Before we go deeper into this entry, I want to warn you that 100% of this post is going to be all football and will probably be filled with hundreds and hundreds of mistakes. Just lettin' you all know before you go any further because you will a) get super bored and waste your time if you aren't interested in my love of football or b) become super dumb from all my mistakes. Got it? Got it!

Last season, the only game I shot was the last game against Oakmont. I received and email from the new Del Oro football website administrator asking for me to take photos of the last games for all three teams. There was a girl named Ella who was photographing the games for Charlie as a senior project, but she was doing it terribly. Although she had the same gear I did, she would always send them to Charlie a week late, never shot the freshmen games, and the quality was terrible. I was hesitant because I wasn't planning on going to that game in the first place, but also excited because I would be shooting football again which I never thought I would be able to do after my senior project ended. The games started and ended, I sent my photos to Charlie, we emailed each other until the first week of January, and then life took over. My passion for football photography faltered during that time and when September came, I was pretty set on not shooting football. Charlie never emailed me to ask if I was going to shoot this year, but that started to bug me and after the second scrimmage passed, I emailed him (still not really wanting to shoot football, but not as dead-set). He still wanted me on the sidelines so I charged, cleaned, and packed up all my gear for the first JV and Varsity games (couldn't shoot the first few games of the freshmen due to school).

Today, I cannot imagine how my life would be if Charlie didn't ask me to shoot the last game of 2008 and if I didn't email him in September. It would probably be full of regrets and I would be a complete 360 on the happiness spectrum. The first couple games I was sort of an outcast on the sidelines, but I couldn't blame the players. The probably forgot all about me since the last time I truly shot them week after week was in 2007. The freshmen were 7th graders, the JV were 8th graders, the junior players on Varsity were freshmen, and the senior players on Varsity were sophomores. Now they see me as a regular on the sidelines and never hesitate to move an inch over so I can squeeze through and many talk to me now or give a quick smile as I walk past. Even though I shot my first Frosh game a couple nights ago, they have already accepted me as a regular on the sidelines.

The whole point of this post was to type down the most important game of the year in Northern California down so I wouldn't forget about it. Allow me though to start off with the highlight of the Frosh game on Thursday, October 15 when none of us realized that Bobby Jackson from the Sacramento Kings (our crappy NBA team) was in DEL ORO'S STADIUM! Here is what I said to other people on my facebook: "Yeah! He has a nephew on the GB frosh team and was wandering around the back of the north goal with another guy and the refs were not happy about it. So they told Paris to tell him to get off. Paris was already pissed about the game, so he stormed over, Bobby or his friend told him they weren't leaving the track, Paris storms back, tells one of the sidelined frosh players to get Mr. White, Mr. White comes down, talks to Bobby and his pal, comes back and sheepishly tells us it was Bobby Jackson. Bobby and his pal went up and sat in our side of the stands for a few plays before disappearing. Everyone got a kick out of it though on the sidelines, even Mr. Powers! Who would have ever guessed that Bobby Jackson would be watching a football game, let alone a freshmen high school football game!"

Now allow me to jump back and forth from now on starting with the beginning of the season. In the beginning of the season, no one really knew how Del Oro would do. In 2007 the Varsity team only lost their two games to Granite Bay ending the season with an 11-2 record which ended at the SJS DII Championship game. In 2008, everything went downhill. The team did not get along well which the nation was able to witness on live television during the first game in Idaho. There were fights against their own team-mates during the entire game. They lost against the Idaho team and Del Oro crumbled to end the season 4-6 which included a heart-breaking loss agasint Granite Bay with a score of 50-8. At the end of the season, it was rumored that the head coach was going to put the 2008 quarterback's younger brother as quarterback next year (2009) as his replacement since he was going to graduate. I was pretty unsure about this because not only was this kid going to play as a junior, but his brother was not the greatest quarterback. Yes he was able to run, but he hesitated constantly which resulted in sacks or passes to imaginary players and overpowered his passes which sent the ball flying over his receiver's arms. Another worry was that half of the offense and defense on 1st string were going to be juniors. Sure we still had Bryce Pratt (senior) as our runningback and Freddie Cargile, Spencer Butterfield, Eddie Love, Travis Doupnik and a few other notable players playing as first string seniors, but I was dreading a repeat of last year and dreading having to photograph these games.

However, the first game came and Del Oro beat California High School which is a D1 team. Max Magelby (junior quarterback) not only proved to be quite the quarterback and opposite of his brother, but he was also a phenomenal leader. After he would play he would walk up and down the sidelines patting all the player and talking to each one of them regardless of what position they played or if they never played. Juniors Adrian Williams, Kenny Andri, Ryan Cope, Angelo Pasquale, Tyler Adair, and Derrick Luque also showed senior-like qualities. I think all the Del Oro fans sighed a little after this game, but still held in their breath as Del Oro marched to Santa Rosa to play the Bay Area power, Cardinal Newman. Del Oro too beat them as well as Franklin of Elk Grove, Merced, and Vintage.

After each game, the notion that Del Oro could possibly beat Granite Bay or not lose as bad as the two years before got stronger and stronger. Everyone on the sidelines acted as a leader and gave each other confidence which was a pleasure to witness on the sidelines. It also helped that Bryce is the exact replica of an Engergizer Bunny; he constantly hops all over the sidelines and yells at anyone who is about to go in with "encouragement". After the game against Franklin, I think it finally dawned on everyone in California that the game of the year was going to be the one against Granite Bay. The local newspaper, The Sacramento Bee, started writing article after article about the so-called nail-biting game and even wrote a huge article about Bryce Pratt. The hype in the week before the game was unbearable. Everywhere online there were comments about who was going, comparisons of both teams, predicting scores that were only a touchdown apart, and a break-down of both offenses and defenses. Everyone who followed high-school football knew that this game was going to be big, but nobody knew how big.

