednesday night and leave by 7:00AM on Thursday, but I got back from Ricky's well after 11:00PM and since I was already nervous about packing up the bike by myself, I decided to wait until daylight. As it was, it took me over an hour to pack the bike, with Tracy's help the next morning, and just as I was about to leave the Furniture truck drove up. Tracy and I had picked out a few pieces of furniture over the Labor Day weekend and delivery was promised between 8:30AM, and 12:30PM on Thursday. In a rare display of efficiency, the delivery arrived at 8:15AM. The Entertainment center we bought presented more than a few problems in getting down to our basement, but in the end it fit. It sounds like an exaggeration, if the large side pieces of the entertainment center had been 1cm larger in any dimension, it woudn't have fit. This short delay prevented me from leaving until after 9:00AM, and I left for Raleigh slightly behind schedule.

The schedule was for me to arrive in Raleigh between 11:00AM and 1:00PM, and I didn't get there until 1:30PM. I got to Ché's house, unpacked the bike, parked the trailer and the truck, and grabbed a bit of lunch. We watched the MotoGP movie, 'Faster' to hype ourselves up a little before we left for our 4-hour trip to Asheville. The first night of this grand adventure would be spent at the Days Inn in Asheville where we would meet up with Ché's sister Dawa. Dawa works for AmeriCorps in Asheville.


The trip did not start well. Just before I left for VIR a few weeks ago, I had my bike serviced, and in the course of my 600 mile service, they 'fixed' my clutch for me. The fix radically changed the friction point and I had a hell of a time lauching the bike. I stalled in three times before we stopped for gas. This picture was taken at our first gas stop and at this point Dad adjusted the clutch for me and all was right in the world. That's me talking on the Phone to Tracy since this was our first stop that day. The bikes from left to right are Uncle Mike's R1, Uncle Mike's FZ1 that Dad was riding, Ché's R1, and last my R1. It's hard to tell from this picture, but Uncle Mike was wearing his Yamaha colors proudly during the entire trip. There was little doubt about what brand of bike he was riding.

Nothing much happened on the trip to Asheville, except that it took 5 rather than 4 hours to get there. We met Dawa and her boyfriend that night for dinner at The Bier Garden in downtown Asheville. We had a good time and spent several hours in the restaurant catching up.

The next morning our first stop was at Dawa's house so that we could take a group photo. Dawa got out her new scooter, or the 'hog' as Ché called it and we lined them up for this shot. You may have noticed that Dad isn't in any of these shots because he was the one taking all the pictures. We left Dawa's and almost immeadiately ran into rain, which we waited out under cover at some convenience store along Highway 74. We were there for about 90 minutes before we ventured out again, headed for Maggie Valley. We were under cover from the rain with about 7 other bikes, and they told us about a rally in Maggie Valley as well as a motorcycle musuem that looked like a good place to stop. With all the rain, getting to the Dragon as fast as we could served no purpose.

We stopped the Wheels Through Time motorcycle museum and spent a couple of hours looking over the old bikes. The most memorable thing for me was seeing a 1919 'Fat Boy' Harley that really did not look any different than today's model.

After a regrettable lunch at a roadside diner, we headed for Fontana. One note, the diner, as bad as it was, served something I had never had before. The previous evening, the Bier Garden offered something called Sweet Fries, which are french fries made out of sweet potatoes covered in sugar. The diner had these as well, and they were pretty good. We hit the mountains on the way to Fontana, and I got my first taste of the twisties that were to come. I thought that the road was extremely curvy and was more than enough to quciken the pulse, but I was assured that this was nothing compared to the Dragon and truer words were never spoken.

This is the cabin we stayed at in Fontana Village. Once we got there, we realized that there was no cell service in the area. As it turned out, we were unable to get a signal from any of our phones for the next 24 hours. We settled into the room, unpacked the bikes, and once we had rested for awhile, Ché, Uncle Mike, and I headed for the Dragon to get our first ride in before dark.

Without getting too much into it, I was rather unprepared for the experience that the Dragon offered. It turned out to be exactly what I thought it would be. The only problem was that I had exceedingly high expectations based on rading about this on the web, and talking to others who have ridden it before. In this case, and this is rare for me, the high expectations were simply exceeded once I headed up the hill for what turned out to be the best 11 miles my bike has ever seen.

To put this into perspective, here is a map of the road. My first ride began at the bottom where 28 meets 129, and ended at the scenic overlook of Calderwood Dam. The speed limit is 30 miles per hour. It is a double yelloe line for the entire route, but it is a common courtesy for slower bikers to allow you by. My first run was held up by a Buell rider, but that turned out to be a blessing in disguise because once I got around him, I had open road and the fun really started. If you ride a motorcycle, you will understand what I mean when I say that there are good days and bad days when itcomes to aggressive riding. This turned out to be one of the good days, because I was mentally alert and it showed in my riding. I felt really good, rode fast, but within my limits, and leaned the Yamaha over farther than it had ever been before. The Dunlop 218s held up and the first run was in the books. The Dragon demands so much of your attention that I cannot remember seeing anything on the side of the road. I never got the bike past the mid 60's the entire ride, and the record runs for the route average just over 60 mph. Compare this to the Isle of Man where they average over 124 mph for that course and you might get an appreciation of the severity of the curves. There is nothing in Northen Virginia to compare to it.

