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   Each year, we have a motorcycle race at our place. It is put on by Pro Hick Racing and will be September 13th this year. The races are called hare scrambles and are similar to moto-cross racing except for the fact they race through the woods and over hill and dale. The races are fun to watch and apparently are enjoyable to race, though I would not know personally. It looks like a good way to become injured or maimed but there are surprisingly few injuries. As one might expect, maintaining a track that winds several miles through the timber can be a challenge. Sunday was the first workday for the September race.

   There were quite a few members of the club that showed up to work even though the temperature was forecast to be the hottest day in the last several years. The workers split into two crews. I am not sure how many people were on the south place as I got hot and went back to the house before I got that far. The crew on the north place consisted of a four-wheeler, two side-by-sides, and three motorcycles. Some had chain saws to remove fallen trees that had blown down on the path, one side-by-side was pulling a brush cutter, and motorcycles were marking trails with arrows stapled to trees so racers would not get lost.

   I am not a member of the crew but just like to drive around making sure things are getting done correctly. I met up with them as they were stopped for a break making plans for the next section to tackle. Damon had his dog, Claire, and another guy had brought his pit bull, Nola. Claire and Nola had both been riding with Damon in his side-by-side because of the heat. They wanted no part of the fresh air and exercise; they just wanted to be with the group. Nola had been running around checking out all the interesting smells when the meeting ended and people started taking off in different directions. She had a panicked look on her face when she saw Damon leave without her. She noticed the door to my side-by-side was open and jumped in. I may have been a stranger, but anything was better than running in this heat. I could tell by the way she sat up in the seat and watched out of the windshield, this was not her first time cruising the trails in a side-by-side.

   We were a distance behind the rest of the group when we got back to the lake. I decided to stop and let Nola get a drink. I thought I knew where they were going and would catch up with them near the corral. Nola jumped out and decided she was not thirsty enough to drink warm lake water. I told her to load up and she took off.

   Before I left the house, I checked our weather station. I am sure it is not extremely accurate as it said the temperature was 99 degrees with a heat index of 137. I could believe the temperature, but the heat index might have been reading a bit high. Whatever it was, it was hot. I could only imagine Nola having a heat stroke or getting lost in the heavy timber that was unfamiliar to her. I raced up the hill and got ahead of her. I encouraged her to jump in, and to my relief she did. For being such a good dog, we stopped at the house and got a cold drink for both of us. There was nobody at the corral and neither Nola nor I could hear any motorcycles, so we went back across the dam and up to the top gate and waited in the shade. They finally showed up and Nola got back in with Damon and Claire.

   The rest of the track maintenance would have to be completed without my supervision. It was too hot for me to care enough to continue and they seemed to be doing a pretty good job without me.

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