It's been a while...Thanksgiving

I haven't blogged in a while here. What can I say....BUSY! But I wanted to share some racing Thanksgiving memories with you all.
Every year we would load up the van and trailer and make the 18 hour drive south to sunny, usually wet and sometimes cold Florida for our Thanksgiving week. Of course, all you motocrossers know where we went. Gainsville...the home of the Gators...the Gator pits...THE MX MINI OLYMPICS!!! :-) Around the MX track there were huge holes with water in the middle which we were told they put Gators in. of course it was probably a complete lie, but as a kid we believed it. We always joked that it would suck to fall into one of the ponds...you'd end up gator bait. But those giant holes made for an awesome motocross track. One I can still picture in my mind..even though it has been some 16 yrs since I have been there. Man has it really been that long! I am getting old!
The race was an unusual one, but that is what made it so cool. There was a TT track (flat hard packed track), a SX track, a MX track, and then the cross country track that mixed all 3 tracks and a huge tree section. Plus it had the start like non other. A stalled bike and riders 20 yards away running towards their bikes with kick stands out. Riders running in full is funny, but if you made it 1st off the start and got your bike started in one kick you were freakin awesome and probably practiced it some 50 plus times in the pits. hahaha It was just a sight to see and then a 60 minute moto. At least I think that is how long they were. I know they had to refuel and that was key! It was always exciting to see who came out of the trees 1st.
BUT with all the racing aside the real highlight was the FEAST! There was a few guys manning the fire and cooking turkeys all day. The entry fee was bring a side per family. It was amazing. To see the come 20 tables put together with food on it and the line of families. Then we sat on blankets, chairs, some went back to their trucks, but it was something special. It was one BIG...I mean BIG family atmosphere. We usually sat with the Bowyer's, Skaggs/Basingers, Windham's, Ferry, Clark's, Carmichael's and anyone else who wondered over. Then we would have entertainment. Usually riders...I can still remember Jason Edwards singing his own words to the Garth Brooks song Rodeo..instead it was called Motocross.
Other nights we had Bingo, a mechanics competition on changing tires. They always tired getting my dad to enter them, but he never would. He hates being in the spotlight.
At the end of the week it came down to 3 trophies that every winning rider wanted. The golden Boot, the bronze goggles and the silver tire. And they were actual items. Then we would load up and make the very long drive home. I was always sad. I usually made new friends and knew it would be a few months before I saw all my old buddies again. (During the Spring Nationals at Whitney)
There are many fond memories of that place. I will share another with you next time. How we missed the exit and ended up on the side of the road half a mile down. Until then May you all be Blessed!

It's Friday...

Well "Friday" can mean a lot of things to different people....high school football, a night to watch Nascar, a start to a drunken weekend, a movie night with the family, a hot date (yea what are those again?), or just hanging out with friends. Those are a few that come to mind, but for me growing up it meant a night to get ready for the race track we were heading to that weekend. Dad would do final prep work on the bikes and pack up the van... mom would make sure we had plenty of pop tarts and other food to eat and something for us to all sleep on in the van....Robbie got his gear bag together and threw in a few un-matching clothes to wear when he wasn't racing one of his 6 motos... I would shower and completely fix my hair...yes not real sure why..it never looked good after an hour in the blazing heat and wind, but that is what I did. I would get all my stuff together and pack enough for at least a 4 day trip instead of just 2. My dad would come in at 2:30ish am, flip on my bedroom light and say "pumpkin it is time to get up..get in the van." I would jump out of bed and make a last minute bathroom stop and grab my stuff and get in the front seat of the van. That was my spot...I was the co-pilot...the navigator. (mom and Robbie slept the whole way on any trip) BUT... If my dad said, 'we were leaving by 3am'..that means we were pulling out of the driveway at 3am..not 3:01am! I cannot count the number of times he said that to me. We have to get from point A to point B in the quickest, shortest amount of time. That has made me a very punctual person that goes nuts when others are late...especially a lot late!

My husband learned this early on in our relationship. I was taking him to a amateur national in Lake Whitney, TX. It was about a 5 hour drive from OKC. I told him I would 'pick him up at 5am and to be ready to go...not wait let me get my shoes on ready, but ready to walk out the door!!' I showed up at his door right at 5am and he was still eating breakfast....grrrrr the irritation. We get in the car..running behind 'schedule' and I looked at him and said," I told you to be ready at 5am." He said, "well I didn't expect you to actually show up at 5am...I figured you would be like my mom and say 5am and really mean 6 or 7am" Oo little did he know what he was getting into.