This road is so twisty that Harleys have a hard time riding it, and it is the first road I have been on that I strongly felt that no car could keep up with me. If a Harley can't lean over enough to ride the road, the picture above shows you what happens when a semi tries to get through it. If that wasn't enough, here is the weekend report straight from the website:

FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY SEPT 16, 17, 18: Another busy weekend with good weather. Some rain on Friday but it cleared during the afternoon and stayed sunny the rest of the weekend. Saturday was as busy as we have seen. Sunday saw fewer bikes and cars, but there were a number of accidents. A Porsche went off the side and a FJR hit a pick-up head on. Another tired rider ran off the road late Sunday. No serious injuries in any of the accidents.

This is not a ride for the timid.

Here we are on Saturday outside the Dragon Grill.




























As you can see, it had rained the night before, so we just ate and took at look at the tree of shame, which is a tree decorated with the parts of previous Dragon victims.

We did see a brand new Ducati 999 unloading off a truck, still wearing the 30 day tags! Talk about a breaking it in. From here we toured the Fontana Dam, which was a very interesting bit of history. From here we rode the Cherohala Skyway. One thing to note here is that the Dragon is so treacherous to cars that it is essentially unpatrolled. Not so for the Skyway, so we kept it legal for the entire trip. The Skyway took 34 years to complete, and runs along a mountain ridge fron NC to TN. At its highest point, it is more than 1 mile high and at this point we were literally riding through the clouds. Pretty cool, both figuratively and literally, as the temperature drop was pretty severe. After the Skyway, we rode back in cell phone range, checked in with wives and headed for the biggest knife store I have ever seen, the Great Smokey Mountain Knifeworks, where all the Clarks but me bought one of the new Kershaw speed-safe knives. I already have one from a trip to the store earlier this year during spring break.

After the knife store, we got stuck in Pigeon Forge for over an hour in traffic. If you have never sat on a 2004/2005 Yamaha R1 in traffic for this loing, consider yourself luck, because that SOB will literally burn your balls off. Uncle Mike nearly got heat stroke while waiting out the congestion, but we eventually got out of it and took a well needed breather.

The plan was to head back across the mountains and assault the Dragon from the North side. We rode the Foothills Parkway en route and the views on this road were as good or better than the Skyway. Breathtaking.

Dragon Redux: This time the Dragon almost bit back. Thinking back, it was not a good idea to hit the Dragon after a more than 250 mile through the Tennessee countryside. We were tired and my riding performance suffered because of it. There were several mistakes on my part and more a coupe of 'Oh Sh*#' moments. Talk to Ché and I about the blown turn on the North side of the Dragon before the overlook. The first time on the Dragon, the ride was spirited and time flew. The second, the ride was a little more exciting, in a bad way, and I kept thinking, 'Is this MF'er ever going to end?' When we got down to the bottom, Ché and I quickly abandoned earlier plans to make a third run.

We had dinner in the Fontana Village restaurant and called it a night. That evening, my forearms and hands hurt like never before and I wans't looking forward to a 6-hour ride back to Raleigh. As it turned out, the ride to Raleigh wasn't very exciting, i.e. Interstate Highway riding, but it was quick and we were back in Raleigh before 4PM.

In order to ensure that I didn't get home terribly late and taking into account that I had to report to work the next day, I loaded the bike and hit the road on the Sequoia. I have never been so glad to get in a car as I was that day. After the ride to Raleigh, the 4 hours back to Bristow were gravy.

A good time was had by all. Grandfather protected us and we made it home safe. The chicken strips got smaller, the lean angles lower, we have memories that will last a lifetime and somewhere in the mists of time another visit to the Dragon looms.

Happy Birthday!!

Happy Birthday to Austin Clark! Today he turned the big '11'. Grandpa Denny and Uncle Chuck were in town for a program retirement ceremony and took him out to dinner at the Osaka Japanese Steak House. He was able to enjoy the ceremonial lighting of the grill and even got to bang the birthday gong. I wasn't there, don't ask why, but a good time was had by all.

Tonight we are taking him and a few of his friends to his favorite restaurant: The Golden Corral. The Golden Corral is a buffet style restaurant that has a little bit of everything on the menu. Most importantly, they offer the Austin Clark special; self-serve soft ice cream with Gummi Bears.

So far the birthday celebrations have been a few presents this morning and a small birthday cupcake party at school courtesy of Tracy.

