Dave and Cole have gone to the Monster Truck Jam for the past two years at the Metrodome. This year I tagged along. It had to be one of the coldest nights of the winter and we had to park a significant ways from the stadium. Everyone was bracing against the cold and wishing for the crosswalk lights to hurry up and turn green. Once inside (I had never been to "The Dome") it was quite good people watching as we made our way to our seats. The scent of fuel and dirt filled the air. The various Monster Trucks were lined up on either side of the arena with the jumps and obstacles set up throughout the middle. It was loud already and things hadn't even started. :-) After introductions, the opening "act" were old cars pulling funny trailers or towing odd set-ups (such as toilets). They circle as quick as they can attempting to knock one another off course. The last trailer standing was the winner. It was actually really funny to watch them plow into each other and see things fly. Then the main attraction began. The vibrations from their engines got bebe moving and kicking.
Cole had his ear protectors on and his eyes lit up when his favorite monster trucks did their first round of time trials. Those who make loops or get around the arena super fast or have fancy tricks score more points. Through judging the trucks are slowly eliminated. Some got flat tires, some began leaking fluids, some were just too slow. Amazingly, one of the fastest and most daring of the drivers (Monster Mutt's) was a woman!! Everyone roared when she finished in first place and took off her helmet. Then the freestyle phase started where the drivers went crazy showing their stunts and jumping really high. A lot of the trucks got damaged when landing. Some limped off the course, others continued on trying mightily to hang in there until their time was up. The crowd favorite Grave Digger lost an entire wheel and yet managed to jump and make some impressive moves. Spiderman ended up the winner!
Leaving the stadium was quite the feat as the winds outside had whipped up so strongly that it was causing a vacuum with the doors. It took us nearly 25 minutes to actually make our way to the exit and then force our way against the bone chilling windchill back to Dave's truck. We were exhausted but Cole was happy and the proud owner of a new Monster Truck T-shirt! The Metrodome is slated to be torn down in 2014 for the new Vikings stadium so the boys may have one more year of attending the Monster Jam before it moves to its new digs.
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