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 I
worked on this, the first stand-up roller coaster in California in the
winter of 90/91. One of my jobs was to load out the spoils from the
drilling rig, which was drilling holes 4 feet wide and 40 feet deep.
I also dug most of the footings for the columns that hold up the
roller coaster track. The roller coaster was manufactured in Europe and
shipped to the Park. The bolt patterns and distances between the
columns had to be very precise or the columns would not fit. A
surveying team was on the site quite often. I remember the first time
that a I arrived on the site, another backhoe similar to mine was on its
side, having tipped over! I was thinking "what are they asking
us to do here?" Well, I didn't tip over and had a pretty good
time. It was always very cold in the morning that winter with ice in
many places. It also rained a lot and with the Park being almost
under sea level, there was a lot of mud. I remember a laborer getting
stuck in the mud and I had to pull him out with the backhoe. I
pulled him right out of his boots. He was new to this country and
very scared when this happened. It was very strange, but fun working in an
amusement park that is closed for the winter. It was also fun to see
the inner workings of the machines and the big maintenance shop.
Great
America Coaster |
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 The
Ketchums, Ralph, Betty, Brian and Taz
In the early 90's they built a beautiful
Victorian house near me on Soda Springs Road. They used the basic
plans from a house that they owned in Illinois that was built in 1898.
They lived in a two bedroom apartment they made in the attic of that one,
rented out the second floor to an advertising agency and had a law firm on
the first floor. They loved the design and brought it to California
with them and Ralph built it on six acres. I helped with the foundation, road and septic system. Betty was the grade checker on the septic system and ate a lot of dust. Taz was a puppy at the time and stole my sandwich during a break. I (accidentally) ran over him with my 240Z. Not a scratch on the Taz!
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Brian
now runs a window cleaning business in Arizona and Ralph is probably the
smartest person I have ever met and opened a Regional office in Arizona
for a Texas based company. They moved to Oregon then Texas and are
now in Arizona. Betty sends and receives lots of good jokes and it's
so nice to stay in touch after all these years.