Happy Birthday Austin!!!

School Report

I was able to glean the following first day impressions from each of the kids:

Kara

Kara's teacher is mean because she will not allow any talking in the hallways.

Austin

Austin thinks his teacher is the nicest he has ever had. Let's see how long this impression lasts.

Kellie

Kellie thinks her language arts teacher, Mr. Parker is a homework nazi. She was required to write 3 papers as her first homework assignment.

First Day of School!!

Today is the first day of school for our county. The supplies, new shoes, new clothes, and all of the other various items needed for the new school year have been bought.

Various degrees of enthusiasm for the big day were displayed by the kids. Kara was very excited to get back in classroom, but Austin wasn't exactly doing cartwheels. Kellie was somewhere in between. Kellie's big announcement today was that she is color coordinating her notebooks, pens, and pencils this year. Today's color was 'blue'.

Austin was selected as a member of the Safety Patrol as a crossing guard. He gets to wear a yellow belt as part of his duties, and wore it for the first time today.

Reports on the first day's activity to be posted tomorrow.

VIR

This year's VIR race weekend was a smashing success. This is clearly the best racing weekend of the year for me.

Trip Highlights:

- Spending time with Ricky, Uncle Mike, and Ché talking about nothing but bikes.

- Seeing Jake Zemke and Greg White in the Texas steakhouse Saturday night.

- Watching Roger Lee Hayden recover from a huge headshake as he rode through the grass during the Superstock race.

- Watching the entire Superbike file get pw3nd by Mat Mladin.

- Riding the VIR track

- Eating lunch on Sunday with Uncle Mike and Ché with the band playing so loud under the tent that we couldn't even talk to each other.

- Watching early morning bad weather turn into a gorgeous afternoon on both days.

- Checking out all the bikes and what guys have done to them. Of particular note was the Jamie James R1. Very sweet, but it should be @$38,500. Major eye candy.

- Wathing the new on-track video monitors in order to check out the race on the rest of the track.

- Talking with the Attach Performance tech about the 2004-2005 R1 rearsets.

- Seeing a set of Termignoni cans for the 2004 R1.

- Watching Mat Mladin pass Ben Spies right in front of us all weekend.

VIR Preparations

I prepared for the trip to the Virginia International Raceway (VIR) race weekend by buying new riding boots and a backpack. Ricky prepared by buying a new motorcycle. Sensing that it was not proper to ride in a group of sportbikes with his Harley, Ricky corrected this problem by springing for a new bike. A courtesy picture of his recently acquired (i.e. today) 2004 Honda Interceptor (VFR800 in Matte Black for the gearheads) appears above. The bike has been picked up and will be ready for the road when we pull chocks on Friday.

Tickets!!

Just got my VIR tickets for this weekend's race!

First Ride on the new bike

First ride.

Update: As expected, Austin not only had his first ride today, buthe had his first wreck. The trail he was riding on had an exposed tree root and after hitting it, he caromed off a nearby tree. He wasn't going fast enough to hurt himself or the bike. I got him up, brushed him off and sent him back on his way. Fact: If you ride on the dirt, you are going to crash. Despite appearances, dirt is a lot softer than asphalt. That's how you learn.

The really good news is that the bike fits him very well and has plenty of power for him to grow into. He had a big problem shifting the gears because of the bulky MX boots, but after a quick consultation with Dad, I adjusted his gear shift lever to make it easier. We'll have to field test it to make sure.

Austin's New Bike

Austin's new motorcycle arrived yesterday. Grammy and Grandpa D. brought the bike to him in the "big red truck". The picture above shows the proud new owner. The PW50 that he borrowed from Rhonda is in the foreground. The new TT-R90 is in the back.

The shakedown ride is scheduled for Saturday.

Skeeter

Ou dog Skeeter is famous within the Clark family for having the worst dog breath on the planet. The contributing factor to her doggy halitosis is a massive plaque buildup on her teeth. Every time we have taken her to the Vet, they tell us that her teeth need to be cleaned. The only problem is that they want +$500 to clean them. All of a sudden her breath became tolerable.

The dog groomer that we use recently merged with an Animal Hospital. Two weeks ago I took the dogs in for their semiannual trim, and they told me that I really needed to get Skeeter's teeth cleaned. The only difference this time was the Animal Hospital offered to do it for $150. This seemed better that the previous quotes, so I took her yesterday for the procedure. As best I can tell, the procedure involves sedating the animal and literally chiseling the plaque off.

Before an animal can be sedated, a blood test must be taken to make sure that there are no major problems that can be complicated by the sedation. In this case, there was. The years of plaque buildup on Skeeter's teeth had caused bacteria to infect her gums and enter her bloodstream. The bacteria reached such a level that she was on the verge of kidney failure. They informed Tracy that there was a good chance that she would not come out of sedation. We told them to go ahead with the cleaning since her teeth would kill her if the problem was not taken care of.