Every Friday since football season started I left at 5:00PM so I could make it in time for the JV kick-off at 5:15PM. The stadium parking lot isn't like any other stadium parking lot in Placer County; it's almost all dirt, long, and situated on a hill. Usually I park before the start of the hill so I can pull out and drive away easily and the majority of the time there are only a couple dozen cars parked in the parking lot. However, on Friday, October 16, that was an entirely different story. As I turned left into the entrance of the stadium parking lot, I almost slammed on my brakes at the scene I saw in front of me. There had to be a hundred cars or more already parked in the parking lot. The first thought that went through my head was "Oh. My. God." Actually, I said that out loud probably a dozen times as I snaked my way past the rows of cars before turning around and parking on the side next to the ditch. Everyone's afraid of the ditch, but my truck is a beast so I wasn't afraid.

Walking into the stadium was some what of a shocker. With that many cars in the parking lot I would have expected the stands to be almost filled, but that wasn't the case. It seemed like every person in the stands brought their own car. As the JV game went rolled on, the stands started to fill rapidly and were filled by halftime. This was the largest crowd ever at a JV game and although it was pretty awesome, there was a downfall; the noise was something the JV coaches were not use to. Usually when the coaches yelled at a player to get their attention on the field, everyone in the stadium could hear it, but this night was different. It was so loud that the coaches were sceaming at the top of their lungs and the players still couldn't hear them. It kind of went like this; "Bobby!" (a little louder) Bobby!" (a little bit more louder) BOBBY! (okay, let's try a different version of his name) BOB! (let's scream at the top of our lungs and say the name suuuper long while jumping up and down and waving our arms!) "BOBBYYYYYYYYYY!" Eventually the coaches had to give up because the players had to play, but the players didn't mind. They were stoked that the stands were filled during their game!

In the middle/end of the last quarter of the JV game, two school buses pulled up at the entrance of the stadium and an army of 80 or so boys marched out, all clad in silver uniforms and uniforms with a large 'G' on the sides. All of us on the Del Oro sidelines looked at each other in confusion because usually the visiting team arrives at the girl's locker rooms to get dressed and get ready. Not Granite Bay. They lined up at the end of the south goal (near the scoreboard) where their little JV players were trying to make a touchdown. No such luck for GB JV. They couldn't make the touchdown, but I think they tried for the field goal and got it. Del Oro's JV beat Granite Bay 23-8.

Although our JV won, I was absolutely freaking out inside. By this time, the stands were packed, the fenceline on top of the stands and a the track were packed, and almost the entire dirt lot on either side of the stadium were packed. There was an estimated 6000 people in the stadium that night and I'm sure that didn't include the fifty extra on the sideline. You knew it was a big game by just looking at who was on the sidelines. Steve Montoya (the main man from Maxpreps) was there, a reporter from ESPN was there, a SacBee photographer was there, News 10 and KCRA 3 were there, and so many others. I was dreading taking photos on the packed sidelines because it was already difficult to manuever through football players and coaches let alone a couple dozen photographers and reporters.

After that, the rest of the details are hazy because I wrote this too late after the game, so I will copy paragraphs from The Sacramento Bee and comment on them. For those who want to follow with photos, visit http://blueseal.smugmug.com/DelOroFootba
ll09/Varsity/DOvsGB, click on the info box, and look for the file name. I will put the file names after each sentence.

"Pratt capped an eight-play, 68-yard drive by scoring on a 14-yard run to open the game" - Holy cow, that was amazing. Spencer helped by catching a pass from Max (IMG_7028 and IMG_7030), but Bryce really fought against GB's defenders by spinning and then just pushing through them (IMG_7035 through IMG_7037). I was near the goal line and everyone was going insane. But in the back of my mind I was worried because this happened in the Championship game against GB; we scored the first touchdown and everything went downhill from there. The only thing I could do is cross my fingers and keep cheering our boys on while taking photos all at the same time.

Granite Bay got a touchdown and that's when Spencer went down. My heart dropped to my stomach as I watching him withering in pain while grabbing his left knee. Coach T ran out there immediately as well as the head trainer. Everyone was huddled around him so I couldn't see what was going on, but eventually he got up and walked off of the sidelines in immense pain. I could tell that he wanted to keep on playing regardless of the consequences that will happen later in life. After wrapping up his knee pretty good, he was back out on the field. I am just hoping that it isn't anything serious.

"The Golden Eagles used up nearly 10 minutes on a 16-play, 74-yard drive that ended with Max's two-yard touchdown dive with 4 minutes to play in the first half. It put Del Oro up 14-7." - I am so so SO proud of Max on this one! I honestly didn't know where the ball went until I saw Max getting tackled RIGHT at the goal line (IMG_7264).

