Time Stations 1-3

Alli again! We met down in the parking lot at 8:30 yesterday morning to get all the vans ready to go. I feel like we’ve gotten the vans “ready to go” a lot. There’s a lot that goes into getting them ready that you don’t think about. Anything from getting solar showers up to making sure the pens are in the same spots in both vans. It’s intense!

 We had three vans- one for Troy, one for Bob, and one for the Crew to drive back and forth from hotels with. Troy is finishing up his set-up in his Van.

We made it down to the pier, got last minute things down, and got some photo ops.

Kathy, Bob, Troy, and Lisa

The Whole Team!

Troy Yost, Kelly, Colleen, Chris, Mike, Kathy C, Bob, Troy, Phil, Doug, Kathy, Alli, and Kyle- 

 They started our team off a little after noon- probably around 12:20 or so. They started off with team T201 and just went in order with us at T207.  Here Troy and Bob are at the start!




And off they go!

Here is some of the craziness of the of the start line. These are all teams waiting to be called. There are much more under the pier that we were standing on to take the photo.

 A couple minutes after they were off the starting crew hoping in our vans and went to get ready for the first transition spot. At the beginning of the race only 1 van can follow the riders so Troy's van picked up Bob at the designated spot while Troy took his first pull of the race. I was in Bob's van with Doug and Colleen while Chris and Mike were in Troy's van. We met them at the area we were supposed to and started looking for Troy so Bob could transition.

Back on the other shift were Kyle and Mom- they went through Derek's area and Mom couldn't stop to say hi. Only 3 more months till we see him again!

 On the second or third transition Bob rolled in with a staple in his tire! What a great way to start! Luckily we had some crew members that knew what they were doing. Along with the Crew and Bob we got the wheel back up in no time.

 We were going pretty pretty good through Brawley when we had to stop for gas. The card machines weren’t working and Chris had to jet up to get Troy so he missed the gas station praying that there was one he could stop at between Brawley and Blythe. Something that is pretty cool here in RAAM- at the gas station we ran in to get some ice and water and use the bathroom, I told Colleen to go to the bathroom while I paid. The line went much quicker then we thought and so here I was with 3 ice bags and a jug of water. A man picked up my ice and asked where I wanted it. When I told him I had someone coming so it was okay he told me “Well, Someone else is pumping my gas so I mine as well help you with you ice!”. Even though this is a race everyone is so friendly and cheering for each other. Not only is your crew your RAAM family, but all of the RAAM teams turn into your RAAM family too. This was some long open road going toward Brawley.

After Brawley are some beautiful sand dunes, there is just sand for miles. Unfortunately, because of the sand dunes there is no stopping 20 feet from the road for a good 8-10 miles. Bob was supposed to transition a toward the beginning of that but because there was no stopping/parking we couldn’t stop. Chris finally found a side road that we were able to transition at. We transition and Dad wanted a quit shower so he hoped out and started doing that when we got a call from Chris that we needed to relieve them; they were running out of gas. We were about 60 miles away from Blythe and their van was telling them they only had a little over 40 miles till they ran out of gas. We had a pretty big decision to make- Bob’s van does stop transitions with both riders and they go back to Brawley to get gas, we do stop transitions and they head to Blythe, or we keep going and pray we make it. We decided Bob’s van would do stop transitions and Troy’s van would go up to Blythe and get gas. Just as we made the decision we got stopped by a train that was parked on the tracks. Luckily, Troy and his van were on the other side of the tracks so they could continue the race while we just waited for the train to go by so we could relieve them. We caught up to them just in time to get Troy off the of the bike at the hour mark and off Chris and Mike went to get gas. We only had to do 1 stop transition in the middle and then Chris and Mike made it back with gas and the hotel van to come do our crew change. The country side is so pretty. It was just the moon, us, and some pretty fields waiting for a transition outside of Blythe.

 Here's a photo of the hotel van that the hotel crew took. Unloading and getting ready to try and rest before their 12 hour shift.