During the surgery the Vet had to remove 6 teeth that were badly infected, but she made it. She has 2 prescriptions to take for the next 2 weeks, and she now has to eat a prescription dog food for her kidneys. She also has to eat soft food for a week.

She was a little loopy from the anesthesia last night, but seemed much better this morning. She also has a brand new set of white choppers.

Prince William County Fair

The previous post was a test to see if I could post to the blog from my cell phone. The fact that I posted that text from my phone accounts for the brevity and the lack of capitalization. I am working on the ability to post pictures.

The main event for the evening was the demolition derby in a mud soaked arena in front of the bleachers.

The highlight, or lowlight, of the evening was the drop ride. This is a ride where a seated platform is raised up a tower and dropped in free fall for a second or two before the hydraulic braking system takes over. I got in line with Jimmy Gallant and Darryl Estes, two other dads who attended the fair with us. Kara saw us get in line and decided that she too was going to ride. Her decision was bolstered by the fact that a girl younger than her had just been dropped. None of the other kids volunteered to ride and were more than happy justto watch. Kara wasn't tense and showed no fear when she was buckled in.

I was unhappily reminded of a ride on the Comet, a wooden rollercoaster ride at Hershey Park last year. On that occasion, Kara happily rode the rollercoaster and had no problem with the ride until the first drop when her glee was quickly replaced with unmitigated terror for the duration of the ride.

Sh was exhibiting the same behavior last night when the inevitable happened. The unimposing height of the tower underwent a radical change when ridden upwards. Suddenly it felt like you were sitting outside a 20 story building. I think everyone knows what happened next, but here it is anyway.

Watching the ride from the ground it was clear that there was no delay when the platform reached the top. What was not apparent until we got on was that the roof of the platform prevented us from seeing the top. This meant that you were not exactly sure when the platform was going to drop.

This also meant that the drop caught young Kara by surprise and scared the shit out of her. When we got to the bottom she was screaming and had to be led off the ride.

I don't think that she will ride anything like that in the near future, but I will acknowledge that of her siblings, she alone had the guts to ride it.

at the fair

The clarks are on location at the prince william county fair. more to come.

Myrtle Beach

The Clark Clan just returned from our annual MB trip. This year we stayed at the plush Lowry-Goins condo in Cherry Grove. We experience bad weather for the first 2 days, but it's hard to complain about it since we have had excellent weather for many, many years. Uncle Chuck made 2 visits to see us, showing up on the first and last days of our stay.

Aunt Bonnie and Tabitha Clark joined us on Friday for the day. Note that I didn't say 'Aunt' when referring to Tabitha since I have a hard rule that 'Aunt' is reserved for people older than me. :)

Atlantic City

Last Friday night, I went to Atlantic City to try my hand at real Casino poker. I went with several friends to Harrah's. I have been playing a monthly Texas Hold'em game in the neighborhood since the beginning of the year. We have been playing both tournament style (no limit) and $3 max bet poker (limit) and I have had a fair measure of success at this.

The good news is that the casino version of the game is essentally the same and I had about the same success at it (i.e. broke even, didn't lose my ass). The only difference whatsoever was the 'rake'. The rake is the percentage of each pot that the casino takes. That's how they make money on the game. Harrah's takes 10% of each pot to cover the game. It was a little strange to sit down and play poker with people you have never met before. Poker players, men and women alike, are not the friendliest lot.

Since I went to the casino, I have taught Austin, Kellie, & Kara to play and it is not unusual to see the entire family sit down for a few hands. The kids really seem to enjoy the game, provided that we play for chips only.

The Price of Success

To be successful or to attempt to attain success is the American way. Sometimes this works out and sometimes it doesn't. Case in point: North Carolina State University has undoubtedly become the finest public university in the southeastern Unites States. This is a result of offering the finest curriculum and making sure that all accepted students are of the highest caliber; the crème de la crème.

The bad part about NCSU's success is that is has become a school of choice for the less than ethical among us. It seems that if you want to receive the best education then you choose the best schools. The problem is, we cannot control what students do with that education.

Why am I telling you all this? A recent article on FOXnews.com really explains it all. If you read the article you will see where the chemist decided to attend graduate school in chemical engineering.

Bottom Line: If you get too good even the bad guys come looking.

A Picture Share!

Kellie and Austin hanging out in the kitchen.

Weekend Update

I just spent the entire weekend with my Mexican friend Manuel. If you don't know what this means, just ask my Dad. I have logged 13 hours over the last 2 days staining our deck and I am about 80% complete. You'll have to see it at the house the next time you visit.

