Captain, Gigi, Caleb and I rolled out of bed at 3:00am on July 15 to start our summer trip. The first stop was at my friend Caleb's house near Tampa to drop him off after he spent a week with me in Boca. About 5 hours later we arrived in Steinhatchee where we spent the next 2 days mowing the lawn at Captain and Gigi's place. I did a little bit of mowing, but mostly I terrorized Ancient Oaks Airpark on my dirt bike.

On the 17th, we again hit the road at 3:00am and headed up I-75 for Nashville, TN for the Music City BMX Nationals. Practice was scheduled for Friday with racing on Saturday and Sunday but not until we picked up my dad at the Nashville airport. It was awfully hot and the wind was calm in Nashville for the race but my dad made his main event and I came in 2nd in my mains so we were both happy despite the heat. The Nashville hotel would be the last time I would sleep in airconditioning for the next week and a half. I don't know if I'll make it.

Dayton, Ohio would be our next stop, but not before visiting the Parthenon in Nashville. Captain said that since we would see the Parthenon here we wouldn't have to make a trip to Greece. Gigi wasn't amused. The Parthenon is huge and houses a 43 ft. gold statue of Athena, goddess of ferocious fight and protector of the city. She was born when she sprang out of Zeus's head a full grown adult and in full armor! I wish I could have been born like that. Captain says that's how he was born. I guess that explains everything weird about Captain.

Five hours after leaving the Parthenon, we were in Dayton, home of the U.S. Air Force Museum; the largest aviation museum in the world, the Wright Brothers bike shop and Huffman Prairie where the Wright brothers did their flight testing. The AF Museum was HUGE; it took us 2 days to see it all. It houses thousands of airplanes from the beginning of flight to the experimentals, rockets and presidential planes. And it's free! This is a very cool place that everyone should see. The Wright Brothers bike shop, located in downtown Dayton, had one of their bikes, tools, parts and lots of other stuff on display. Right next door is the Wright Brothers Museum.

After battling the racoons for 3 nights at our Cesar Creek camp near Dayton, one even got into the tent, we were on our way to Chattanooga, TN to do some sightseeing at Ruby Falls and Lookout Mountain. We took the tram up the side of the mountain to the top. It's really a cable-car; boy is the track steep. Once you get to the top, it's like you are up in the clouds looking down on Chattanooga. Once we trammed back down the mountain, we went to Ruby Falls. Ruby Falls is a 120 ft. waterfall that's 1/2 mile back in a cave. All the different rock formations and of course the waterfall are really beautiful.

The day after Ruby Falls, we broke camp again and headed back to Steinhatchee where we mowed the grass again before getting on the road again for Boca. It was a great trip.