Imagining the future

It was another busy day in Trinidad with more meetings and scoping out the worksite in detail. The final survey will happen tomorrow allowing us to make the final tweaks to the plans. This coming week it is our hope to see gravel being hauled onto the site to begin the preliminary grading. The first concrete footings should happen early in the new year. 

Meanwhile work continues elsewhere including in Italy where the second and third ride are being fabricated. Last week in Orlando we rode a similar ride and while we were there the prototype ride vehicle was released for our approval. The band around the bottom of the barrel still needs to be detailed and the seat will be painted gold but it already looks very cool! We gave them an enthusiastic thumbs up!

As we walked the site again today I was reminded of when we first walked the land on previous projects. In spite of the land being flat and bare I could easily imagine the site with all of the buildings, rides, attractions and landscaping in place. I could hear the music, smell the flowers and hear excited people enjoying themselves. What I could see, smell, hear and feel in my imagination insired me to press on. This is going to be a spectacular project when we are done. Stay tuned as we make it so over the next year...

Thank you crew!

While Peter and I are sorting things out in Trinidad, the crew continues to work hard back at the studio. Yesterday I recieved a photo report of progress there. The small bridges are now all sculpted and looking good. In the background of each shot I can see they've also been very busy attaching the diamond lath to the welded features.

The painting crew is bringing the completed signs to life as well.

The first operator's both is also looking very colorful.

It sure is good to have a crew we can count on, even if we are thousands of miles distant.

Singing in the rain!

When we started this project in Trinidad they told us there were two seasons locally... dry and wet. It turns out we are currently in wet season. In our many years of building projects I've seen lots of rain and plenty of mud but today was the wettest and muddiest of all by a good margin. Thankfully the day was very warm and the rain was actually pleasant. If one has to get absolutely soaked in the rain I would choose to do it in the Caribbean as I didn't get cold at all. The mud was as sticky as ever. Doing a quick layout on the ground proved to be a bit of a challenge. Since Peter had the highest gumboots we sent him to the deeper puddles. :)

We actually got a lot done and did manage to solve some of the site challenges despite the rain.

Before the rain and real work began it was time for some TV interviews which are to be used to reveal the project to the public next month. Both Peter and I took our turn before the camera - complete with speaking parts.

The rest of the day was filled with very productive meetings and great meals with our hosts. Tomorrow we begin again with a full schedule planned. Stay tuned...