The weekend also saw the greatest motorcycle race I have ever seen, but then again, I am biased. Nonetheless, it was agreat race weekend for the Red, White, and Blue. Americans placed 1-2 in the MotoGP US Grand Prix, and I must say that I was very impressed with Colin Edwards. Colin, of course, placed second on the rostrum, but was very gracious in defeat. It is no secret that Colin has no great admiration for Hayden because he has always felt that Nicky's Repsol Honda seat should have been his. His post-race comments have made me see him in a far different light. He was openly congratulatory to Nicky and gave him big hug during the victory celebration. A class act all the way around.

On a previous post, I mentioned that a columnist had picked Nicky to win. His name is Dennis Noyes and he is clearly a genius. It remains to be seen how the Tornadiacs will take this. A quick explanation is required here. Colin Edwards is known as the 'Texas Tornado' and his avid followers refer to themselves as Tornadiacs. To put this in perspective, look at it this way; Edwards and Hayden fans treat each other with the same admiration and respect that Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr fans give each other.

Another development to be noted is that neither Hayden or Edwards has ever beaten Valentino Rossi in a race that Rossi has finished. That's how good this Italian is. Yesterday, both accomplished this feat.

The rednecks were out in force on Saturday when Toby Keith performed at the Nissan Pavilion in Gainesville. Of course Tracy was there sitting just 10 rows back from the stage enjoying every minute of it. If you ask her, I am sure she will give you a complete report.

Lumbee Homecoming

We decided at the last minute to drive to Pembroke and attend Lumbee Homecoming over the fourth. Kellie went to Ocean City with the Willis' as planned and had a ball. The rest of us climbed into the Passat and drove south for the Holiday Weekend.

We went to the parade in town on Saturday, July 2 and after the parade, the guys (Me, Dad and Austin) went to the Yamaha shop to get his stuff. Later that day we went to the Locklear family reunion and from there over to the College to see the fireworks display. For a town its size, Pembroke's fireworks are very impressive and the kids really seemed to enjoy it.

We cut the trip a little short because we had to be back here on Monday to go to a neighborhood block party.

New Gear

We went to Lumbee Homecoming last weekend and Austin Clark made out like a bandit. Grandpa Denny set him up with all new riding gear. He now has a Yamaha blue riding shirt and pants along with new motocross boots. He did not last one day at home before he was out trying the new threads out.

Myrtle Beach

We are booked at the Lowry/Goins condo for the week of Aug 7-14. I heard that both elevators are now working, which is a huge improvement over the wait times of last year. If its any consolation, Tracy can get ill at Myrtle Beach all she wants because the medical facilities are superb.

Outer Banks Redux

Quickly becoming a favorite of the Clark family, the Outer Banks is back on the summer activities schedule. Tracy has a girls weekend scheduled at the Corolla Light resort on Aug 5-6. This means that she will make it back to Bristow just in time to leave for Myrtle Beach. It's too bad that she doesn't have much leisure time.

Let's just hope that she doesn't get sick this time because we have found that this is one place that you want to remain healthy.

Pennington back on the schedule

I earlier reported that Kellie was leaving Pennington and enrolling in Marstellar Middle School. That announcement has proven to be immature. Tracy's last-minute school tour left a very negative impression and further discussions with Kellie revealed that the only incentive for her was the middle school cheerleading team. This proved to be a less than deciding factor for me, so back to Pennington she goes. Kellie's academic successes this year proved what she can do if she is pushed and at Marstellar, she might be just another face in the crowd.

Motorcycle Trips

I have two big trips planned this summer.

VIR (Virginia International Raceway)

The annual trek to Danville will take this year the weekend of August 26-28. As it stands right now, Ricky and I will definitely be going down for the AMA race weekend. Uncle Mike and Ché look good to attend as well. I hope to see them there.

Deals Gap

Uncle Mike, Ché, and myself have set a target date sometime in September to ride the Dragon. Deals Gap crosses between North Carolina and Tennessee and boasts 318 turns in 11 miles. These are twisties on steroids and make 211 look like a ride in a parking lot. Digression: Parking lot rides are only exciting if your name is Kellen Winslow, Jr. End Digression. This is the sportbike ride on the East Coast and I only hope that it's not too crowded.

Grandpa Pete

Grandpa Pete went back to the Hospital for another blood transfusion but I haven't heard how it turned out. Post status if you know anything.

I saw him last weekend and he looked better than I thought he would. I was told that he was having a good day. Obviously things deteriorated somewhat because of the required blood transfusion, but let's hope that he is doing better.

1:22.670

American race, American pole.

Nicky just dropped a hammer on the field with a new Laguna track record. Speed TV carried qualifying for the first time this year and I was able to make a few observations. Someone please tell Yamaha that they have to sell an R1 next year in Yamaha championship yellow. The new paint schemes that the Yamaha are running are gorgeous. I also noticed that Nicky Hayden is sporting a new Helmet design that looks like something Arai should sell as well.

