AAA NASCAR day

As well as providing breakdown services, the AAA (US version of the Automobile Association) was the association that helped pioneer & officiate motorsports in the US until 1955. They are still involved with motorsports & our local office was hosting the No. 6 AAA Ford Fusion NASCAR Sprint Cup car driven by David Ragan in advance of the NASCAR racing over the river in Illinois at the Gateway racetrack. The vehicle is prepared by Jack Roush Racing (Roush are famous for modifying new Ford Mustangs & F-150 pickups that can be bought directly from Ford) which in February 2007 became Roush Fenway Racing. This is now NASCAR’s largest team operating 13 motorsports teams, five in NASCAR Sprint Cup, five in the Busch Series, & three in the Craftsman Truck Series. Roush Fenway Racing is one of only four teams to win a championship in all three major NASCAR divisions, including the 2003 & 2004 NASCAR Sprint Cup champions.

One of the actual No. 6 Fusion race cars was on display (not just a mock-up) along with a matching transporter trailer & F-350 pickup tow vehicle. There was also one of AAA's NASCAR racing simulators that both Cheryl & I had a go on to see if we could get the fastest lap time & win a prize. Although this just looked like a PC & large screen with a steering wheel & pedals in a fancy enclosure, it was actually considerably more sophisticated with the sound level in the driver's seat is being the same as a NASCAR driver would experience, force-feedback steering, & seat vibrations to simulate what you would feel in the real car. There were also plenty of activities & sweepstakes inside the office which Beth took part in & just for attending the event both Cheryl & I got a free aluminium travel mug each which means that we can now enjoy our coffee or other drinks on the move without wearing them!

Fireworks & fun at Mary's & Tony's

Our friends, Mary & Tony, invited us to their house for a fun-filled, very noisy, party, which generally comprised:

1) Shoot guns
2) Eat (dinner)
3) Shoot guns
4) Eat again (desert)
5) Look at/pet/chase the chickens
6) Watch seriously impressive fireworks (from a way too close distance!)

Most of the guys spent the day at Tony's new & improved shooting range, with a couple of the girls also joining in. One of Tony's friends, Mikey, brought along some of his new acquisitions & I got to try a couple of his pistols & his AK47 assault rifle. I also got to shoot some of Tony's guns, including his AK47 & CZ57 pistol. This was the oldest pistol there (dating from the late 1940s, I believe) but looks like something James Bond would use due to the style & way that Tony restored it. Tony quite likes British Enfield rifles & was searching through his British ammunition when he found some ammo from World War Two. He set this aside to ensure that the 'Brit' got to shoot the British rifle with the British ammunition. The ammo may have been just over 60 years old but it still had a serious kick to it & as I fired the rifle you could see the shockwave created in the dusty ground as the bullet passed above - insane!

Mary has been raising chickens so that she can have fresh eggs on demand. The 'chooks' as we insisted on calling them had just been moved into their hen house & enclosure. We got to have a look at them & even named a few (take a bow Paxo, Bisto, & Cadbury). Beth, Cheryl, Mary, & Christine & Stephanie (the twins that Mary used to work with) also picked some of the chickens up to pet them. We also helped out with making sure that all of the birds returned to the chook house for the evening to ensure that they were safe from potential predators present out in the 'sticks'.

Mikey brought some fireworks for the evening entertainment, but these weren't your usual fireworks. Two hours setting up radio controlled, reinforced mortar tubes in the front garden ensured a huge display for us & probably all the neighbours within at least a 10-mile radius! The fireworks were absolutely stunning but there were times when it did seem that we were perhaps just a little bit to close to the huge explosions just a few feet away from us that were sending fireworks into the Stratosphere!

Poms Summer Camp

Beth attended the Rockwood Summit High School (go Falcons!) poms camp. This was a week long camp which Beth did during her summer vacation in addition to the poms & cheerleading that she usually does on a weekly basis with 'Young Champions of America'. The high school cheerleaders & cheerleading coach taught the girls a number of chants & cheerleading routines which Beth really enjoyed learning & performing. On the last day of the camp, student's parents were invited to the showcase where the girls put on a display of the cheers & dance routines that they had learnt.

How big is your ketchup bottle?