The crew transition went really well, only took a few minutes and we were all good to go. Kathy D. drove us over to the hotel just outside of Cottonwood. Luckily, it took us about 5 hours so we all got some good sleep in the car. We pulled up to our hotel and the attendant at the front told us we had a room for tonight and not one for this morning. She didn’t have any rooms to give us, they were booked. Well, crap. Doug, Mike, Kathleen, and Kelly all propped down on the couch so we kind of let her know we weren’t going anywhere and she called the manager and found us a room. We were supposed to have two, but she only had one- we took it anyway. We got two roll away beds and piled in the hotel room. Chris and I both slept pretty well in the van, and after laying in our beds for an hour + we realized we weren’t going to be able to sleep so we are up and at ‘em. We are at breakfast and McDonalds right now with the rest of our crew asleep in the room. Luckily I am the next hotel van driver so I’ll hopefully be able to sleep when we do that transition. Bob and Troy are going really strong. They are looking very good and are in good spirits. It’s fun to see them get into their groove and just ride. You can tell they are just enjoying their race and keeping their eyes on the goal. Little tid bits that I’m not sure where they happened: -Bob got stung by a bee -A 2-man team from Brazil uses the same CB station we do. They call each other Polar Bear and something else that starts with an “S”. Our goal next rotation is to find out what their name is. 

Inspection Day!

Yesterday was inspection day! We made plans the night before to all meet at the vans at 9:00am but I think everyone was awake by 6:00am. We’re just ready to go in all :). We piled in the vans and headed over to Oceanside for our inspection that was scheduled for 11am. We had a little but of traffic, but we ended up at the Pier a little after 10am. We pulled into Betty’s Lot (the parking Lot where we get inspected) and started making sure we had all we needed to in order to pass inspection. We went through the list a few times and about the 3rd time noticed we needed about 40 more pieces of reflective tape! The rule books sometimes don’t say the same thing as our Inspection Forms, and in this case Troy followed the Rule book for how to put reflective tape on his wheels. Everyone kicked it into gear really fast and we had all his wheels covered in reflective tape in no time. The actual inspection was over really fast and we passed with flying colors (woo-hoo!). I can stop stressing that I did all the paperwork right! 

Here is Betty's Lot full of cars and bikes getting inspected.

Everyone trying to make sure we have everything just the way it needs to be!

Dad and Chris making sure they have the the racer numbers on the right places on the bikes.

Mom and me showing off our Friends of Freedom shirts! Kathy D. is photobombing us in the background.

Our inspector! Super nice guy!

After we were in the go with inspection we broke up the team to complete different assignments. Kathy C., Colleen, and Kathy D. took the route books and did all the highlighting they needed to do. Mike, Doug, and I went to drive the first part of the race so we wouldn’t get lost. Kyle and Chris went to the Crew Chief Meeting, Troy went on a ride, and poor Yost and Bob didn’t get jobs.   Us meeting in the parking lot and getting our jobs. 

Hey- I thought Troy’s job was riding… not sleeping… JK! He had a fantastic ride, and he deserves a little shut eye.

Collen, Kathy D. and Kathy C. did a great job on highlighting and figured their run some stairs to relieve some stress. Guess that’s what happens when you bring our trainer with you! 

We met back together at 4 and went to the Team Meeting where they went over all the rules and regulations and introduced all the teams to everyone. You can tell Hull was enthused.

These were the 2-man teams- Bob and Troy and there in the middle in the red shirts.

We were done a little early so we picked up some RAAM gear and got some ice cream. Ice cream, RAAM, and the beach- sounds like a great day to me! 

By 5:30 the meeting was done and we were all ready for dinner! We order some pizza and met in a conference room to go over more about what we do in crew transitions and to teach everyone how to work all the electronics.

It was a day full of meetings, learning new things, and getting all on the same page. I think we’re ready! Bring on America!

Day 1- Buckeye to Oceanside.