Motorcycle Weekend

This weekend is the biggest motorocycle racing weekend of the year. The MotoGP series is arriving at Laguna Seca for the U.S. Grand Prix. There will be 4 Americans in the race and promises to be the best American showing this year. If you watch the race, the Americans are Colin Edwards (#5), Kenny Roberts, Jr. (#10), John Hopkins (#21), and Nicky Hayden (#69). Tune your television to Speed TV @5:00PM EST Sunday, July 10.

With the exception of Hayden, all the U.S. riders will be sporting new paint for the race. The Suzukis of Roberts and Hopkins will be sporting a one-off Red Bull scheme and the Yamaha of Edwards will display a radically different 50th Anniversary paint job reminiscent of the old Yamaha racing teams. Ché Clark was kind enough to provide the following preview of the Yamaha paint scheme with this picture of Valentino Rossi's bike. Rossi is the Italian teammate of Colin Edwards and the defending world champion. Rossi usually kicks ass and takes names in MotoGP, but this time he's in our back yard.

One MotoGP columnist has gone out on a limb and picked Nicky to win and all indications are that this is the one race where the Yanks are favorites.

This just in: Americans occupy 3 of the top 4 slots in Friday practice.

Genetics

Anyone who knows Charles Clark is well aware of his strong and generally strange attachment to the movie "Grease" starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. He has watched this movie an innumerable number of times and has even worn out a VHS tape of the film. For the sake of simplicity, let's just say that he likes the movie.

Recently young Kara Clark has become enamored with a film she has just discovered. If she is watching it in her room, and you can listen in the action without being seen, you can hear her singing along with the movie. This movie is 'Grease'.

To say the least, this is eerily like her Uncle years before as he watched the movie over and over again. I have a theory. This situation offers rare insight into genetic transfer. Clearly I am a carrier of the 'Grease" gene without knowing it until now. This also means that my mother or father are also carriers of this gene. Somewhere in the tall branches of my family tree there is the genesis of the 'Grease' gene, only no one knew about because the movie hadn't come out yet.

Basketball Camp

Austin started a week-long basketball camp yesterday in his first round of summer activities. The camp runs all day long this week. Even a day full of running around doesn't seem to faze him as he continues his normal outdoor activities when he gets home. I can actually remember a time when I could do things like this.

Kidney Stone

Tracy has an appointment tomorrow (Wednesday) to have her kidey stone broken up sonically. The hope is that the stone will break into much smaller pieces, known in medical terms as 'sand'. This should allow the stone to be passed as much smaller pieces although she has been warned that too much 'sand' will present its own unique set of problems.

From a laymen's perspective I wonder how a device that can generate sound waves strong enough to break a kidney stone will fail to affect your heart. Kidney stones are formed from crystals found in urine and as a result must be very hard. Let's assume they know what they are doing.

On a light note, Tracy also discovered that her Urologist is a physician of some note. His claim to faim is that he surgically reattached John Wayne Bobbit's penis after his insane wife, Lorena Bobbit, severed it. This was a big story in the Northern Virginia area when it happened in 1993. Here is a link to the sordid tale.

Health Issues

Last Monday night, Tracy and the kids went to the Outer Banks for an unplanned vacation. The beach house that we borrowed two weeks ago was available and school was out so off they went. She was accompanied by her friend Dawn Johnson and her kids. The next day, Tracy had extreme pain in her left side and collapsed at the house. Dawn called 911 and Tracy had an ambulance ride to a local urgent care center. The x-rays showed a kidney stone of some size (~9 mm).

When I found out, I took off for the beach and arrived later that night. On the way down I was able to talk to her and discovered that the urgent care center recommended that she go the The Outer Banks Hospital first thing in the morning. They also told her that she would most likely require laproscopic surgey to remove the stone.

We got to the hospital the next morning only to find out that hospital did not have a Urologist on staff and really couldn't handle her situation. Lesson: Don't get sick in the Outer Banks. They did do a CATscan and told us that she was in no immediate danger and recommended that she return home to her usual medical facilities. The CATscan showed that the kidney stone was actually 7mm in diameter which is probably too big to pass on its own. They also told us that surgery was very unlikely and that a sonic procedure was the likely solution. I only hope that when we get to our doctors in VA we don't get a third opinion.

After several prescriptions for painkillers were filled we went home for the day. Tracy was able to stay off the painkillers on Thursday for the ride back home and although it took much longer than planned we made it safely. As of this writing we are still tryin to get her in to see a doctor but plan to get all this done on Monday.

Back in North Carolina, Grandpa Pete has returned home but I don't know how he is doing at the moment.

Airtime

Tracy was on the "Workday Music Marathon" contest on WMZQ (98.7) today. This is our local country music station and she entered online to have 5 songs of her choice played during the lunch hour as well as a brief on-air conversation. She also had an on-air introduction of the marathon.

I was able to hear the entire thing in my car at noon. Jim Lamb @Lamus had surgery today, but still took the time to call me today at 2:00PM to tell me that he heard Tracy on the radio when he was on the way home after his outpatient surgery.

