Wyoming

We are getting closer to home = we are in Laramie Wyoming. Feels and even looks like homeland with mountains and open spaces. I cannot call something only 3000 feet high a mtn. like they do in the east. They have no clue. After a while I also get that closed up feeling with all the greenery and folage. You drive down the road and cannot see more than 5 feet in from the road. I do like being able to see for miles. It will be good to be home again in 1-2 days.

Nashville and Beyond

Rachael flew in late last Wed night. We went downtown and had dinner at midnight. Thursday we wandered around downtown and went to the Country Music Hall of Fame. We spent about 3 hours going through all of the exhibits. That evening we went to the Rhyman theater to a Classic Country show (not sure how much Rachael enjoyed that music). Friday we drove over to Lynchburg and that evening went to the Grand Ole Opry (which was held at the Rhyman due to flooding at the "new" Opry house). Saturday morning she flew out. Roy and I went to a Nationwide NASCAR race outside of Nashville. Sunday was the Cowboy Church. This church broadcasts, the preacher is married to Johnny Cash's younger sister, who sang. Sunday afternoon we headed out. Spent the night outside of St. Louis. Today we are in Doniphan NE about 80 miles out of Lincoln NE. We are slowly moving home.

Nashville

We arrived yesterday in Nashville. You all recall the horrible flooding they had here. Everywhere you look, people are gutting lots of first floors of buildings. We are staying in a KOA that was completely under water. The owner told us she took a boat floating over the top of their shower house early in May. Wow. This 100+ lot KOA only has about 20 spaces open and no amenities. Fortunately, we do have power, water and sewer at our spot but no shower houses, etc. Rachael arrives tonight and we hope to go downtown and check out the country western scene at "The District" as it is called.

Second Week in Charlotte

This last week in Charlotte was a rainy one. Amazing that all of the races were on time except for the dirt track race. As the saying goes, it was spring racin' in Charlotte. We also went to two driver autograph sessions and got to speak for a while to Bryan Scott (from Boise, ID, driving in the Nationwide series and currently Rookie of the Year contender). We also visited Wood Brother's shop, who sponsors Bill Elliott's car. We went down to Speed Street, a street fair during the week whose theme is NASCAR. Friday we went to the largest hamburger feed inside the Charlotte track, sponsored by Coca Cola. After doing a 1 1/2 mile walk around the track, we ate hamburgers and chicken from a 1/4 mile long grill and drank Coke Zero. What a hoot! Monday we started driving towards Nashville TN where we will spend a few days. Rachael (daughter) is flying in on Wed and we are going to two performances at the Reiman Theater and visiting the Country Hall of Fame.

First week in Charlotte NC

We are here in Charlotte for our NASCAR Members club convention and the All Star Race.

On Wednesday our club went out to Petty's Victory Junction Gang Camp and stuffed "goodie bags" for the campers coming in June. This camp is a free camp for kids of particular disease, such as sickle cell anemia, cancer, etc. This is the 3rd year we have worked at the camp. The camp was built to honor Adam Petty, Richard Petty's grandson who was killed during a NASCAR practice. We were priveleged to meet Adam's brother, Austin (Kyle Petty's other son) at the camp. We had the picture taken with him. Wednesday evening we went to the Pit Crew Challenge, a timed event putting various pit crews against each other. The winning crew gets to choose their pit at the Allstar race. On Thursday we went to NASCAR Research and Development. This is one of the perks of the club because they don't do public tours. They have finished the seat requrements and next year all driver's seats must meet certain safety requirements. They are now doing experiments on the crushability of the roof of the car as well as side panels. They are trying to develop better ways of protecting drivers without greatly affecting th weight of the car.

Friday we met at the new Hall of Fame. It is a wonderful place with lots of cool memorabilia, as well as lots of exhibits explaining the hows and whys of the car and racing. Our picture is on what is called to "Glory road". It started our flat, with a car from the original Daytonna beach racing in the 50s and ended with one of Jimmie Johnson's cars on 33 degrees banking. Our picture is a little past midway on the road where the banking of probably 25% or so. Talledega track has 33 degrees banking on its curves.

It took a few hrs. to go through the 3 floors of stuff.

Saturday was and Allstar race. What a race - only 13 cars finished as there was a fairly large wreck towards the end of the race. Kurt Busch won the race.

Sunday after track church, we went to a Christian celebration put on the the Gibbs family called "Taylor's finish Line Festival". Taylor is Joe Gibbs grandson who had leukemia, was treated and now is cancer free. This festival was to celebrate this and raise funds for cancer treatment for kids who cannot afford the treatment that Taylor was able to receive. There were lots of NASCAR driver's running around the playing with the carnival stuff with kids. There was also a Christian concert by Toby Mac in the evening. We saw Michael Waltrip playing minature golf with kids. Joey Lagona and Bobby Labonte each played Wii racing with kids (go figure). Juan Pablo Montoya also played minature golf. The picture of me with Michael is especially for Sharon!

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!! :)