"The 6-foot, 195-pound senior appeared to be going down near midfield after breaking through the middle of the line. But he regained balance without his knee touching the ground, squirted away from two Grizzlies and outran another the rest of the way to the end zone." - BEST PLAY OF THE GAME. I saw Bryce fumble the ball and I immediately put the camera down because usually when a player fumbles they just land on the ball to recover it right? Not with Bryce! It dropped and then bounced right back in his arms and he kept on running! I think the GB defenders knew he fumbled and faltered to look for the ball, but once they realized Bryce still had the ball and was RUNNING with it, it was too late. Amazing what a millisecond can do! (IMG_7391)


"After Pratt's breakaway to put the Golden Eagles up 21-14 with 6:40 to go in the third, Granite Bay tied it a third time, 21-21, when Keeney found tight end Matt Kasner open in the back of the end zone for a three-yard touchdown on fourth-and-goal with 3.6 seconds to play in the third quarter. The Grizzlies drove 49 yards in eight plays after of a Del Oro punt. Granite Bay got as close as the Del Oro 33 midway in the fourth quarter, but Keeney was the victim of dropped passes and the Grizzlies turned the ball over on downs." - That last pass could have been the winning touchdown for Granite Bay, but luckily the wide receiver for GB got blinded by the lights and the ball hit him right about the face-mask! That pass was so full of win! Everyone was absolutely dying of laughter on the Del Oro sidelines! Before this though, Max got sacked but tried to throw the ball away because he knew he was going to get sacked. I don't know what to think of it. Part of me thought it was a smart move just executed a little late, but the other thought...it didn't know what to think. After watching Maxprep's video, there wasn't a GB player over there, so it wouldn't have mattered.

"They ran 11 plays, in which Pratt carried nine times for 34 yards, setting up Ian Scott for a 35-yard field goal attempt with 7.6 seconds to play. But Scott's knuckling, line-drive attempt was too low." - Poor poor Ian. He had to watch Coach T run the clock down and the crowd was just insane. Cheering everywhere. I knew that Ian was trying to keep it cool, but I could tell that he was getting so flustered. I just hoped at that point that we would perform a miracle and win in overtime so Ian didn't do something horrible to himself after the game. (IMG_7499 through IMG_7502)

"Granite Bay got the ball first in overtime." - I actually like the tie-breaker. A team gets picked to go first and they start on the south goal's 10 yard line (facing the goal) and they have 4 downs to get a touchdown. If they get a touchdown the other team has a chance to get a touchdown too. If the other team gets a touchdown, then the first team has to get another touchdown and so on. If the first team does get a touchdown, the second team does, the first team gets another, but the second team doesn't, the first team wins. If the first team doesn't get a touchdown and neither does the second team, the first team to get a touchdown wins. If the first team doesn't get a touchdown but the second team does, then the second team wins. Got it? John McLemore (#54 from 2006) asked how this worked and I just looked at him thinking, "you frickin' did this in the Nevada Union game of 2006! That was the first year this tie-breaker thing happened! You know this!"

"Starting at the Del Oro 10, Devaunte Bolton went five yards, then Cory Brehm was gang tackled for a one-yard loss. On third and six, Pasquale intercepted Keeney's pass in the end zone." - I was ready to puke by this point, so I didn't get the epic photo of Angelo intercepting! Everyone went crazy including me! I wish I would have been able to see clearly so I could see the shock on the Granite Bay fan's faces because that would have been epic as well. I was just jumping up and down and screaming my head off!

"Pratt ran four yards on first down, then busted through a hole off tackle and scored the game-winner. That set off a wild celebration in which half of Loomis seemed to storm the field." - With a population of 6000, I'm pretty sure half of Loomis did storm the field. BUT HOLY COW. I don't know how I got a photo of the winning touchdown. I just couldn't believe it when I went through the play-back and there it was, the winning touchdown in my memory card! I just remember jumping like mad with my fist in the air while screaming my lungs out. The stadium just rocked with all of the cheering/screaming/yelling. (IMG_7511) But then everything came crashing down when the head trainer was helping Adrian Williams off of the field and the EMTs were ALREADY waiting for him with IV's and an oxygen mask. We figured he broke his rib(s) in the beginning of overtime, but he kept on playing. I hope Ian doesn't feel like it was his fault because it wasn't!

Another epic moment of the game was the traffic

This is a game that is going down in history. Both teams were equally matched and played really well. GB's coach, Ernie Cooper, was as one SacBee user called, "a one man circus show". He's an excellent coach, but he kept going onto the field and just yelling at the refs. Probably because he team wasn't winning, but jeez louise. If Coach T did that, I would be insanely embarrassed!

I am so proud of the Del Oro boys. If a heart could burst with pride, mine would have been blown out on Friday night. They have grown up so much since I last shot them as Frosh/JV players two years ago and I'm glad they are the come-back team after last year's mess. It has been such an honor to photograph these boys and I don't want it any other way.

In June my sister had her yearly dance recital and that always involves buying super expensive costumes that are only worn once. Usually the dance place has a photographer come out to take photos of the girls in the dance costumes, but the photographer backed out this year and there were no photos. So for the past three months my mom has been bugging me to take photos of my sister in her dance costumes and I pretty much had no inspiration (which meant very crappy photos) so I kept putting it off. Well, the past couple of weeks I came across a couple of AWESOME San Diego wedding photographer's blogs (Bobby Earle's and Orange Turtle Photography's) and became so so SO inspired! I pretty much had to drag my sister out to take photos because I was brimming with inspiration! So without further ado...

As usual, you can find more on my website under "Other" and then "Robyn!"

One more day until my second year of college starts. Oh boy...I am NOT excited. It was an excellent summer and I guess that's all I can ask for. I'm just crossing my fingers that I'll be able to get through all my photography assignments without exploding!

One day I will be able to post the rest of the photos from my trip, but right now it is a bit unbearable to look at them and realize those are just memories now. I miss driving across the entire country, seeing how other people live, the different cultures, basically what truck driver's get to witness week after week, month after month, and year after year. I miss being with the Thistlers regardless of the cliques that have been created over the years. I miss sailing everyday even though there wasn't much wind 90% of the time. I just miss it all.

