Jacksonville FL

We have spent Wed - Sun in Jacksonville, Florda. Thursday we drove to St. Augustine, FL, U.S.'s oldest city. This city was settled in the 1500's by the Spanish. Ponce de Leon landed here, looking for the Fountain of Youth, which he found in St. Augustine. Roy and I had a drink from the fountain and are waiting for it to work. (picture of cistern of fountain) The average age of death of a European in Leon's time was 35. He lived until his 70s so I guess it worked??? We also visited an old jail from late 1800's that didn't close until l953 due to a lawsuit saying it didn't provide livable conditions. It had no toilets, no showers and no heating/cooling with open barred windows. The prisoners got one bath a week - one tub full of bath water for 72 prisoners to share (I think I would want to be first every week!). Saturday we went to the Florida State vs. Colorado State game in the Jacksonville Jaguar stadium (Roy got his masters from FSU). FSU won, but it wasn't a pretty game. The FSU mascot is the Seminoles. The opening of the game has a seminole indian ride bareback to the center of the field and place a burning spear in the center FSU emblem. Was pretty cool to watch. This was Bobby Bowden's (coach) 500th game at the same school.

Onward to Florida

We are now headed to Florida. Spent last night in New Bern, North Carolina. Tonight we are in Savannah, Georgia. Tomorrow we will be in Jacksonville, Florida until Monday.

Racing

So far I haven't put up many racing pictures, so this is for some of you racing fans.
First is a picture of Morgan Shepherd, #89 of Nationwide series, speaking at Racetrack Ministries in Richmond, Virginia. He gave his testimony about how he came to be a Christian and involved with racetrack ministries. Look for his "Jesus" car on the track. Second picture is of Earnhardt Jr.'s car at Richmond, VA. Third is Earnhardt, Jr. shaking hands with John McCain and his wife, who visited the New Hampshire track. Next is a picture of "The King", Richard Petty, being honored at the Monster Mile.

Philadelphia and on to Dover

We spent two days in Philadelphia after N.H. Went to Independence Hall (picture is in the hall where they signed the Dec. of Independence and Constitution a few years later) and had lunch in the old Reading Railroad Center (yep of Monopoly fame!). Of course we had Philly Cheesesteaks. What else would you have in Philly? We then headed out to Dover,Del. for The Chase Race #2. Who would have guessed that Greg Biffle would be on top (of course with Carl Edwards)? We are parked just a short walk from the track and can easily hear them practicing on the track during the day. National Race in Saturday and Sprint cup race on Sunday. On Saturday they are doing a special ceremony for Richard Petty and dedicating a plague to him on the huge "Monster" built at the track. Pictures will come later.

A week in New Hampshire

On Monday 9/8 we headed for New Hampshire. Got to track on Tuesday. We pretty much hung around our RV on Wed. Thursday we drove to Meredith, N.H. near lake Winnipesaukee (the largest lake in N.H. and 5th largest in the U.S.). We visited The Loon Center (think on Golden Pond movie which was filmed in New Hampshire and had the loons [bird]in the movie), went to on the World's largest gatherings of private steam boats on the lake (think African Queen movie) and rode the Winnipesaukee Scenic RR around about 1/2 of the lake (see two pics). Roy and I got to ride in the top of the Caboose.
Friday's races were rained out so we went to three races on Saturday (a modified, a NASCAR east and a truck race). Sunday we went to the MRO (Motor Racing Outreach) service, waited for rain to quit and finally the cup race. Biffle won, Earnhardt Jr. was 5th. Jr is now 4th in points, only 40 points behind the leaders so he actually gained 30 points from where he was. Tomorrow we head south. The next race is next weekend in Delaware.

On the road to New Hampshire

Sunday's two races were quite exciting!
Before the races, we went to church at Raceway Ministries at the track. Morgan Shephard (the "Jesus" car) spoke at the service.
The cup race was quite exciting-lots of side by side racing and even some 3-wide racing. Of course Jr. (#88) bumping Kyle Busch added to the excitement and the race crowd seemed to love it. Jr. just didn't seem to have the car to take Jimmy Johnson (who won) but we were also cheering for Tony Stewart to win. Now the Chase begins. For us, we're glad Jr. is in the chase this year. The National race was after the Cup race, so we didn't get back to the RV until late. Today (Monday) we drove to Newburgh NY and tomorrow we should be in New Hampshire in the early afternoon.

Richmond and surroundings

On Tuesday, 9/2 we drove the "Seven Day Battle" trail. This included many sites where McClellan's armies (union) tried unsuccessfully to take Richmond, the capital of the confederacy in 1862. On Wednesday we went to Jamestown. We listened to an actor for about an hour, who played the role of an indentured servant. We visited the one "original" building still standing, a church that was rebuilt multiple times, but still dates to the 1700s (picture). There was also an archeology site digging going on from the original fort (picture). There were lots of artifacts to see in the museum from the 1600-1700s.

On Thursday we went to Williamsburg. The Virginia Historical Society has protected about a mile square called "Colonial Williamburg". There are lots of old houses, the original Governor's mansion (for the early British governor's) and the original capital building. After P. Henry and T. Jefferson served as governor's, the capital moved to Richmond. At Colonial Williamsburg, which you pay to see, the town has actors dressed up in original costumes (picture) and they reinact the decisions for Virginia to join the original congress and vote for independence. Also, in Williamsburg, is the College of William and Mary. The campus was quite beautiful, all red brick and "colonial"-looking.

Today (Friday) we tried to go to a National race, but the weather did not cooperate. Tropical storm Hanna has struck and is dropping rain and wind. We are expecting 4 inches of rain and wind up to 40 mph tonight. The races have been postponed until Sunday.

August 31-September 1

Went to church at Belmont Baptist Church in Charlottesville, Virginia. After church we spend the afternoon at Jefferson's Plantation, Monticello. He was quite the gardener, both vegetable and flowers. He brought plants in from all over the world.

We drove from Charlottlesville to Richmond and are staying about 15 miles north of Richmond in Ashland (Richmond International Speedway is north of Richmond). Today (Monday, Sept 1) we drove into Richmond and visited the Tredegar Iron Works (the ammunition and artillary factory of the confederacy), the National Confederacy Museum and the Confederacy "White House" or home of Jefferson Davis during the war. The museum had a lot of artifacts, including unforms from General Lee, J.E.B. Stuart and Stonewall Jackson . The picture to the right is of Jefferson Davis "White House"