Yesterday morning, my dad (Gerald) and I left Memphis to drive Emporia for Dirty Kanza. With Ryan doing a local road race and Matt stuck at work, he’s next in line for the “excitement” of driving/waiting around for hours on end just to have a cooler and some spare snacks & tools every 50-ish miles while I’m out there. The drive went smoothly, with one detour to check out the Bass Pro Shop HQ store in Springfield, MO.
That place is pretty gigantic, and full of various living/taxidermied wildlife:
Gerald needed to look at camping supplies and get some fishing lures so he can check out any nearby fishing holes while waiting for my arrival.
I drove the last couple of hours… I can’t fathom why Chevrolet would make the driver seat and the steering wheel off-center from each other in a nice car like a Suburban, but it nearly drove me nuts. Exhibit A- the seam on the seat is straight down the middle:
By the time we were in and settled, it was a little late to go for a ride, so we walked downtown to dinner and found BBQ (I’m discovering that it can be difficult coping with other cities’ barbecue when you’re from Memphis). Afterward, Gerald wanted ice cream
This morning, I went out to pre-ride the first few miles of the race course. We rode out to the first hill of the course… the view from the top was very scenic in spite of it small size:
Barry Wicks’ bike:
The heaviest bike in town:
(kidding)
After the ride, I cleaned up and found an excellent lunch at the Brewery. I skipped the beer, though… in the name of staying extremely hydrated. Now, I just get to lay around, snack on lunch leftovers, and wait for the riders’ meeting at 4:30.
For anyone wanting to follow along at home, you can get general Dirty Kanza race updates on this site: http://www.bluestemproductions.com/dk200/
If you’d like to follow me (or anyone else) specifically, you can go here and enter a bib number or name (my number is 654): https://register.chronotrack.com/event/tracking/eventID/8568
Smash dem fools.
I had to research that offset steering wheel because I once drove a Tahoe that was like that. Drove me crazy. I hear different theories. 1. It makes it easier to rest your right arm on the center console and hold the steering wheel, 2. in case of a head-on collision the steering column will go somewhere other than directly through you. I don’t buy either of these. If you’re in a Suburban you don’t really care about head-ons cuz you’re gonna destroy whatever you hit. I suspect the offset steering wheel has something to do with the average Tahoe/Suburban owner – a 400 lb. male – and their ability to fit in the vehicle. Clearly, neither you nor your dad meet this criteria so you can’t appreciate what Chevy has done here.