I have to keep reminding myself that the past is the past and there is nothing I can do about it except to cherish the memories. What can I say? I am a wishy-washy girl.

My heart breaks...

http://sipayne.blogspot.com/2009/08/out.html

Poor poor Simon...at least he won a race and did pretty well with the others! :( I hope he will make a comeback and kick everyone's butts at next year's Worlds!

Connecticut Rain

I HAVE GUNS N' ROSES IN MY MUSIC COLLECTION!! What a big day for me! Lately I have been on this Guns N' Roses kick and there was no music to cure it, especially on the long drive across country. It seemed that the MidWest was on it's on kick with Aerosmith, so this is what my Dad and I listened to 90% of the time: country, Aerosmith, country, Aerosmith, talk radio, country, Aerosmith, commercials, country, Aerosmith, Lady Gaga, country, Aerosmith. Although it seemed logical to fix this kick with a few purchases from iTunes, I did not want to shell bucks out for songs I never heard of. BUT - I just went through my Dad's massive black hole of a CD collection and found the only Guns N' Roses CD he had; "Use Your Illusion I"! I found a cure!

Plus I got a new cell phone yesterday! It is a dark blue LG enV3 and it has been five years since I had a new cell phone so the first few hours with it I was pretty lost. Now I know how older folk feel when trying to send their first email or turn on a computer! But there are some similarities that my old phone had, so that made me super happy. I loved my old phone, but now it's somewhere in JFK Airport, a dump, or a hooker's breaking down hotel room in the Bronx after picking it up from the Airport. I know though at this very moment that it has indeed died and lived a very happy life except for when I dropped it a few thousand times, lost it at a horse show, poured hot boiling water on it (by accident!), and dropped it for the last time somewhere in JFK Airport. Rest in peace dear cell phone, rest in peace.

Back onto the subject of pluses, my family is going to Morrow Bay, CA for another sailing event! Although it's not a Thistle regatta, it's on the water, deals with boats, is contaminated by loony sailors, and has a vast amount of underwater wildlife! Yessss...

Okay, the main subject about this post was to cover the list I created at the bottom of the last post. Obviously I got sidetracked which I'm good at. Anyways, I will continue this post with sections so I can't get sidetracked, but we know I will somehow!

Our Host: When my Dad and I were driving across the country, I had no clue who our host was or what type of house we were going to invade for a week. All I knew was that her name was Jackie, she was a widow, and she was just a drive from the yacht club. So I began to create these images of what Jackie would look like. The only Jackie I knew who would be old enough to be widowed would be Jackie Kennedy Onassis, so I based my look around her only with a more modern look. The house? I really had no clue on what an East Coast house would look like.

So at o'dark thirty, my Dad and I finally drove up to a large, Atlantic Ocean blue, two story house that was shaped exactly like a rectangle. The two car garage was on the left, short side end of the house and the walk-way connected to the drive-way. The front yard was small and the walk-way was flanked by green shrubs and some pretty pink flowers before stopping at the entrance.

With bags in tow, my Dad rang the doorbell and we stood for a moment before the door opened and revealed our host for the week. Honestly, I was a bit taken aback from what I saw. In front of us was an older woman, probably in her early seventies and stood about two or three inches shorter than me. She wasn't thin, nor was she fat and she had white wispy hair that was cropped at the end of her scalp. Although her blue eyes were incredibly youthful, I didn't know how much energy she had until she started talking. Unlike most older folk, Jackie has an incredibly loud and joyous laugh that bounces off all the walls. She talks with such excitement and happiness that one would never guess that she has been a widow for half a decade. This was a woman who also doesn't let age get to her by walking to the yacht club everyday which is about a 25 minute trek and sails in all the Wednesday races!

Jackie's house also surprised me as well. Unlike all the posh and modern houses surrounding her house, time pretty much stood still inside. It was like I took a step into the sixties or seventies. The furniture, carpet, wall paper, and appliances were at least thirty years old. Even the sheets and medications in the cabinets were that old. The walls though were adorned with Jackie's passion; sailing. There were dozens of professional photographs of her boat, "Obsession", on both levels and many paintings and posters of sailboats. The room I slept in was on the top floor next to Jackie's and it was a bit more modern, but only because Jackie's daughter complained when she visited.

But the house matched Jackie and Jackie matched the house, so the ages of either really didn't matter to us anymore, just that we were welcomed in by such a loving and caring woman.

Black Duck: I believe this was on Saturday. Definitely not Sunday or Monday, but it could be Friday, but one of those days we had our first taste of a Connecticut restaurant! The Bagpipe editor, Kevin Arrow, wanted us to go to the Black Duck with a "few" other Thistlers. We said, sure, why not? It sounded like any ordinary bar and Kevin was super duper nice (and so was his daughter Katie), so we took off after Kevin. We found out that it was only a couple minutes from Jackies and that it was spotlighted on Food Network's popular show, "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives." That wasn't so nice. It was absolutely packed, and I wished I could have blamed it on the show's popularity, but it was also packed to the brim with Thistlers.

Like always, I immediately got distracted. The moment we walked in there was a large big screen TV in front of us and of all the things to watch, there were the X-Games! "OOOOOOO!! X-GAMES MOM!! LOOK!! X-GAMES!!" So that's what I watched during our thirtiesh minute wait for our table. Although during the commercials I did take a glance around the place. It was an incredibly mall bar/restaurant, probably less than 1000 square feet and it was paint all black. I think. There were knick knacks all around from Connecticut and such, but I really didn't pay attention to those because I was observing either the Thistlers or the X-Games.

