Thread: Hot August Nights....the Hard Way

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Ok, some of you may remember me mentioning that I might be able to make it to Hot August Nights in Reno this last week. Well, I did; but, it was a rather interesting chain of events that took place that actually allowed it to happen.

As I had mentioned earlier, after 3 weeks in a row of autmotive fun (Goodguys Drags and Pacific Northwest Nats, and then the NHRA Northwest Nats the next weekend and then 50's Fever in Winnemucca NV the following week.) my wife was ready for a break and wasn't very...shall we say amused...by the idea of hanging around until Friday so I could head into Reno on Thursday for the Hot August Nights swap meet.

In fact, we had a fairly 1 sided discussion where I mentioned it and she gave me "the look" and mentioned something about yard work that we needed to get to at home...so I finally figured that I better not push it anymore...heheh So we loaded up the van last Monday and were planning on leaving the next morning for home.

Well, we got up the next morning and got all of the last minute loading done, told my mom and dad goodby and headed down the road. Well we got about 5 miles from my mom and dad's house when I noticed that the volt meter in the van was reading low (like about 10 volts). So I headed back to mom and dad's and threw a tester on it. Sure enough, the alternator wasn't putting anything out. My wife was instantly suspicious...(well not really but we did joke about it....heheh) So, I went into town (my parents live about 12 miles out of town) and finally was able to track one down, took it back to the house and installed it in the van. By this time it was too late to leave (like around 1:30 or 2:00) as it takes around 11 hours to get home from there. So we decided to stay an extra day. The kids were really happy about this because they knew that this meant they could get spoiled a little more by grandma and grandpa before we left. Well about 10 minutes after I had finished putting the alternator in and cleaned everything up, the next link in the chain occured.

I was sitting there visiting with my mom and she looked out the window and suddenly jumped up and ran across the room toward the front door saying that Alex (my oldest boy was really hurt). When I got to the door, I was shocked to find Alex standing there crying, with what appeared to be about a 4-5 inch long by 1-1 1/2 inch deep gash running diagonally in his leg just below the knee. He had evidently been climbing up on a tractor, slipped and his leg caught the foot peg on the way down and it opened him up. Anyway, I was instantly worried that he had severed his femeral artery and might lose a lot of blood before we got him to the hospital, but I didn't notice it "pumping bright red blood" out. It is amazing what you can remember about first aid when you're suddenly thrust into the situation. So, I grabbed a towel and applied as much pressure as I could to try to keep the bleeding down as much as possible. We all loaded up and headed into the emergency room. We made it in record time....I know my wife hit triple digits on the speedo on the way in that day....while I sat in the back keeping pressure on the leg. Along the way, we were concerned that there might not be a doctor actually there (normally they only come up from Reno which is about 165 miles south, once or twice a week to the local hospital). Luckily, there was indeed a Doc in the office when we got there and we were able to get him all stitched up.

In the end, there was no major damage, (Thank God!!) the "cut" measured out at 3 1/2 inches long and just a hair under 2 inches deep. I only had to make 2 or 3 trips to the bathroom... Which is another interesting thing....I have seen much worse before and never even got close to sick; but when it's your own kid it seems to amplify things quite a bit. Anyway, he got 30 stitches, 18 self-desolvers on the inside and 12 on the outside, and was released to go home with us with a prescription for a pain killer.

As we were driving back to my mom and dad's house, my wife turned to me and said...."Ok, I get the point...I won't argue with you anymore you can go to the swap meet." We both laughed and then she mentioned that she would actually prefer to stay until Friday anyway so that if there was an infection at any point, we could get him back to the hospital before making the big push to get home.

So in the end, I did actually get down to Reno on Thursday, hit the swap meet, part of the auction, and the show and shine at the Atlantis. Then of course we had to go to Summit because I can't stay away from that place...heheh.

More important than all of the car stuff though, my boy is fine and healing nicely. He's only had to take the pain killer meds a couple times and he'll get his stitches out next week.

I just hope the next time we go, it's a lot less eventful. I enjoy "normal" and "boring" much more.

Cheers,
Firechicken

He'll have a story to tell and can sell looks at his stitches for a quarter now! Glad you made it to HAN. Next time I hope it's part of the plan! Did ya find anything good at the Swap meet? I saw a lot of stuff, but nothing I really wanted.

Pat

I'm glad your kid is ok, I can imagin what was goin on in your head.

I hate to be the one to tell you this but any time you travle with kids it's always gonna be like that, some one gets hurt, or sick or one of each, I'm use to it by now.
Just dont expect a peaful vatcation for the next 18 years or so

Otto

Glad the boy is ok...know how much pain in a child magnifies in the parent. Hey if You get to Gig Harbor..look me up..My dad liv4es near you..on 15th and Geiger..........

Originally posted by Stu Cool
He'll have a story to tell and can sell looks at his stitches for a quarter now! Glad you made it to HAN. Next time I hope it's part of the plan! Did ya find anything good at the Swap meet? I saw a lot of stuff, but nothing I really wanted.