My Friday's have varied over the years now. Tonight, I will hang with my family, make dinner (unless I can talk myself into making it a pizza night) and probably watch the hubby play some basketball at the local rec center.

So what is your typical Friday night agenda? Would love to see some comments!

"Ride Like the Wind"

Ok Lets go behind my reasoning for this song. Yes I like it..no I love it! I remember the 1st time I heard this song was 1987...yes I am sure I heard it before with all our travels and listening to the music my dad played in the van as we drove cross country (that is a whole blog in its self), but this was the 1st time that I knew and remembered hearing it.That year one of the Great's in our sport was injured...David Bailey suffered a career ending injury. We didn't have the Internet back then, so it took a while to hear about it. I remember my mom picking out a card and sending it to him (we even saw it in the video with a cat hanging off a tree branch :-D), saying "hang in there" and that "we are keeping you in our thoughts and prayers". He never met us nor probably ever heard of us, but that is what is great about the MX community..it is unlike any other. We support each other.


Anyway back to the story.

Afterwards, there was a video that was made to help with his medical costs. Of course, we didn't have a lot of money, but my mom sent off for one as soon as it came out. When it arrived in the mail our whole family sat and watched it. It was sad to see such a great young man laying in a hospital bed. But the video was inspiring and funny at times. I can not count the number of times Robbie and I sat and watched that video. It has been many many years since I saw it and I can still picture it in my head. That is where my song comes into play. They made a section of the video to the song, Ride like the Wind. It started with him on the gate and as it was falling the song built all the way down the start. It still gives me chills. Then the rest of the song had lots of fluid slow motion video of him gliding in the air or railing a berm. It was awesome.


The following year when we went to Loretta Lynn's for the BIG Amatuer National for the 1st time. We loved how they had a radio station there and was giving live audio of the race and playing music. (this was a whole new concept for you young kids) Towards the end of the week my mom and I had an idea...'wouldn't it be cool if they could play the song just like they did in Bailey's video?' I knew what song she wanted..so we headed over there. Found the trailer and asked the guy. We told him what time the race started and what song we wanted....Ride like the Wind. He said he would try, but wasn't making any promises. My mom and I thanked him and went over to watch the start and just as the gate was about to drop the song started. We looked at each other and smiled as I am sure chills ran down both of us. It was just like in the video..expect these were 65cc's pinning it down the start. They played the song for the whole 1st lap. You could hear it over the speakers. It was amazing. That was our little David Bailey moment. A way of honoring a hero!

Still today that song gets me. I hear it on the radio and my mind instantly turns to race mode. Then turns to my cell to give Robbie a call and play it loudly so he can hear. I don't have to say anything he knows it is me.....he knows what it means. I have left him messages with this song playing many times. I just can't help it. I hear it and all I see is slow motion video of David Bailey and Robbie floating through my head.

So just ride like the wind!

Here is the video: (stop the music below to hear and experience this video)

Just my 2 cents

Well that is what I am calling this blog. "Just my 2 cents" My husband says it should be 25 cents worth, but he doesn't get a say. hahaha I can be random at times...ok a LOT of the times..so I figured I would have a place to let it out.



I am a mom, wife, sister, daughter, grand-daughter, niece, cousin, and great friend. Wow that was a mouth full. I grew up in the Sooner state and 5 yrs ago transplanted to the Lone star state. I had anything but a normal childhood..of course really what is NORMAL! It was normal for me.
This will be my place to walk down memory lane on some of my many adventures coming to who I am now. OOO and the adventures are never ending. Some are hilarious, some not so entertaining, some are inspirational and some heartbreaking...but they are what formed me.

Now behind the RRsis name..a lot of people know why I have this screen name, but some don't...so I will let you in on the not so big secret. I grew up in the motocross world traveling all over while my brother competed at various race. When we were kids people would come up to me and say "O are you Robbie Reynard's sister??" If I only had a dollar for everytime I was asked this. It drove me nuts, but I would shake their hand and say, "YES I am, but my name is Cherie". So as I became an adult and entered the world of the Internet and had to think of a screen name...I came up with RRsis. It is pretty much my 2nd identity, so I guess I am now ok with that question. :-) So you can call me sis...a lot of people do. :-)


Well I hope you enjoy my blog and stories.