Eventually, our family of four and the two Arrows were finally seated next to and diagonally to more Thistlers. Sometimes during the commercials I was trying to remember if I watched the episode of "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives" with the Black Duck in it, but I just couldn't remember the episode. Once the menu came out and I saw the bleu cheese burger, the entire episode flooded into my memory. Usually restaurants who make burgers with bleu cheese just sprinkle the bleu cheese on top of the burger, but not the Black Duck! They actually stuff the bleu cheese INSIDE the burger! So guess what I ordered? ;)

The burger was to die for. The bleu cheese was melted just right in the burger and it was so good that I actually ate at turtle speed. I had to savor every bite because for once, the TV didn't lie! I will definitely remember that burger forever and ever. The other meal I will always remember from the Black Duck was Katie Arrow's; she ordered the $22 lobster!

Sorry folks, but I believe this post is long enough. The next post I will finish the list and create a new list because I have more photos to post! 'Til next time, rock on with Axl Rose!

At this very moment I am sitting at gate 17 in terminal 5 at JFK Airport in Jamaica, New York. Our flight has been delayed by an hour and ten minutes and we have been sitting here since, oh, I don't know, 5 o'clock? Regardless, I am getting pretty sleepy. We had dinner at one of the terminal's nice sit-down restaurants. After eating a goat cheese and bacon pizza, there is no wonder why I am getting sleepy!

My last post was full of depression and frustration, but I am happy to report that my first Nationals ended with happiness! We did have one more bad race with a 26th finish, but it was nice to see that one of the top sailors, Greg Fisher, was right with us. But after that, we just didn't care what our placing was anymore. Just sail and have a great time. With this mind-set, we were really loose and calm. I found myself in the 5th race cheering on everyone in front of us which I never do! We finished in 20th which I was thrilled about because we were in the top 20 of that race instead of the bottom 20!

We were able to cram a 6th race after the 5th race and we had a pretty good start. Well, except we got boxed in at the last moment by a motley crew of young boys. But we tacked off and finally got a lane of clean air. After pestering my dad to follow God aka David Dellenbaugh who won almost every race by that point, my dad finally started to think like God. We had excellent roll-tacks, jibes, sets, and it helped so much. Soon we were passing boats and we finished in 11th place!

The last race was bittersweet because it was the last race. It was truly a dream come true to go sailing day after day instead of a couple times every month or more. All 79 boats were greeted with WIND!! Although there was some nasty slop n' chop, the wind created an incredible ride. The downwind legs were absolutely insane and at some point it felt like we were flying but getting buckets of water thrown at us. I was encrusted with salt before we were halfway done with the race! Once again we gained and passed on quite a few boats before crossing the finish line in 11th place!

With a great end to this regatta, my Mom, Dad, and I were content on our 16th overall out of 84 boats. Well, I think I'm more content on our placing than my mom, but then again, this is was my first Nationals!

Well, our plane has FINALLY arrived! So I will end this post with a list of what I should talk about in the next post; Thursday night shenanigans, Black Duck, banquet, Stew Leonards, host, and everything else. Talk to you all in Portland, Oregon!

Quick update: We didn't do so hot today. First race we got a tenth I believe. Second race we got boxed in at the start, got fouled and had to do a 720 degree circle, and got a 28th. NOT good. But surprisingly we are in 19th place (out of 84 boats) overall because of our lovely first yesterday. Greg Fisher is in first...no surprise.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. Hopefully we will have the same (or better) wind like today's. Hopefully.

I am absolutely exhausted. I would tell you why I am, but let me back up a few hours.

Yesterday we were suppose to have a practice race. This would allow the skipper and the crew to figure out how to exactly sail in the Atlantic Ocean. Figure out the wind, the water, the current, etc. Well, the clouds started rolling in and the moment the skipper's meeting started, it rained! It sprinkled, the sprinkles turned into rain, and the rain turned into a torrential downpour. So as predicted, the practice race was canceled.

All of us were bummed, but my parents needed to go through all the trophies and see if all the trophies were there. Half of the trophies were at another guy's house, so we had to drive to his house and see the trophies he had. Robyn and I didn't mind because the guy and his wife had two of the cutest dogs ever. One was named Lola who was a golden lab-dachshund-pit bull-hound dog from Puerto Rico. The other was a cockerpoodle who was also cute but not as affectionate as Lola. Lola would just lick our faces until we left!

We eventually came back to Cedar Point Yacht Club for the Opening Ceremonies, but that was all a blur. So I will fast forward to today.

This morning my dad and I drove to the yacht club at 7:30AM to get the boat ready and get the first spot at the hoists. Fast-forward three hours and my parents and I were on the water for the hour-long trip to the starting line. I couldn't believe how many boats were really our there. I'm use to 80+ boats out on the water, but all 80+ boats were ALL Thistles! I didn't really expect to do well in today's races, but that was just me.

All 82 boats were divided up into four different fleets. There was the blue fleet, the yellow fleet (us), the green fleet, and the red fleet. So for race one yellow would race the green (Division One) and the blue would race the red (Division Two). That way we wouldn't have 82 boats on the start line and it would be easier to divide the boats into the Championship and President divisions for the later races during the week.

So we were the first race. We sailed in barely any wind and during the last leg and a half the wind completely died and the race was abandoned. But we were in third place. THIRD PLACE. We couldn't believe it. Greg Fisher and Mike Ingham were in front of us which was surprising since they won Nationals for years. But it didn't matter anymore because the race was over and they didn't win and we didn't get third.