Academic Awards

As reported earlier, the school year has drawn to a close. The kids received the following academic recognition during awards ceremonies held this week:

Kellie Clark

There are 3 sixth grade math classes at Pennington and these classes are attended by ~80 students. Of all these student, Kellie Clark was the only student to be recognized for Excellence in Achievement in Math. Kellie has obviously inherited what we in the Clark family call the "Uncle Chuck" gene. Kellie also received recognition for making the Honor Roll every quarter this past school year.

Austin Clark

By missing one day in the entire 2004-2005 fourth grade school year, Austin Clark was awarded an "Excellent Attendance" award. This is evidence of what the Clark family calls the "Uncle Mike" gene.

Kara Clark

Kara was identified by her first grade teacher as the "Most Expressive Reader". Kara's continued enthusiam for both and work is easily recognizable to anyone around her.

Grandpa Pete's Status

I just heard from N.C. that Grandpa Pete is having a pacemaker installed within the next hour. His heartrate has not exceeded 42 bpm today and the doctors feel that an increased heartrate will make him more energetic. I found some useful information here.

Last Week of School

Tomorrow is the last day of school for the Clark kids. One more day to wake up and go to school.

Grandpa Pete Back in the Hospital

Grandpa Pete went back into the hospital last Sunday due to extremely low blood counts and sugar levels. Nothing much has changed since then, but we are hopeful for better or least encouraging news.

Thank You Mr. Winslow

As a motorcycle rider, I have taken a more than casual interest in the events surrounding Mr. Kellen Winslow Jr's recent motorcycle accident. Kellen Winslow is a professional football player. He wrecked his sportbike during the offseason and was villified by the press for participating in 'dangerous activities'. The message relayed by the general and sports media was very clear; Motorcycles are dangerous machines that are not ridden by responsible adults. This is, or course, bullshit.

As Paul Harvey would say, here's the rest of the story:

It seems that young Mr. Winslow had recently become infatuated with a sportbike stunt group in the Ohio area called the Starboyz. This group of riders became famous for filming some of their exploits and selling the videos. He was known to attend stunt shows in the Cleveland area, and was in fact returning from such a show the day he crashed his bike.

We all know that professional football players are badasses and this particular badass thought that riding like the Starboyz was something that anyone could do. Please note that the bike he was riding was purchased in April of this year and he was riding on a learner's permit.

So, after riding for one month, Winslow decided that it was time for some stunts. You may have heard that he crashed at 35Mph, but the injuries he sustained, i.e. puntured spleen, torn ACL, etc, were disproportionate to the indicated speed. The reason for this is that he was trying to do a 'stoppie'. This is done by locking the front brake and balancing the bike on the front wheel. This is not a beginner's trick, and he found out the hard way.

He crashed because he was attempting to do something stupid on a motorcycle, not just because he was riding a motorcycle. There is a difference here. If you don't respect the bike, it will bite back. This is sometimes a hard lesson to learn.

I prefer to think of the entire incident in this way. Unlike driving a car, riding a motorcycle is not something everyone can do. It takes skill, and above all, a healthy respect for the things that can happen to you if you don't pay attention or do something boneheaded.

The Outer Banks

A few days ago, Tracy and I spent a long weekend at the Outer Banks. We have the fortune to know someone who both has a house in the Corolla Light Resort and was willing to let us stay there for free. Tracy had never been to that part of N.C. and I had been only once back in '98.

The resort sits in the shadow of the Currituck light house and as a result I received a crash course in the history of the North Carolina lighthouses. Interesting stuff if you have never heard it.

As it turns out, we did not actually spend more than a few minutes on the beach. We spent most of the grueling weekend sitting by the pool and taking advantage of the wait service and restaurant located there. Note: There is another half of our population and they live better than most of us. I've seen it.

We both really enjoyed the 'Banks and it has vaulted to the top of our vacation plans for next year.

Cheerleading Udate

It seems that I received some bad intelligence with regard to Kellie's cheerleading tryouts. Kellie did make the cheerleading squad at Marsteller Middle School, but on the junior varsity squad vice the varsity squad.

Marsteller Middle School is comprised of grades 6-8. The junior varsity cheerleaders are drawn from the 6th and 7th grades, and the varsity cheerleaders are drawn from the 7th and 8th grades. It is extremely difficult for a new 7th grader (Digression: Kellie in 7th grade!! What happened to the little toddler running around the house?) to make the team when they didn't cheer as a 6th grader.

In true Clark fashion, Kellie is appalled at the apparently incompetent selection committee. In Kellie's words, "I though they wanted the best for varsity", she reveals the genetic superiority complex that Clarks all seem to acquire sooner or later.

Rest assured that young Kellie intends to correct this oversight as soon as possible.

Have you ridden on 211 yet?

