Mid-Ohio 2008

Justin and I made our annual trip to Mid-Ohio this year to see the IRL, ALMS, World Challenge GT and Touring, and GT3 Cup. Good stuff! Kevin joined us this time. Unfortunately Justin's dad couldn't make it so we were rolling in style in the luxury RV. The weather was about perfect. The racing was exciting. We spoke with Randy Pobst as usual (Justin's wife's mother's cousin). King Rat had someone renting a SRT-4 and we touched base with them. It was nice to see the combined IRL series in person. Next year the IRL may not come back to Mid-Ohio with all the CART tracks competing for the series.

Pics & videos

Garnet ghost town

Tucked away in the mountains of Montana beyond the paved roads are the remnants of a mining town that people started populating in the 1800's. In 1912 a fire burnt down half the town and it was never rebuilt. It's now managed by the BLM. Robie and I tried to go there in February one year but we wisely turned around on the snow covered dirt roads. I had fun this time sliding around in my rental Legacy. Unfortunately I didn't have time for the short hike to the mine.

Pics & video

Fire on the Mountain

While in Missoula working on the thin client project with Don Winter of the National Park Service (Mt Rainier) we spotted a fire on the mountain. We left MTDC to go to the Lolo Creek Steak House and it was hard to miss the column of smoke. Apparently some boys set pages of a phone book on fire and the grass caught. It was pretty much contained by midnight of that day but was still smoldering for another day or so. We thought about asking if they needed us to deploy a thin client kit. Instead we added to the public gawking and drove as close as we could.

Pics & videos

summer lapse

So I pretty much took the summer off on posting updates. I'd like to give it another go and see if I can't keep up on it like I did the first few months. So unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, I'm going to zip through the whole summer with a ton of short posts. I'll even do it in real time by back dating (cuz today is 9/13). Hope you enjoyed your summer as well...

Allagash and Dogfish Head in Missoula!

As I headed to a happenin’ downtown spot in good ol’ Missoula I came across a place that seemed to have a decent wine and beer selection so I stepped inside. It is quite a mix of crap in there. It appears to be a deli, perhaps a bakery, somewhat a grocer, with a decent wine selection, and holy crap do that have sweet beer. I’ve been going to Missoula for a few years now for work and what a bitch I haven’t found this place earlier. Not only do they have the best selection around of regional brews, but they also shocked me with a few familiars. They had bottles of Dogfish Head's Red & White, Black & Blue, and Chateau Jiahu! I have serious trouble finding Red & White on the east coast (Dogfish Head is a Delaware brewery for you non-beer geeks). I had no idea Dogfish Head distributed out to Montana. Not only that but it was a few dollars cheaper out here in the middle of nowhere than in DC! Of course I bought a bottle. They also had one Allagash bottle; the Interlude. Apparently it is the first in the oak aged series. I haven’t seen that around DC at all.

I’ll be stopping by Worden's at least once a visit to Missoula. Lots of new fine regional beers to sample.

I still love that Big Sky IPA though.

a week in Missoula and weekend with family

After chilling with the skate pros, the next day there was a weekly event downtown by the river in Missoula with some live music, food, and of course fine brew. So after a hard days work I found myself a half block from my hotel, chillin’ in the perfect weather with a beer, listening to live music, eating good food, and hanging next to the river watching kayakers and surfers on the Clark Fork at Brennan’s Wave. Life wasn’t bad.

My parents and sister came in over the weekend. We found good food and beer at Restaurant Vero. Checked out a dead rich woman’s antique collection and gardens, went to the Newseum which was actually about worth the $20 admission, and checked out the Folklife Festival.

MOBASH demo

As I hang in Montana I found out that there is an Independent Trucks tour going on throughout the US and they are in Missoula this day. My client site in Missoula is a bit outside of the small town and near the Big Sky Brewery (see previous Big Sky! post). So as usual I stopped by the brewery on my way back in to town for a few samples. I sipped my first taste around 5:00 and suddenly remembered about the skate park demo I read about in the Missoulian news paper this morning. So off I ran. The demo was pretty informal. By the time I got there things were settling down. Most my pics are of locals.

http://picasaweb.google.com/SlickSlopeSurfer/MOBASHDemo2008