All 82 boats were towed back to the starting line and we drifted for an hour until the wind picked up. Once again we started and in the crappiest place ever. We started about two seconds after the horn blew but surprisingly we were in second place. The wind was super light so we kind of made our way up to the first mark and somehow we were in first place when we rounded the first mark. I didn't believe that our placing would last, but it did. Greg and Mike were behind us. So were many other professional sailors. Sure they inched up behind us yard after yard, but we were first all the way through the finish line.

We don't believe it I think. Nobody else does either. I'm currently sitting next to the results board and everyone keeps on saying, "GILLUM?! Are you FREAKING kidding me?!" I don't think anybody ever really thought of us as a threat since we sail in California. But now I think we gave them a nasty punch in the face. We beat Skip Dieball (pro), Greg Fisher (pro), the Kitchin clan, Mike Ingham, and so many more. Now people are actually acknowledging me which is nice. Most still don't know I'm a Gillum which is why they are making surprised remarks right next to me, but who cares.

I don't know how we will do during the next few days, but I'm not expecting another win. This was a sweet sweet 15 minutes of fame...it certainly was. :)

For those who are reading, I am terribly sorry for such the delay! The second day of the trip ended at a hotel with cruddy wi-fi and only had time to update my status on facebook. But here I am, at Cedar Point Yacht Club in Westport, CT with wi-fi, my laptop, and photos! So here is the post of day two...

First off, I forgot to say that I passed an alpaca farm yesterday in Utah that Mike Rowe (from “Dirty Jobs”) did a job at! I couldn’t figure out why it looked so familiar until I remembered the episode and it all clicked!

Once again, I am typing in the car only this time I am somewhere in Illinois! This drive was less boring than yesterday’s because there was much more vegetation. Last night we went though the most hellacious storm I have ever been in and just as I wished, Tony Schumacher’s semi passed us! We couldn’t wave because it was dark and completely stormy. Lightning was flashing everywhere and it rained so hard that we could barely see. Plus the west-bound lane had to use one of our lanes, so it was like driving down a two lane road at 70mph in the worst storm. It definitely woke us up!


The sunrise in Laramie, Wyoming at 5:40AM.

After a restless night’s sleep in Laramie, Wyoming, Dad and I left at 6:30AM (Mountain Time) in a chilly 48 degrees.


Wyoming’s hills had hundreds of these drift breakers. It kind of took away the beauty of the scenery, but oh well. The scenery was pretty nevertheless.


More wind turbines! Dad and I were hoping to race past the storm that was brewing.

I was absolutely exhausted, so about twenty minutes into the trip I quickly fell back to sleep. When I woke up about fifty minutes later we were in Nebraska! (I interrupt this service announcement with a HOLY CRAP!! A semi almost collided right into us while trying to change lanes. Obviously didn’t know we were there…that would have hurt really bad!)


I have to admit, Nebraska looked EXACTLY like Wyoming!

We stopped for breakfast at the nicest Mickey D’s I have ever been to! The architecture was super cool, the bathroom stall walls went all the way to the ground, and it was immaculately clean. It was a weird experience though because all twenty or so customers in the place were all ranchers…I’ve never seen a rancher in a Mickey D’s ever!


Unfortunately, the storm we were trying to outrace snuck around us. My Dad and I could only hope that it wasn’t as bad as the night before!


It wasn’t that bad. The rain only attacked us like there was no tomorrow only for a few minutes and then it just sprinkled for the rest of the hour. I now know why all the Mid-western states are so green though!

I took a few more naps and the rest of the time I either studied the maps or observed outside the window.


The Archway Museum in Nebraska. Mike Poltorak said that we absolutely had to stop and go through this museum, but we didn’t have the time. :( Supposedly this is where the Lewis and Clark trail, the Pony Express, Utah trail, and all the other country-changing trails crossed.


Once again, I fell asleep and when I woke up we were in Iowa!


Just like in Wyoming, there were TONS of wind turbines! Only this time there were really close to the road and we were able to see their massiveness.


Everyone wasn’t kidding; Iowa grows plenty of corn! But I was expecting to be bored out of my mind after seeing acres after acres of corn farms. Not the case!


More wind turbines!


Iowan horse butts!


We stopped in Casey, Iowa to get gas. Casey looked like it was quite a town decades ago, but not it is pretty deserted except for the gas station.


Unlike the sister photo of this photo, there is greenery!


My Dad and I laughed at this sign so hard!


Unlike Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, and most of Nebraska, the Iowa troopers were out in force! Fortunately, they found no reason to pull us over.

We have almost two hours until we reach our destination in Portage, Indiana. We saw miles of gorgeous scenery, the Iowa Speedway with all the semis and RVs piling in for this weekend’s match, ranchers, more wind turbines, crop-dusters, the world’s largest truck stop, and the Mississippi River. It was definitely a good day! Tomorrow we finally reach Norfolk, Connecticut!

Just to let you know, day one isn’t over. Right now my dad and I are on Interstate-80 in good ol’ Wyoming and we are miles away from entering an…interesting I guess I would call it…thunderstorm. There is lightning just flashing all around us and there is supposedly 50mph winds and golf-ball size hail. Great part about this is that our hotel in Laramie is right in the center of the storm. We’ll see if we make it without getting electrocuted, pounded, or flipped over. Guns N’ Roses is playing “Paradise City” which is quite suiting for this storm.

