NASCAR Season has started!

We are now past the third race of the year.   Roy and I endured the rain all day Sunday at Daytona,  We woke up Monday to rain, rain rain,  At breakfast we learned they had again postponed the race until evening.  Wow what a race it was.   Dale Jr was second so we were happy and we got to see JP Montoya hit the blower and the terrible explosion.  Glad no one was seriously hurt.   Not sure I completely buy JP's story but who knows.

We did not go to the Phoenix race but have been to all the races in Las Vegas.  It was so exciting to see Jr. lead many laps of the race and have a great car.   Too bad one pit stop (4 tires vs. 2) ended up putting him back mid pack and he never could get back in front.   BUT he is 4th in points.   This is a good start to the season.

After the Nationwide race, we went to a Children Charity Auction.   They had a ride-a-long with Junior in his introduction truck for the Sprint Cup race.   Roy was semi listening, almost asleep but almost had a heart attack when I bid $1600.   Boy did that wake him up.   His ride along went for $1750 so I got outbid and Roy was happy.   I think his heart shot up to near tachycardia before someone else bid.   Was one of the best laughs we both have had in a long time.   AND the money was for charity anyway.

We are planning to leave Middleton in the RV probably April 2nd.   We will head to Phoenix to visit friends and then on to the Texas race.   We will follow the NASCAR schedule until early June.   Our last race will be Dover.  From Dover we are head to Nashville for the CMT festival and then home sometime in mid June.   Home now is McCall Idaho.  We will officially be living there full time as of March 20, 2012.....just a few days before we leave in the RV.

Horrible Day but God is good!

Two days ago, while we were driving, Roy chipped his front tooth.   Then, the bearings on our trailer started smoking.   Roy pulled over and they were gone, so while taking off the wheel, he lost his cell phone.   We limped on into Salem Tire Center (Salem, Illinois).   While all this was taking place, my dogs jumped on my purse, sitting on the chair and my IPOD fell in their water bowl.   What a day.
Yesterday, the Tire center spent the day trying to locate parts for the trailer. We think that the whole rear axle is maybe going to have to be replaced.   Anyway, we have to be home, so I'm sitting now in St. Louis airport, getting ready to fly to Boise.   Roy is in the RV with 3 dogs, driving home, pulling a rented car carrier and our trailer is staying in Salem until we can get back in July to pick it up after it is repaired.   Please pray for Roy as he drives alone with 3 dogs.  After sitting, and drying for 2 days, my IPOD seems to work.     We did go to a Verizon store and replace his cell phone, which he could care less about but I wanted him to have for safety reasons.  

Last week in Charlotte

Drove up to Randleman, N.C. (where R. Petty lives) and went to his personal museum.   Here's the winged car (superbird) he drove in the early 70s

 Here's another view of the world's largest tv screen (back of it).   Note its size compared to the cars below.   It was incredible to watch parts of the race and repeats of the wrecks on this screen as well as interviews with drivers and crew chiefs. Each of those levels are a story  (100 feet to stop - screen is 80 X 200 HD)

Went to Michael Waltrip's fan days, had him sign his book "In the Blink of an Eye" about him becoming a race driver, as well as what happened to him after Dale Srs. death.

Stood in line at Bass Pro shop for Ryan Newman's signature on his NASCAR Pets book and on a race card.

Went to Rousch's Fan Days.   Chocolate (Danny Myers) was broadcasting with Sirius Radio Show.   He is a regular with "Trading Paint".   He was Dale Earnhardt Sr.'s gasman for many years, including 6 of his championships.

Saw Marcus Ambrose at Petty Fan Days.   Chatted with him about Tasmania, where he is from.

View of Charlotte Motor speedway turn 3 and four from our seats.   What a race Sunday evening.   Our guy (Dale Earnhardt. Jr.) was leading on final lap and ran out of gas on the last turn.  Ended up 7th.   It was sure exciting finish.

Sunday morning church at the track.   Paul Menard's (#27) right rear tire changer and pit crew trainer gave his testimony at church.   The older, shorter guy is Joe Lewis, a pastor we have come to know quite well.  

