THUNDER on the Columbia Saturday

The post was getting a little long so I went to two separate posts. They happen to be out of order unless you are reading from the top down, then they are in order. This is Saturday's post. Sunday's post is below.

This boat just looks fast, should as this is the Budweiser's T-6 hull. Their last hull before they pulled out of the circuit:

Always liked the O'Berto:

One more:

Boat versus plane:

Alas the plane won:

This is like a Richland reunion, circa the early 1970's:

My dad:

Saturday is the day to go to the pits:


It was really hard to get a good picture of this plane, I mean it is a Stealth:

Heat 1A and 1B are Saturday. This normally brings some pretty good races.


Matt enjoying the 'Hydros':


Old school Hydros:

The Chinook has to be the coolest helicopter ever made:


They seem to do this every year at the airshow and it never gets old:

I guess 'bunny ears' are still cool if you are seven years old. That is the last time I get this kid a shirt from the World Cup! My friends Jon and Marcie's kids. We USED to be buddies:

Atomic Cup 2006

Me at the races, little boats in the background:

Natalie, my uncle Rob and me:

Sunday we had a big windstorm that delayed the start of Heat 2A by over 2 hours. Here is the start of that race:

Here is what happened in turn 3 of lap 1. We had our usual spot at the entrance to turn 1. So unfortunately these pictures were taken while the boats were about 1.5 miles away.





The after pictures, these were taken at 1:19 PM local time.


This is why they call them HydroPLANES, emphasis on the plane:

Here is the start of Heat 3A, some great deck to deck racing. And yes, that is the same boat that flipped in heat 2A. This picture was taken at 5:28 PM

I thought he was going to go over again here:

This boat was driven all day by Dave Willock, the old Miss Budweiser driver. Either he is crazy or else he has the biggest set of huevos known to man. Either way, I have a lot more respect for the guy after this weekend. By the way, he won this heat and thus qualified for the finals with two wins and a did not finish: flip in his three heats.

There was another incident in Heat 3B, no one saw it as it happened to these boats in the rooster tails of the lead boats. This is all we know of what happened:

Yes, this is a boat upside down. They put little floats under the boat to keep it from sinking as it is towed back. Both drivers were fine.

It wasn't that hot of a day in the Tri-Cities for once, only 79 degrees for a high. About 17 degrees below race average. But still a good day for a Coors Light:

This is my cousin Matt, it might have taken him four years but he was finally living up to his Cougar status. For those of you that know Matt, this is slightly out of character:


The start of the final race, 6:39 PM. A little less than 3 hours behind schedule due to flips and wind. But it did make some interesting pictures with the sun shining down. No one can remember racing this late on the river ever before. The glare was definitely an issue for the drivers.

Almost, but he pulled her back down:

Some great deck to deck racing, that is until a $70 battery went out and we lost our piston boat that was leading the race:

Who said that the Tri-Cities wasn't a pretty place:

Your 2006 ATOMIC CUP WINNER!,

Yes, the same boat and driver that did the flip earlier in the day. Amazing!

Pearl Jam

The show was at the Gorge in George. Very cool venue. For those of you that have never been, basically what you do is camp in this field about a mile from the venue and then walk over to the concert. The band starts playing about 7:30 ish and the sun proceeds to set behind the stage for all of the first set. Then you get these great sunsets behind the band during the second part of the show. It is truly awesome!
This is what the 'camping' looks like:

This is pretty much what you do while camping before the show. My friends Steve and Joe. Notice Steve practicing the 'fake beer drink for picture'. MAN LAW VIOLATION!

Paty and I:

Our group:

The other half of our group, mostly Walla Walla people that Joe is friends with:


It was supposed to be 108 degrees this day at the Gorge. We had the canopies up, the 10 gallon bucket of ice water chilled and were wearing floppy hats. But this cloud layer rolled up from the monsoons of Arizona and provided crucial shade. It topped out at 104 degrees and was actually quite nice. We got lucky. Then the clouds dissipated about the exact same time as the sun was setting to leave us a great scene:

I really don't know what to say about this picture except that this year the second hand smoke was slightly lighter than last year, so mom and baby were probably fine. Just one question, does the baby come out tan?

Did I mention that this was a great place to watch a concert?

Paty and Dawn at sunset. Steve and I were going to take the same picture but we didn't want to hug. That and Steve was still serving his punishment for the fake beer drink Man Law violation. Digital cameras will get you every time!

The show was great, Eddie was on fire jumping around all night and such. He continually was pulling on a few different wine bottles he had stashed around the stage. The more he drank, the better he got. This is about the end of the show, Pearl Jam was playing their favorite, Baba O'Riley to close out.


Paty and I hugging, aren't we the loving couple? She was heading back to Brussels in two days, so this is about the time when she starts to get really sentimental.


I just noticed from their website that PJ is playing their European tour during the time that I will be there in September. Do you think someone here in the States could hook me up with Ten Club tickets for Prague on September 22nd? Or how about one of the five Italian stops in early September? Tour dates A good excuse for a little detour to Italy.....