This morning we did not leave at 5 o’clock in the morning like I planned to and woke up at o’dark-thirty (aka 4AM) and instead left at 6:30AM. Our chariot made it through the Sierra Nevadas, which was our main worry. We drove through Reno, which was quite interesting. The last time I been through Reno was a few years ago and I was there to look at a Thoroughbred, so I didn’t pay too much attention to the scenery since my nose was stuck in the Pony Club handbook.


Reno!

And then we drove past Nevada. And there was nothing. Well, there was some shrubbery and hills, but other than that, nada. I did see some wild horses which I have never seen in my life and that was the last exciting thing in Nevada.


I have to say, even though Nevada is boring, it was quite photogenic!

The van isn’t very fuel efficient with a double decker trailer, boats packed with sailing gear, and the van loaded with bags and other sailing crap. So we had to take many gas stops. One was at a town in Nevada called “Lovelock!”


Lovelock, Nevada. I washed the van’s windshield, which was a first for me! It was a crappy sponge/squeegee because the squeegee left many many streaks. But that amused my dad and the bikers, so I guess it was worth it. The gas station was located in “Lover’s Lock Plaza.” Uh-huh…

Nevada kept going on and on and on and on. I didn’t mind observing, but goodness, it’s pretty plain!


I have to admit, the scenery did become pretty at times!


And my spurs go jingle jangle jingle as I go riding merrily along…


Nothing…nothing…nothing…CLOUDS!! Nevada had some pretty clouds. Thanks to the windshield for the vignetting.


A LOT of I-80 was under construction, so they blocked off one lane, which usually made dad very angry. Oh well. This happened in California, Nevada (shown here), Utah, and Wyoming.

Then came the most amazing sight, SALT FLATS!! That meant Utah was coming up!


Still in Nevada, but the white stuff over there are the salt flats and that meant Utah! That meant we were getting out of Nevada! I was practically bouncing out of my seat until a few minutes later…


…I realized that it was another hundred or more miles of nothingness.


The salt flats did capture my attention for quite a long time. I was fascinated of the mirages, how the salt flats created, looking at the distant mountains to figure how deep the old sea was, etc.

A nap and a few hours later we entered the great Salt Lake City. Which reminded me of Sacramento. Why?


TRAFFIC! This would probably be somewhere in SoCal with the traffic and mountains in the background.


I couldn’t lie though; Salt Lake City was pretty. Park City was even prettier with the mountains, lush meadows, Olympic ski runs, and uber expensive houses, strip malls, and schools. The middle school looked like an aero-space museum! Tons of glass and wood everywhere. And the horses and cows were in absolute heaven. Lush grass EVERYWHERE!

The rest of the trip was filled with the prettiest rock formations and clouds!


Somewhere outside of Prairie City, Utah. I can finally imagine the old seas covering the US now. Finally!

Last weekend there was a drag race in Sonoma and all the drag-racing semi’s carrying the vehicles and equipment were going back up to Indiana to prepare for the next race in Minnesota. One of the semis we passed was Tony Schumacher’s who got second and was sponsored by the US Army. We passed by his semi and his semi passed us. This went on all through Nevada and most of Utah until we lost him going to Salt Lake City. Well, when we got into Wyoming guess what we saw?


Our driving buddy!


When they passed us after we passed them, both guys waved and smiled. So we played the leap-frog game until we started going up the hill. Then they fell back and I think that is the last time we will ever see them. It was so cool and fun though!


Only in Wyoming… :D The city was NOT called “Pyro City”! There were just four firework places all at the same exit!


Also in Wyoming was a huge wind-turbine farm! They were huge! I remember watching Mike Rowe from “Dirty Jobs” do a job cleaning a turbine and I never realized how big they were until he stood on the top of one of them.


The plateau the wind-turbine farm was sitting one.


The coolest cloud on the trip with the sun behind it in gorgeous Wyoming.

Wyoming has the coolest rock formations EVER! I couldn’t stop staring at them!


Ugh, they were gorgeous! To the left were three riders trail riding and I was completely green with envy. Who wouldn’t want to trail ride next to and inbetween these formations?!


Look at all those layers! And you can see where the old sea’s water line was which is SO cool!


Okay, I am done with rock formation geekiness. Promise. I cross my heart, hope to die, and will poke a finger in my eye!


A calm Wyoming evening. * snorts * Yeah right…

So that is day one. Tomorrow I am expecting lots of corn as we go through Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, and stop for the night in Indiana. I’m off to go and watch the lightning storm now! Oh, we just crossed the Continental Divide! 7000 feet in elevation…kind of like Huntington!

The ships come sailing in

Four o'clock in the morning is an awful hour to wake up. I don't know how anyone does it. I just woke up six minutes ago and my eyelids keep drooping. My dad said that we are leaving for Connecticut in an hour, but we will honestly see about that. If we don't leave at five o'clock...I don't want to think about it.

According to the itinerary my mom whipped up for our drive, we should arrive in Laramie, Wyoming in 16 hours (hopefully). Oi! The longest I have ever been in a car was nine hours and that was still in state (to San Diego earlier this summer). I can't imagine what it's going to be like to sit in a car for 15 hours! Granted I'll be driving some (hopefully), but still... Second day we'll be driving another 15 hours (hopefully) and arrive in Portage, Indiana. Third day will be our last day and we should arrive in our final destination, Westport, Connecticut (hopefully)! There chaos will ensue and hopefully I will have the time of my life!