On the way back from the Hot Rod Nationals, we took a detour through Collinsville to eat at Lotawata Creek Southern Grill. The weather was perticularly bad on the way home with heavy rain, lighning, & thunder, & so we were keeping an eye on the skies. However, what we weren't prepared for was a huge ketchup bottle appearing up in the sky as we passed through Collinsville on Rte 159.


The ketchup bottle is actually a 170 ft tall, 100,000 gallon water tower that was built in 1949 by the W.E. Caldwell Company for the G.S. Suppiger catsup bottling plant, who were the bottlers of 'Brooks® Old Original Rich & Tangy Catsup' (ketchup). The bottle fell into disrepair after the factory closed, but in 1995 the Catsup Bottle Preservation Group raised sufficent funds to restore this landmark roadside attraction its original appearance. In August of 2002 the bottle was included in the US National Register of Historic Places.

We went to the 10th Brooks® World's Largest Catsup Bottle® Festival - Birthday Party & Car Show, which is an annual event held at the American Legion Post 365 in Collinsville. There were plenty of ketchup related activities & events including a ketchup tasting (Beth successfully chose the Brooks brand & so won a badge & ribbon), a ketchup bottle ice sculpture, a ketchup bottle photoboard (with an opening for you to put your head in so you could become the ketchup bottle), party games, & food (all served with tomato ketchup). There were also quite a few cars & bikes on show, plus Beth got to meet two of the St Louis Rams' chearleaders. After we left the fetival, we headed to the bottle to get a close up look at it. It is at the bottom of a hill so as you travel south from Collinsville it appears to float in the air due the the trees on either side of the road & it is only when you get to the bottom of the hill that you see that the bottle is actually on a tower.

More flags, more fun - Six Flags!

Over the memorial Day weekend we went to Six Flags St Louis. This is an amusement park located in Eureka & includes a 12-acre waterpark & rollercoaster/ride park. It originally opened in 1971 & was the third park in the Six Flags chain.

The weather was great, with temperatures in the nineties & continual sunshine so we headed straight for Hurricane Harbour (the waterpark). This is approximately 12-acres in size & includes a 560,000-gallon, 30,000 square foot wave pool (which also has an 80-feet tall 'steaming' volcano!) & numerous water rides. After a brief swim in the Hurricane Bay wave pool, the first 'ride' we went on was 'Gulley Washer creek' which is an 1,100-feet long lazy river that you float down on an inflatable ring. Beth really enjoyed this so we ended up riding it twice. Next stop was the 'Tube slides' which comprise four 400-feet long, five-storey high waterslides. The last ride we went on in the waterpark was 'The Big Kahuna' which is a six storey high waterslide that you slide down on an oversized inflatable that seats five.

Food is quite pricey at the park so we brought a picnic which we ate in the car (with the air-con on high since the temperature & humidity was increasing). We had planned to eat lunch under a nearby tree, but by the time we got back to the car every last spot of shade was already in use by other families also eating their lunch outside the park!

We spent the afternoon entirely in the rollercoaster/ride park. The Evel Knievel rollercoaster had just opened & so this was a 'must do', but firstly we went on the Log Flume. This has two different six-storey high tracks & the 'hollowed log' boats for each course leave together so you race each other. There are a number of small drops on the ride & some sharp twists & turns & then a final huge drop that gives everyone a good soaking. Next stop was Evel Knievel. This is Six Flags latest ride & is a high-speed wooden rollercoaster. To celebrate the opening of the rollercoaster, Robbie Knievel (Evel's son) broke his own record & jumped over 25 Dodge Chargers on a motorbike in the Six Flags parking lot a couple of days before we went (the jump ramp was still in the parking lot). We then slowed things down & went on the 'Scooby-Doo: Mystery of the Scary Swamp' ride. This is a float ride & each person is provided with a 'laser gun'. The ride is in a tunnel & as you float along there are numerous targets that you get points for shooting. 'Tony Hawk’s Big Spin' was next. The carriages rotate through 360 degrees & the track is designed to ensure that they spin as much as possible whist moving along the track. Most rollercoasters have a location where your photo is taken, but the Big Spin takes it one step further & videos you for the entire ride. The videos are then available for purchase on DVD at the end of the ride. The next ride (for Beth) was the 'Highland Fling'. This is a horizontal wheel that spins the carriages out so that they are also horizontal & then the entire wheel lifts up into a vertical position! We then went on the 'Screamin’ Eagle' which is a three-quarter-mile long wooden roller coaster that once held a Guinness World record for the top speed of 62 mph. We made our way to the 'Tidal Wave' but en-route we took a detour to ride the park's first ever rollercoaster, the 'River King Mine Train'. The 'Tidal Wave' is a log flume on steroids. The boats each seat 20-people & the drop is five storeys high into a 300,000 gallon pool which not only soaks everyone on the ride but also sends a massive wave of water over the exit bridge where insane people (like Beth) stand to get wet! We ended our day at the park with a sedate ride on 'Colossus' which is an 18-story tall Ferris wheel.

