In late 2008, John got a new motorcycle, a 2-stroke Kawasaki KX 60.
Here is the first time he went riding at Metcalf motorcycle park, in
the fog, on New Year's day:
At the end of January, we volunteered on a trail maintenance day at
the Hollister Hills motorcycle park. Here is the kid's crew moving a
big steel pipe into the trash (picture courtesy of Ranger Natalie,
whose son is on the right in the picture, in the black/white outfit):
Unfortunately, in February the new bike suffered total engine failure,
when sand got into the cylinder through a tear in the air filter.
While the engine was being rebuilt, John got to ride on a Yamaha TT-R
125L, generously lent by George (Motomania). Here the whole group is
taking a break on Peat's Path or Jay's Lane at Hollister. John is in
the middle; George is in the grey jersey on the back:
John's bike was finally fixed at the end of March, just hours before
the "Wild Wabbit Harescramble" motorcycle race at Hollister. The
first picture is all the kids of his age class lining up before even
getting to the starting lineup (they had to wait for about 45 minutes
here). The second picture is at the starting line, with
Guillermo and Jade right behind him to cheer him along. The third
picture is going through the starting gate. The last two pictures are
44 minutes later, coming back after a single lap of the 9.3 mile
course. John finished second.
John showing off the plaque for his second place finish, first at the
race, then at home:
We need to get the official pictures of the race.
In April, John started the "Junior Ranger" class at Metcalf, where
Ranger Mike teaches the kids how to ride, how to be a park ranger, and
about the environment at the park. Some of the pictures courtesy of
Shawn, another parent in the class.
May 9th was the final day of the program. Two group pictures of all
the kids with Ranger Mike:
After the Junior Ranger program, we want (back) to the public meeting
of the California OHMVR commission. Here is John addressing the
commissioners (picture courtesy of Ed Waldheim of CTUC). On the back of his
jersey is the big "Junior Ranger" star, and if you look carefully, you
can see his badge pinned to the jersey on the second picture.
The other thing John likes to do is indoor rock climbing. The first
picture is about 50' (16m) up in the air at Planet Granite in
Sunnyvale; the second picture is somewhat lower at Pacific Edge in Santa
Cruz:
Another crazy hobby: Shooting. We went to Metcalf's outdoor shooting
range, because John needed to interview the rangemaster for his report
on careers for school. Here he is with the M1 carbine:
On Friday, March 13th, John's 4th grade class did the field trip to
Sacramento. Here is nearly all of 4th grade (only Seth is missing) at
Sutter's fort:
After Sacramento, we went up to the Sierra for skiing at Bear Valley
(John's first time). We stayed at Robert's wonderful cabin in
Dorrington (thank you). The first picture is John going down a slope
for the first time ever. The second picture is John and our neighbor
Annabelle (first grade) going up on the lift together. The third
picture is John and Annie coming back down. And the last picture is
John, Annie and our neighbor Christine (Annie's mom):
Sunday morning, John took a class with a private instructor. The
first picture shows the easy slopes from the lodge; the second is John
and his instructor on a slope, and the third the two going up the
lift.
After lunch, John and the neighbor girls went on the harder slopes.
The two pictures are the lift to the back side of the hill, and a view
of the valley from the ski lodge. We don't have pictures of John
skiing in the afternoon, because he was on the harder slopes in the
back, not visible to us.
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