Thursday, July 17, 2014

The View From Down Under



Submitted by Colleen McPhee, official foreign correspondent for Butt Lite 7:

Bloody hell where do I start?  I have just had one of the best weeks ever.  I got to travel in the rally van.  I traveled through 5 or 6 states.  Can’t really say for sure because I never really knew where I was, arriving at the check point in Austin. 

I can’t say thank you enough to everyone in the Van.   John Pedrow for his ongoing, rolling commentary about different roads,  sites and different things all along the way.  It was very interesting and I kind of understand how all the highways and interstates work.  Although I think you should watch the road more than the old tractors and cars sitting in paddocks along the road.  But thank you for getting me back to Minnesota in one piece. And I now have a new respect for the rumple strips on the road. 

Bart, your rolling commentary throughout leg one on all the riders and the routes they were taking was so amusing.  I do hope that at least one of those riders went the way you thought they should go. 

David,  I am going to miss you answering the phone… “hello ,  hello, hello,hello,hello.  Damn phones. 

Lisa, who sat in the very back of the van so that I didn’t get car sick. 

I got to see some of the bonus stops and collect points for the rally van.  Some fabulous places and views.  Things that I would never get to see otherwise.

The team took me to see the memorial for the Oklahoma bombing site.  I cannot convey how that felt to see all those chairs lined up for the people who died. 

I think my favorite stop was the bowling museum.  Watching the guys bowl in their 'stitch, out of the their stitch, mmm that one not a great look but very funny.  Some can bowl.  Some definitely can not.  Then Lisa and I - Australia versus America.  I believe Lisa’s words were.  “I am going to whoop this Aussies butt”.    Not going to happen.  Lisa 41  Colleen 47. 

I am very proud to say that I managed to corrupt my American friends, who now know what a carpark is.   They wear sandshoes and if you hit your knee you cuss by saying bloody hell.

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