Yesterday morning started off in Buckeye, AZ. We met up at Bob's house and then loaded the truck up with all our stuff and the bikes. Stan and Ann John have been a huge support and they brought over a big red van for us to all pile up in and drove us to Oceanside. The trip consisted of a few potty breaks, McDonalds, and lots of sleeping. Trying to rest up before the craziness!

 Cutter and Wesley were our luggage drivers. Thanks boys!

Our first stop was the Race Office in Ocean Side. We got a few things checked off of our To Do list by them so we could be one step ahead before we get started today. We got signed off on our signage, jersey sizing for our Riders, some release forms, and having valid phone numbers.

Our awesome riders!! Can you believe these guys will be riding their bikes across the country tomorrow?!

Next up was finding our hotel and getting the vans all set up. We are staying at the Hyatt in La Jolla and they have been wonderful to work with. They set off a valet stop for us to have to get everything all set up and their HR person was even out there taking pictures to post on their Twitter/Instagram/Facebook page- so keep your eyes out for us!



The whole crew! Well, almost. We are missing Kelly- she's going to meet us here sometimes this morning.

We are almost there! Today is inspection day and tomorrow at noon we will be sending the riders off. Their vans are all packed and they seem ready to go! Yesterday at dinner my Dad mentioned it was starting to sink in that it's just him and Troy riding this thing. It will be a new adventure that's for sure. There has been a lot trying to stand in the way of these two taking on this challenge, but they aren't letting anything stop them. I'm excited to be helping them accomplish this challenge!

Lava Lamps

The other day the kids went to the library and did a science experiment with how sugar water makes sparkles and stuff float longer then normal water because of the water density. They brought home these little sugar snow globes and were in love with them. I am all about fun science projects and since they loved that one so much I found a lava lamp project on pinterest and decided to try it out! I surprisingly found everything I needed in Holbrook (after going to 3 stores) and we got started! 

Bentley was loving his water bottle. He was obsessed with drinking the water out of it, which was a very important set :) He got super mad at me when I told him he couldn't drink the oil we put in it- but decided to be happy again after I let him chew on the unopened tube of glitter glue.

 Macy and I getting her water bottle all set.

 Bentley's world was crushed with I opened his water bottle and STILL wouldn't let him drink it. Such a mean Mom.

 After adding the oil, water, and food coloring, we added a small piece of Alka-seltzer to make the whole thing bubble. 

 London was pretty mezmorized. She loved it.

 Bentley still wasn't buying it. Drinking it sounded like a much better thing to do.

 Loving on her finished product. 

After all the Alka-Seltzer was fizzed up, they really just had a bottle full of oil, water, and sparkles- but they still love them! Yay for Science projects! I see many more of them in our summer plans.

Helpin' Grandma in the Yard

The other day we had a fun errands to run so we stopped by Marie's house to see if she needed any help with her yard. The kids had lots of fun watering flowers, helping day with the weed wacker, eating cereal, and finding bugs. It was a beautiful day to be outside. They even got to pick some cherries off of the neighbors cherry tree! 

Week in the Valley

We woke up on Monday morning and decided it was a nice day to go to the valley :) We called my mom, made sure she was going to be home, then packed and left! It's so nice not having anywhere to go! All we knew is we had to be back Thursday for a temple trip, which we didn't end up making anyway because Kyle got an ear infection :( One of the first things we did when we got there was went next door to the neighbors pool! I have been an awful swim mom and none of my children know how to swim. This is so sad to me since I was a lifeguard/swim coach for like 6 summers and one of my goals this summer is for them to be more comfortable with the water and on track to be swimmers. Macy is afraid of the water. Like, the water is going to eat me afraid, so it's been rough. I signed her up for swimming lessons in July so hopefully it will go better with someone else teaching her.

A big "to do" while we were done there was getting together the van bins for the Race Across America! There are quite a few odd and end things that go in the bins, so my Mom, Macy, and I took a day and gathered up and purchased all the stuff we need for them. I was kind of in heaven with the organization of it all :) It was pretty gun! The bins are all ready!