Ohio, Pennsylvania and Niagara Falls

We arrived at a motocross track in Uhrichsville, Ohio (south east Ohio, Crown Canyon MX) which was an area qualifier to go to the mid east regional qualifier sometime in June. We got there Thursday afternoon and stayed until Monday. There was a practice on Friday and racing on Saturday and Sunday. It rained all day on Friday and in the evenings on the weekend. Josiah got a first, second and third in three classes (65cc 7-9 stock, 65cc 7-11 modified and 65cc 7-11 support class). On the Saturday night we went out to dinner at Applebee’s with Larry and Liz Jenkins (and their son Ben) and then went to the movies to see Prince Caspian. We were homesick from watching the movie because it was made in NZ. It was nice to get away from the track that evening and have a good time with the Jenkins. We all fit into their big rig on our way to dinner and the movies (see blog photo of the three Raptors at “Raptorville”).

On Sunday night we decided to stay the night at the track and then go to Holmes county on Monday. Holmes county is the hub of the Amish and Mennonite communities. The Amish are conservative compared to Mennonites. We got to Berlin and looked around some of the stores before going to the Amish and Mennonite Information Center for an understanding of the background of these “religions”. From there we went to Yoder’s where we saw how a typical Amish family live out their daily lives. There were houses, barns and horse and cart rides. The house of the stricter Amish reminded me a little of my grandparents home in Wairoa, NZ. It only had the bare essentials. The toilet was outside. There was no electricity (although other Amish sects have generators to generate electricity). The Amish are very communal. They can build a large barn in a day. We got to see the Amish making bread and other goodies which we purchased. It tasted great.

On Monday afternoon we travelled back to Pennsylvania (near the town of Washington) to stay with Chris and Maria. Chris and Maria (and their three children Ryan, Erin and Evan) are friends of Larry and Liz who we caught up with at Crown Canyon MX and also at Rolling Hills. We had received an invitation to stay at their place which was great. We got to do washing, have great showers and meals provided. Chris and Maria have a fantastic block of land out in the country with a motocross track. They also have a friend who is an orthopedic doctor who helps out with their kids when there have broken bones. Maria called and made an appointment for Joel to have his arm looked at and the doctor recommended that the sling be removed from Joel’s arm. Joel was very excited. We were very appreciative of Chris and Maria’s hospitality and connections. It was sad to leave!

On Thursday we travelled to Pleasure Valley Raceway in Pennsylvania(http://www.cernicsracing.com/pvr.htm) for the first regional qualifier to get to Loretta Lynn’s where the American national motocross championships are held each year in Tennessee. The regional qualifier was for the north east of the USA and you have to first of all qualify at an area to get to a region (we had qualified for this regional two weeks beforehand in Virginia at Actiontown MX). To give you an idea of the standard of motocross racing at a regional, an area qualifier would be a similar standard to a New Zealand national. The top eight riders from each class at an area qualifier are eligible to race at a regional. If you finish in say the top six or seven at a regional you then qualify for Loretta Lynn’s. So at a regional you are racing against some top riders from the region and some of them are top at the national level. There are some very fast kids on bikes.

It had rained for 12 straight days before we got to Pleasure Valley Raceway (PVR). We got there early enough to get a good dry spot. Others who turned up later on had to be dragged into a spot by a bulldozer (they were subsequently waiting to be pulled out three days later). Friday’s practice was muddy but the sunshine began to dry out the track. Lots of water blasting the bike. Chris had hoped it would stay muddy for the weekend as it suited Josiah but as the day dried out the track suited everyone and there was a freight train of fast kids zooming around the track.

The track was cut up on Saturday morning and it looked really good. As the day wore on ruts began to develop and it even became dusty so it was a completely different track in the afternoon. The progression of the track on Sunday was similar to Saturday. Over his three races in the 7-9 year old 65cc stock class, Josiah got two hole shots and ended up third overall. This is a fantastic result. Josiah didn’t qualify for the 7-11 65cc modified class but we used it as good practice to make it to Loretta Lynn’s for the 7-9 65cc stock class. If you want to see a video of the racing at PVR, go to http://www.motoxposure.com/tv/ and click on the right hand side (Pleasure Valley day one and day two LL NE youth qualifier). Josiah is about a third of the way through day one (and very briefly at the end of day two). Look for # 413 in the 65cc 7-9 stock class getting the holeshot.

On Sunday afternoon after the races we packed up at PVR and headed to Cleveland Ohio. We decided to go and spend a few days with Cara and Tiana from our church at CBC in New Zealand. We were looking forward to seeing them. That night we arrived in Cleveland and parked the night in Walmart.

We caught up with Cara and Tiana on Monday morning and parked the RV at their church. We stayed at their mum’s place the next two nights and really appreciated their hospitality. On Tuesday we went with Cara and Tiana to the Cedarpoint amusement park which is rated as the world’s best rollercoaster park (http://www.cedarpoint.com/). We spent the whole day and night at the park. It was awesome. One rollercoaster is called the Dragstar. It propels you to 120mph in four second before climbing up vertically about 400 feet and then back down again. Other awesome rides were the Millenium Force, Magnum, Raptor and Maverick (go to http://www.cedarpoint.com/public/park/rides/coasters/index.cfm for details on the rollercoasters). We all had a real fun time.

On Wednesday we travelled north east from Cleveland to Madison and caught up with a friend of Janine’s called Leslie. Janine met Leslie over 15 years ago when she toured around Europe. We also met Leslie’s husband, Tim. They kindly put us up for two nights. On Thursday we travelled north east again on Interstate 90 for 200 miles to Niagara Falls. We got there late afternoon and went on the boat the ventures up to the bottom of the waterfalls. We then went over to the Canadian side of the Niagara Falls and stayed there until night time when the lights shine onto the falls. We then crossed the border back into the USA and drove back to Tim and Leslie’s place.

On Friday morning we left Tim and Leslie’s place to head back to Myrtle Beach SC. We drove nearly 12 hours on Friday before finally pulling over at Statesville in Ohio and parking up for the night in Walmart. We then hit the road early the next day. After 750 miles and close to 100 gallons of diesel (plus lots of cans of coke) we safely arrived at Myrtle Beach just after lunch on Saturday. We arrived in early 90s F temperature (just over 30 degrees celsius) having come from around 50 F (around 10 degrees celsius) four days earlier at the Cedarpoint amusement park. It felt good to be back in Myrtle Beach. Alot has happened in the last month since we left this place.