Culver's Car Show July 2008

Culver's is a fast food chain which is famous for it's 100% beef 'ButterBurgers' & their frozen custard & 'concretes'. The Pharaohs Car Club holds a monthly cruise/show at the Arnold Culver's restaurant so I thought that I would check it out to see if there were many different vehicles at this 'south county' show compared to those that regularly attend the Memories Car Club Sunset Hills show. The weather was really sunny & very hot which ensured a large enough turn-out of vehicles to completely fill the Culver's parking lot & overspill into the parking lot for the strip mall behind the restaurant. There was a large variety of vehicles on display & unlike the Memories Club show there is not an age limit for vehicles so there were also modern cars on display, one of which was a Dodge Viper GTS Coupe belonging to one of my co-workers. There was also a brand new Dodge Challenge SRT-8. This is retro-styled (similar to the current Mustang) & is a modern version of the 1969/1970 Dodge Challenger.

Truck Nationals 2008

We have been to quite a few car shows in the US, so I thought that it was about time that we diversified. The 2008 Truck Nationals had been relocated from Kansas City to St Louis, at a location that was only about 10 minutes from where we live. I popped along on both days to see the large variety of custom trucks & SUVs on display. Air-bag suspension seems to be really popular, allowing the trucks to drive at normal height but then 'lay frame' when parked (i.e. the chassis rails sit on the ground). There was a good selection of both vintage & modern trucks which highlighted the variety of ways a truck can be modified.

It's still wet!

During the heavy rains earlier this year, the Meramec River flooded significantly. However, since most of the rain didn't fall within the Mississippi River catchment, the levels in The Mississippi didn't really rise that much. However, the latest batch of heavy rains combined with the already saturated ground from the seemingly endless rain this year lead to significant flooding in the Midwest. Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, & Wisconsin were the states most affected by the flooding. There were a number of towns & villages north of St Louis that needed their levees raised to prevent floodwater from inundating residential & commercial areas. This was mostly done with sandbags filled & placed by numerous volunteers & the National Guard. The levees seemed to be holding but with the river level practically at the top of the defences for an extended period of time (mainly due to the huge volume of water draining to the Upper Mississippi Catchment) a number of levees eventually breached. This helped to slightly reduce the flooding in St Louis, but the river still crested 10 feet + above flood level which meant that the riverfront was completely submerged & flood waters encroached upon the Arch grounds. In total, thirteen people died in the flood & damage estimates were in the tens of billions of dollars.

Times Beach revisited

Beth has learnt to ride her bike & I recommissioned Cheryl's & my bikes so we were all ready to hit some cycle trails before the St Louis summer temperatures arrived! We started off just cycling around Beth's school parking lot before lapping on the walking track around the baseball pitch. We wanted to try something a bit longer so that we could begin to build our stamina so that we can achieve our goal of riding The Katy Trail. One of the people that helps out at the bunny sanctuary suggested that we should try Times Beach since this has a wide tarmac road which circuits within the park.

Times Beach was originally founded in 1925 but a significant flood in the early 1980's (which left 95% of the city covered with 10 feet or more of water) & an announcement by the US Environmental Protection Agency that the area was contaminated with Dioxin, led to the town's evacuation & complete demolition by 1992. After the site cleanup was complete, the site was turned over to the State of Missouri to become the Route 66 State Park.

We had been to Times Beach before, but we had only visited the Route 66 State Park museum & had not actually been into the park. Access is via a single lane bridge over the Meramec River. The main road in the park is approximately two miles long & winds through the grassland & trees that now replace the demolished buildings. There are a number of gravel tracks extending from the road (one which parallels the river) but we stayed off these since these were not as smooth as the main road. Apparently you can often spot wildlife while cycling around Times Beach. On our second circuit around the park we were lucky enough to spot a Deer walking through the long grass to the side of the road.