Pat

Thanks Pat, I'll pass along the idea of selling looks, he'll love it. heheh.

As for the swap meet, yeah, I picked up a set of wheels for the Firebird (I had 14's on it and we installed the disc brake conversion kit while I was down there only to find that the 14's wouldn't clear the caliper brackets). I also picked up a set of bumper guards for the '55 and a couple of other misc. bits and pieces.

Did you happen to walk through the cars that were for sale out in the back of the swap meet? If so did you see the "Studemino"? It was kind of an interesting cross I thought.

Cheers,
Firechicken

Originally posted by ljotto1
I'm glad your kid is ok, I can imagin what was goin on in your head.

I hate to be the one to tell you this but any time you travle with kids it's always gonna be like that, some one gets hurt, or sick or one of each, I'm use to it by now.
Just dont expect a peaful vatcation for the next 18 years or so

Otto

Thanks Otto,

Heheh....I know all about sick and hurt.....I wonder sometimes if CPS is going to come for a visit. This was Alex's second trip to the ER in 2 months. Which is about par for the course. Back in the first part of June he fell out of our Apple tree and cracked a rib and scraped up his one arm and face pretty good. I keep joking with him that if he keeps it up, he'll get a Frequent Visitor Account and and we'll get our own assigned parking spot out in front of the ER. Boys will be boys I guess....heheh

Originally posted by Troglodyte
Glad the boy is ok...know how much pain in a child magnifies in the parent. Hey if You get to Gig Harbor..look me up..My dad liv4es near you..on 15th and Geiger..........

Thanks, next time I head across the bridge I'll do that, and if your dad lives on 15th and Geiger, I could probably throw a rock and hit his house (not that I would actually do it though...heheh) I live less than a mile away, down off of Bridgeport and 22nd

I did look at the cars in the lot, but missed the Studemino. I have seen pictures of it before. Did you happen to see the radical custom '53 Stude, black with multicolored flames? He is one of our local talents here near Marysville. Great talent but his inspirations are sometime a little different...

Glad you found some good stuff

Pat

Pat,

Yeah, I think I know the one you're talking about. Was it outside in like the 3rd or 4th row back and closer to the street than the arena? Or was it actually in the arena? I've seen so many cars these past few weeks, they're all starting to run together.

I don't know if you saw it or not but there was also a red '67 Chevelle with a black vinyl top and 283 in it (outside) that I thought was pretty clean and would've like to have got my hands on. It had already sold by the time we got there, which was probably a good thing. My wife would've probably killed me if I'd brought it home. There were also a couple of sleds (also outside) there that were pretty fair too. In fact, we walked through the cars the first time at about 11:00 and then again around 2:00 and the one had sold in the mean time.

One of the guys we were with, brought his '38 ford coupe down and sold it in the auction (well I'm not sure if he actually sold it, I gotta check with my dad on that tonight in fact) over at the convention center next to the Atlantis. There were some pretty neat cars in there too. But from what I saw, they weren't bidding them up that high. In fact, in 3 hours I spent at the auction, I think I only saw one car that got into the 30's and it was probably worth 50. There were a couple of '56 Chevys that sold, one for like 18 and the other one made it to like 22 if I remember right. Other than that though, nobody really seemed to be buying at the auction.

Hi, I'm new around here. site looks good people are cool.
Firechicken, I read your post I'm glad your son is ok.
last time my son rattled me he was laying in the street with a Dodge Ramcharger parked on top of him.

Originally posted by Doxlr8
Hi, I'm new around here. site looks good people are cool.
Firechicken, I read your post I'm glad your son is ok.
last time my son rattled me he was laying in the street with a Dodge Ramcharger parked on top of him.

Well thanks Doxlr8! Welcome to CHR. From the sounds of things, I hope your son is ok. That would be an image not easily forgotten.

Originally posted by Firechicken
Pat,

Yeah, I think I know the one you're talking about. Was it outside in like the 3rd or 4th row back and closer to the street than the arena? Or was it actually in the arena? I've seen so many cars these past few weeks, they're all starting to run together.

I don't know if you saw it or not but there was also a red '67 Chevelle with a black vinyl top and 283 in it (outside) that I thought was pretty clean and would've like to have got my hands on. It had already sold by the time we got there, which was probably a good thing. My wife would've probably killed me if I'd brought it home.

Yeah, it was the one outside. Know what you mean about them running together. There was also a gorgeous black one inside the arena. I wrote his number down I want to find out what mirrors he used on it, I like them much better than the ones on mine. We never made it over to the Auction. I would be curious to know what things went for there and if it made a difference which day. Like you, I saw so many Chevelles...

Pat

Son's doing great these days. 3rd year of college loves to build things (American cars) couldn't be any more proud! we are building a pro-street s10 now. pic's to com,e in the future.