Work Hard — Play Hard

When my son was in middle school, he and his best friend, Kevin Necessary, had big career plans. They were going to buy a car just like the one driven in the Blues Brother's Movie and travel the U.S. as skate board competitors.

Yep, that was it. In some respects, they were not far off in fulfilling the dreams of their youth.

As some of you know, my son spent nine years as Frankie Valle's personal assistant, traveling the world, more on the road, than off the road. Amongst other things, he is an artist, a master tiki carver, and he works for three photographers. He still travels the U.S. and the world. They were in China twice last month, shooting a layout for Mazda. Sound glamorous doesn't it?

Well, they do have a lot of fun, but they work hard. The final shoot in China lasted forty-five, yes 45 hours.

What do guys like this do in their off-time?

They play hard, very hard!

While we were all getting ready for Thanksgiving, planning the menu, pulling out treasured recipes and shopping — these guys hit the road for a little fun. This is the third year in a row they modified a Toyota truck (Toyota is one of their clients and a sponsor in this pre-holiday event) and headed South of the Border to participate in the perilous Baja 1000, an off-road race that took place on Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula Nov. 19th-22nd.

Fender Guitars also sponsored them this year

Cool logos

Guitar signed by employees of the
Fender Factory in Ensenada

The guitar was placed on the front of the truck and will be on display in the factory after the race

The annual event draws HUGE crowds

So do the girls

No matter what species they are!

It's a dirty job, but somebody's gotta do it!

Of course, you have to put up with the breakdowns

But you make new friends along the way

You get to hang out in a beautiful location
on a beautiful day

with a great view

You get to tour the Fender Factory
The gang in front of the Fender Factory with some of the employees

And then, being the types of crazy guys they've been since middle school, they let the tour go ahead and my son decides it would be fun to jump on the shrink wrapper.

Yes, that's my son being wrapped up like a sausage. He was standing when this wrapping process began and when he fell on his side, the plastic continued to wrap him up cocoon style.

The employees working in the area were laughing right along with him, but I know they had to be thinking, Crazy Gringo!

Kevin helps load Jim

and he's moved to storage

Well folks, that's {definitely} a wrap for this week's Outdoor Wednesday. I know I cheated and added a few indoor shots of the factory, but hey, I just had to show you how my son makes his mother proud!

It's so nice to be back with all of you, I missed everyone. Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Now get on over to Susan's @ A Southern Daydreamer for links to more Outdoor Wednesday posts. I just can't wait to see what today's offerings are!

Thanks to Jim Inglis (my son), Matt Sersion, and Stephen Lascola for the use of their Baja photos for this post, you guys so rock! BTW, that first photo is my dusty son taken at the race in 2007. You must agree that these guys do work hard and play hard!