We are now headed home.   Had a trying, tough day yesterday (Memorial day).   Roy chipped his tooth, the wheel bearings on our trailer went out, Roy lost his cell phone searching for some parts that came off the trailer, and the dogs knocked my IPOD into the dog dish and now its trash.   Days like that tax our patience to the maximum.   We are in St. Louis, waiting to see how long it will take to fix the trailer (they are trying to order parts at the moment).   We'll make it home, but don't know when.

This will be the last trip blog for now.   Will hopefully start another next week.

A week in Charlotte

We drove from Dover DE to northern North Carolina.   On Monday we visited Harvick's race shop (he fields both Nationwide cars and trucks).   We have spent the rest of the week in Charlotte NC camped outside turn 4 of the racetrack.  .   Wednesday we went to the Victory Junction Gang camp.   This camp will hold 9 different "disease" camps this summer.   Each week children under 16 come that all have the same disorder and experience a week of camp free.   Our NASCAR members club works every year doing a project for the camp as a part of our annual convention   This year we put bed bug covers on all of the children and staff beds.   They fed us lunch and gave us a tour of the camp.   The newest addition was an ampitheater donated by the Dale Jr. Foundation.   There are pictures of us making beds and  the new ampitheater (I'm standing on the stage).   Then the members club went to the carting speedpark and raced each other.   Thursday we went to Earnhardt-Gnassi racing shop for a private tour through the shop and then to NASCAR Research and Development.   Friday we met at the NASCAR Hall of Fame and then had a tailgate party with the members out at the track.   Friday night we went to the truck race.   Saturday we went to track church, a member's breakfast, a club track tour (picture of us in front of Dale Jr's car)  and then just sat around watching Indy qualifying before attending the All-Star race. At the All star race we helped set two World Records.   One was watching the world's larged HD TV Screen (200 feet by 80 feet - bigger than the one at Dallas Cowboy stadium) and second was Everyready battery setting a record with the most people holding/using a battery.    Sunday has truly been a day of rest.  

Picture from Dover

First picture is some crazy window salesmen in the fan zone.   I did end up with one of the colorful Lais.   Picture two Roy took on the frontstretch of the track.   You can see how sloped the track is even on the straight aways of the cement track of Dover.   The third picture is me in front of the Dover Monster.   At the bottom of the monster, there are plaques, honoring the winners of the races back many years.   The last is Chris and Roy on the Speed stage ---ok so its a fake picture but we did get free t-shirts too!

Maryland and back

Spent a day trying to find someone in the Dover area that could work on a Cummins diesel engine.   Finally found someone Tuesday afternoon over in Maryland.   Got up at 6:15 a.m. and drove to Maryland.   They took a day to diagnose that the fuel pump was not working properly (and probably hadn't been working correct for a while).   It was finally failing enough that we were having trouble maintaining speed and sometimes would completely cut out (like on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge).   They needed to order the part from Baltimore, so we spent the night in Maryland.   The good thing is we found a restaurant called Suicde Bridge Restaurant that had incredible seafood (great crab and shrimp!). The bridge got its name from the fact that numerous people have committed suicide by jumping off it, including a man the day after the bridge was opened.  

 The next morning (Wed.)  they installed the new fuel pump.   Turned out the fuel pump problem was under warranty so the cost was mainly frustration.   Headed back to Dover about 1 p.m. and we parked back at the track about 4 p.m.   Today we went to the truck race.   Good race.   Tomorrow is the Nationwide Race.   Sunday we will go to the Raceway ministry service in the campground and then to the race.   We are just hoping that there is no rain.   Rain is predicted for tomorrow and Sunday.

Made it to Dover barely

We left on Monday and headed toward Dover Delaware, intending to spend the night about 150 miles out of Dover.   Our RV engine started acting weird, sputtering and we ended up in the middle of a bridge with a motor that wouldn't stay started.   Had to be towed part of the way off the bridge before we got it started.   We decided to drive late and get to Dover so that we could search for someone to take a look at the deisel engine.   It was an interesting drive.   After talking to a few deisel people, they think one of the control chips has gone bad.   We have an appointment tomorrow.   We are parked at the racetrack but will pack everything up and travel to the repair shop and spend tomorrow waiting for it to be fixed.   Fun!!!