I downloaded a number of new podcasts (all educational thankyouverymuch), brought reading material such as National Geographic, The Smithsonian, and Air & Space (all educational thankyouverymuch), brought all my camera supplies including all my lenses and laptop, and quite a few yummy snacks (mom bought and packed those! thank you dear mother!). That should keep me occupied for awhile! If not, watching the world go by holds my attention for hours which is a gift! Especially with all this new scenery!

Well, I guess I should get going. I still need to pee, eat breakfast, get beautified, dress myself, feed the caballos, and get all the electronics as well as my toiletries into the chariot. Oh yeah, and my driver's license too!

The chariot in question?

Sexay thang, isn't it? Van and bottom boat is Brian B's and the trailer and top boat is ours. The stupid kit lens made the van a LOT bigger than it really is. I'll have to take a new picture sometime...

Need a bucket of goats?

When nobody dies...

The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.
- Elbert Hubbard

In two days I might be going on the craziest ride of my life. In two days I might have my last supper of my life. In two days I might actually drive the farthest ever in my life. In two days my dad and I are going to situate ourselves in a dull sage green Chrysler (or Dodge, I always forget to look at the symbol on the grill) mini-van with a double-decker boat in tow and hopefully make the 2848.14 mile trip from our small town in the valley to the East Coast get-a-way called Westport, Connecticut. Well, at least it looks like a get-a-way from all the photos I have seen, but that's IF we make it to Westport, Connecticut.

I've never driven a trailer before. Okay, I have, but it was in a parking lot and it wasn't even a fourth of a mile long. With my luck, I'll probably forget that the trailer is even attached to the mini-van, not take a turn wide or change lanes in a car-size space, and plow into an innocent bystander. Hm. I better tell my dad to put our dear and beloved boat (#1010) in the top bunk of the double-decker!

But I keep trying to tell myself that I'll do fine. As long as we're not in a city during rush-hour, a tornado crosses the freeway, or there's a stampede of cops, I'll do fine. I'll be the one going the speed limit because it hasn't been eighteen months since my last ticket. We won't go into that though.

What am I doing for the times my dad is driving? Well, I plan to observe the scenery outside of my window the entire time since I'm very good at doing that. I will have my iPod Touch with me and I will probably alternate between songs and podcasts. I only have three of PRI's "This American Life" podcasts left, so I have all of NPR's Radio Diaries podcasts stuffed in as well a a podcast on the Battle of Midway, a segment on how we remember, biographies on Paul Newman and Gypsy Rose Lee, as well as a couple podcasts on the history of Rome. I know I'll do some last minute searching for new and interesting podcasts to hold my attention as I observe.

Of course I will bring my camera case which will be filled with all my lenses, camera body, and laptop to keep all of you at home up-to-date on everything that is going on during my two week trip. I cannot imagine what a pain in the monkey's butt it will be to get all of that through security when we fly to Oregon and back home! But hopefully it will be worth it. I hope it will be worth it. It will be worth it because not only are we getting out of the awful state called California, but we are going to Thistle Nationals AND the lovely state called Oregon!

At least there's something to look forward to to get my mind off of driving...

Funny the way it is
If you think about it
One kid walks 10 miles to school
Another’s dropping out
Funny the way it is, not right or wrong
On a soldier’s last breath
His baby is being born

Standing on a bridge
Watch the water passing under me
It must have been much harder
When there was no bridge just water
Now the world is small
Compared to how it used to be
With mountains and oceans and winters
And rivers and stars

"Funny The Way It Is" by Dave Matthews Band

I feel like a horrible person. I don't want Cid anymore. I don't want Cid anymore to the point where I look at him with disgust. I view him as some nerdy kid who no one wants to date or ask to the prom. I want to price him at $1000 just so he can be gone from my life, but it would probably save us money just to put him down. I am a horrible person.

And today I screwed up majorly. Today I planned to go team-penning, but that never happened because the place who hosts the team-penning was closed. I knew I should of called because I kept having this nagging feeling at the pit of my stomach that they were closed. So what do I do? I make my parents haul two horses and three other innocent people all the way out to Lincoln for nothing. My mother said not to worry about it, but I'm still hitting myself for not calling. I am a horrible person.

So what do I do? I take all my irritation out on poor Handi who I'm already screwing up to begin with. I don't know crap about training horses honestly and I'm just hurting Handi's chances of selling because of this stupid illusion that I can train a semi-trained horse like Handi. In this economy I don't want to shell out the money for lessons or training. It would be best for me just to go out on trail rides with Handi, but I don't want to do that. I want to stand up straight with my shoulders back and say, "Look! I trained this awesome horse!" But in reality, he should already be finished right now. And he's not. He's not even halfway there. I can't hurt him like this anymore. He belongs to a better person than me; one who knows what they are doing or can finish him properly. So up goes the sale ads tomorrow. I am a horrible person.

I could go on and on about crap about myself in other aspects of my life, but I'm just hurting other people at this point and I don't want to add that onto my list. I don't know how I manage to ride horses and sail with my parents without the luck fading. It's all luck, not talent or skill. I don't know why luck keeps handing itself to me on a silver platter when it should just slap me on the face and say, "HEY! Try harder in life because I keep having to save your butt!"

I'm a coward for letting this all out instead of lifting up my chin and making a difference. I guess I am by selling Handi, but I view that as giving up. This whole post is about giving up I suppose because I can't kid myself any longer. But I bet you anything that two days later I'm all happy and cheery again. Depression doesn't last long for me anymore, just an hour or two and that's it.

I am a horrible person or I'm just PMSing. Although I hope I'm just PMSing, I know what I said above is true. I have known it since the beginning but I have just been lying to myself and accepting the luck as it comes along.

Nevermind.