I have talked to several sportbike riders in the Bristow area and the same question always comes up; Have you been out on 211? I always answered 'No', and being male I never bothered to ask where it was. I did harbor a sense of curiosity about the mystical 211 for several reasons. One, there must be something about this road that makes everyone talk about it; two, my neighbor Steve broke his ankle in a crash on 211; three, it's a mountain road. This all adds up to a level of twisties you don't just see in the Virginia coastal plain.

Yesterday proved to be the perfect combination of available time and inclination, so I started up the bike (newly charge battery b.t.w.)and took off for 211. On my last ride I saw the exit to 211W in Warrenton, so I went 29S and went west. The first 40 miles of the ride were pleasant enough, albeit the swarm of holiday police radar traps and the extremely ordinary 4-lane highway route. I managed to avoid the police and stuck it out for the duration, noting that in the distance that there appeared to be hills, and the roadsigns indicated that Luray Caverns loomed ahead. More importantly I noticed several groups of sportbikes parked at Gas Stations and convenience stores along the way. For anyone who has ridden in Northern Virginia, aka Harleyland, this is somewhat unusual.

The sporkbike sitings suddenly intensified and I found myself on Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Park. The road began to climb and the turns looked more and more interesting, but the traffic had slowed to a crawl because of the incline.

The view of the mountains and trees was breathtaking, at least I think it was, because as soon as the road widened into two lanes and I could pass the siteseeing cagers, all I saw were sweepers, hairpins, blind turns, s-curves, and all the other turns in the road that make life worth living. I picked up the pace, hoped that the police were busy elsewhere and began to feel that delicious sense of unease associated with riding on an unfamiliar road and wondering if you just carried too much speed into a blind corner.

I ran to the top and started down the other side of the mountain only to discover that the road was one lane down vice two lanes up. I was parked for most of the trip down behind a Surburban towing a trailer, but once at the bottom, I turned around and went back up the hill. Now I was back in two lanes, making it very hard for a slow car to spoil the ride. I had a quick encounter with a Silver RX-7 that decided he could stay with the R1, but for reasons known only to him, he could not. The second trip down was soon stopped by a Honda putting along in the now single lane traffic, but miraculously he pull over to let me by. I gave him a hearty wave and powered on down.

In short, it was a 110 mile ride for 5 miles of twisties, but worth it. If I ever have any riders on hand, we should definitely make the trip back.

Gabriel Alexander 

New Mom

Rodney and Jodi's daughter Erica gave birth to Gabriel Alexander this morning @4:05AM. Here's an interesting twist: Exactly one year ago, on May 27, 2004 @4:05AM Erica's younger sister Ashley passed into the clearing. Coincidence?

Tracy went to visit Erica at Fort Belvoir and I hope to post a picture later this evening.

Field Trip

I accompanied Austin and his 4th grade class today as a chaperone for a field trip to Richmond. We went to the Science Museum of Virginia and the Virginia Historical Society Museum. Although definitely the underdog of the two, I much preferred the history museum and I now know far more about the history of Old Dominion than I thought I ever would. They provided a 90 minute guided tour, and the yound lady who led out group proved to be very knowledgable.

I do want to offer my picks and pans of the museum content. I won't dispute the artifacts and memorabalia concerning Virginian history, but I want to comment on the Native American portion of the offerings. They indicated that Virginia had been occupied by the red man 'for at least 16,000 years' prior to the invasion. This number is absurdly low according to the latest numbers. I will do a little poking around tomorrow to offer an alternative.

As far as the science museum, the next time you see Austin, ask him about 'Rat Basketball'.

The In-Laws are in town

Jim and Jane Boone have been visiting us this week and are due to leave in the morning. Alyce was over this evening along with our neighbors, Ron and Amanda McCormick. I fired up the grill and we had a quick dinner. Although we try our best not to hold it against them, Ron and Amanda hail from the great state of Alabama.

My new 450lb paperweight

On Sunday, I took the cover off the R1 and went for a spirited 90min ride through the Virginia countryside. Before I could depart, however, I was forced to jumpstart the bike because the battery has enough charge to power the clock and dash lights, but not enough to start the bike.

Once I got her running, I took off on my ride. After I got home and cut the ignition, I had to run to a neighbor's house to get Austin for dinner. The bike started up just fine and when I was at the neighbor's house, I started it again to entertain a few kids who were standing by. That proved to be all the battery could take and the R1 became a 450lb human-powered vehicle that I had to push home. Thankfully, I only had to push it 100 yards in order to get it home.

Needless to say, I will be rummaging through the garage to try and find the alligator clip extension that came with the battery tender or just put the thing on a standard battery charger.

I did check the battery tender website, and the replacement connector is cheap. Problem: There is a $16 service charge on all orders less than $25. I'll look elsewhere before I do that.

Lesson, R1s are easier to ride when the motor is running; faster too.