Monster Mile 2 + Joey Lagono

We had a great time at the Monster Mile track although the Monster never came out and there really weren't any huge wrecks.This concrete track is famous for becoming very slick after tire rubber gets laid down on a warm day and there usually are lots of big wrecks. Kyle Bush won 2 of the 3 races (Carolyn Korn should be happy) and Jimmy Johnson was speeding on pit row and lost the race for himself (he had the best car all day).

On Thursday night, before the races started we went to a famous seafood restaurant in Lipseic Delaware, famous for crabs. While we were there, Michael Waltrip came in and Ryan Newman came in to eat. Michael placed hand on Roy's shoulder, so he says he's never going to wash it again. I got Michael's autograph.

I forgot to write when we were in Darlington, we went to a Home Depot to meet Joey Lagano. He was all smiles and friendly. He spoke to everyone as he signed their hat, tshirt or whatever. You can see Roy's picture with Joey above and mine below. We are now headed for Charlotte North Carolina where we will spend two weeks.

The Monster Mile Post 1

We have arrived and are parked just outside the Monster Mile Track in Dover Delaware. Its raining which is not good for racing and practicing tomorrow. Hopefully this storm just moves straight on out to the ocean. Today the dogs got away from us and we chased 3 dogs around the field. I guess they are getting tired of being "cooped" up. Acres of grass are probably too tempting for Beagles who really want to chase the eastern squirrels. Tomorrow we plan to sit around a little and then head to Sambo's for fish and crab. This restaurant is suppossed to be famous among NASCAR fans in a little city called Leipsic (lip - sick) Delaware. We' ve heard them talk about this restaurant on Sirus 128 for years. We'll see if it lives up to itss reputation.
So - Hello from Delware!! :)

The Lady in Black

We spent the last week in Florence, South Carolina near Darlington International Speedway or the "Lady in Black", also nicknamed "the track too tough to tame". Living up to "her" name there were lots of cars with the "Darlington" stripe on their right side, due to scrapping the wall. There were also a fair number of wrecks, one taking Jimmie Johnson out of the race. We enjoy this track a lot and enjoy the KOA where we have stayed now for 3 years. Each year they BBQ a pig on Thursday and have a big picnic in the evening and provide breakfast on the weekend. We also enjoyed some great fresh tomatoes from a local market and had our traditional hot salsa. We left on Monday and drove a significant part of the Blue Ridge Parkway through the Blue Ridge mtns. in North Carolina and Virginia. Today we drove onto Maryland and will be in Dover Delaware, parked just outside the racetrack tomorrow. It has been raining in the northeast but supposed to be warm (80s) this weekend.

Richmond Races

Friday night we went to the Bubba Burger Nationalwide races. (Only in the south would they sell "Bubba burgers" - I kept thinking they must be purchased by Billy Bob). It was an exciting race won by Keselowski but Kyle Bush gave him a run for it. Saturday night we went to the Sprint Cup race. Even though it was a good race, we were dismayed when Kyle Bush won. Oh well! Our driver got hit by Bobby Labonte, lost a tire and had to pit, putting him 5 laps down. Such is racing. The Richmond speedway put in the a new sign board which you can see in the one picture. One picture shows a skydiver bringing in the U.S. flag (when I see this, I always think of Wally Benton bringing in the flag at the first BSU game in the new stadium. If you don't know what happened to him, email and ask me!). The last picture is the view from our seats. Sunday we went to Hanover Church of the Nazarene, a church slightly north of the racetrack. Monday we headed out and got to Florence, South Carolina near Darlington Speedway for the week. Its warm and nice and dry. With all the rain in Tennessee, we expected it to be wet. I guess we will have to wait and see - they say thunderstorms tonight and the clouds are rolling in.

Richmond Virginia

Thursday, April 29th

Today we went shopping to get Roy a swim suit (a new one every 10 years isn't too bad!). Afterward we headed downtown Richmond to the Edgar Allen Poe Museum. They have the largest collection of his memorabilia here (clothes, dishes, furnitures, and much of his writing). He was an editor of a literary journal published in the 1700s while he lived in Richmond. Afterward we came back to the RV and sat outside in the sunshine. We then headed to Bass Pro Shop where Jamie McMurray (winner of the 2010 Daytona 500) was signing autographs. As you can see, we both got his autograph. Races tomorrow night and Saturday night. We'll head to South Carolina on Monday or Tuesday.

Wild races and weekend

Today we left Talladega and a wild weekend. All evening Friday and all day Saturday we were on tornado watch. The winds blew and it rained and rained. We lucked out with a high spot while many others got out of their RVs to many inches of rain water. We watched a tent go flying in the air, hit a car and break the windshield. The Nationwide race was cancelled on Saturday due to "dangerous" weather. No kidding! Sunday was a beautiful day. We went to church at the Cornerstone campground church. After that, headed to both the Sprint Cup and National races at the 2.66 mile Talledega Superspeedway. It was a fabulous race. Our driver led off and on all day but got shiffled back to 13th at the end. (He's still 8th place in the points though!!). The weather couldn't have been more perfect. This morning we packed up and headed towards Richmond, Virginia. We drove about half way and will be north of Richmond tomorrow. Hope this finds you all well.

Talledega --We are here

We left Idaho on the 15th. Took 2 days to get to Phoenix where we visited some dear friends, LaVerne and Harold Roberts. We left on the 17th and arrived in Talledega Alabama on the 20th after 3 long days of hard driving. We are camped right outside Turn 1 and can see the track from our RV. The dogs were happy to be able to run around a little. Snoops barks at everything so we have some training to do! We will bel here until Monday. It was nice to sit in the sun and soak it up today after we spent a couple of hrs. "decorating" the RV outside with all of our Earnhardt Jr. stuff (gotta get in the racin' mood!)