Juggling two kids turned out to be more of a challenge than just Tyler and myself as it was back at Dinosaurs in January, and, thus, did not have much of an opportunity to play-by-play the night. Plus, there was soooo much action going on without Nora eating popcorn off the floor, I had to keep the phone sheathed most of the evening. All in all, it was a great night, with both kids seeming to enjoy the action.
We arrived pretty early, gates opened at 6:30, event started at 7:30, and we were in our seats with grub by about 6:50. A couple hot dogs, a bag of kettle korn, and some drinks quickly disappared as they had some activities going on such as quad-wars warmups (four-wheeler racing), and some event with a couple people from the crowd. Nora sits still about as well as Ralph keeps his nose out of the cat box, so after she waxed her dog, we were cruising around checking out the Idaho Center. Some of her favorite activities include running away from daddy as fast as she can laughing; walking up the stairs, then walking down them without holding the railing; staring at the people around with a straight-faced, stoic look. Around 7:20, we headed back to our seats as the crowd filled up quite a bit. I was curious how these “economic” times would impact the show, and, the reasonably priced $17/seat tickets (Nora was free, but had to be wrangled into your lap) were pretty full on both sides, with the upper rows at each end pretty lean.
I forgot how much of an entertainment event Monster Trucks is — much like WWE/WWF/whatever, but with horsepower and dirt. The emcee was pretty good, and had folks wound up fairly well as they started right at 7:30. The Idaho Center is a pretty tight arena for the trucks, but afforded one the ability to see the ‘pit’ area they had setup at one end and such. There were six trucks for this show — Arachnaphobia, Captain USA, Jurrasic Attack, Maniac, Medusa, and the king of the show, Grave Digger (probably second only to Bigfoot in Monster Truck lore, perhaps even greater within the community). Interesting to Flossie and myself, Medusa and Jurrasic Attack were both controlled by ladies behind the wheel. Anyway, the starting event is similar to say the introductions at an NBA basketball game (think of a home game at Chicago in the Jordan days, or LA a few years back). Each truck proceeded out, made a lap or so around as the announcer boomed and the crowd roared — all for naught really as the roar of the trucks, deafening, yet so beautiful overtook most of the audible tones one could process. There is a definite hierarchy to the system, as Grave Digger was the last out, and Dennis Anderson piloted to the “lose is fast and on the edge of out-of-control” mantra very well.
After the intros, they filed into the pit area, and two of the trucks came out to race. The race was basically 1 and a half laps around, taking three “hits” at the jumps and junker cars underneath. Tyler seemed to be fairly immune to the emotions of the event. He was attentive, but was affixed to Flossie’s lap to get a better view over the fans in front of him, but was not overly yappy about the event. I asked him a few times if “this was cool” and he said “yes dad it is.” Nora on the other hand was all into the event with a somewhat rarer public display of emotion for her. While she is a fireball around those she is comfortable with, like Tyler, she clams up pretty good around people she does not know, or unfamiliar surroundings. However, she was comfortable now, and the sound through her hearing protection apparently was no bother as the hammering of big blocks reverberating off the metal superstructure did not freak her out, but rather, you could almost tell she had adrenaline running through her veins. As the trucks raced around, she watched, standing up on my things, following the trucks around. She got into the clapping quite a bit, her favorite was lassoing my hands and smacking them together harder and harder, faster and faster, all with a huge smile.
After some races, it was time for a heat with Medusa and Grave Digger, the two top bills of the event. While the previous races were entertaining, this one was an entirely different event. Grave Digger hit it harder, faster, and flew exponentially farther than others. After a few heats, Grave Digger had a solo run, and after his run, he whipped it around and spun a cookie, one of the coolest sights and sounds you will see. Keep this in mind for later…
As the night went on, we had quad-war heats as the trucks reset for the next event and such. Nora and Tyler were doing fairly well, Nora was very restless, entertained, but very adventurous. Popcorn would keep her calmed for a few minutes, but it only lasted so long. After the trucks finished up their first event, the motorcycle jump was brought out and three dirt-bikers came out and entertained for 15 minutes, flying through the air doing some of the craziest stuff I have seen in person, landing everything on queue, it was just unreal to witness. As this was going on, Tyler and Flossie made a trip to the restroom and to pickup a souvenir, then came back, and Nora went on a quick walk with Flossie. Then it was time for the trucks and the freestyle event.
In the freestyle, each truck gets a chance to make a few laps, hitting jumps and performing various events to wow you — all for a score from the judges. There was a larger jump that was not in play in the races that was used a fair amount as the contestants took turns. Then, again, her comes Grave Digger. Again, another notch above, he just flew around the track, almost like he had his foot on the floor the whole time, slidding, straightening it out, hitting the jump with it hammered, landing and heading to the next trick. After clearing his run, it was time again for a cookie — but, with the tight confines, he just missed it and, whoosh, over he went onto his side. The crowed roared — it was pretty awesome.
The kids were still in good spirits as the show came to an end. I was a tad worried the extreme noise, or the lateness (it was about 10:00 when we made it out to the car) of the hour, but even without a nap that day for Tyler, and Nora’s 15-minute power-nap at daycare, they were still chatty in the backseat. In fact, Nora found a nice combination of odd sounds as we waited in the parking lot that sufficiently annoyed her brother, yet, did not dig into the nervous system of the parents. After a few minutes back on the road home, both kids were zonked, and so ended another night in Idaho…
