Pre-Birthday Beach Weekend

As is tradition (and tradition CANNOT be broken), Rudy and I take off for the Beach (somewhere) and spend a few quiet days basking in the rays and relaxing somewhere near and around my Birthday. This year was no different. We went to Venice, Florida! We went to the beach everyday (Thursday through Saturday) for three hours or so, then came back and showered and relaxed in the cool & quiet. We went to dinner at Sharky's on the Pier and also one night to Althea's. I even was surprised with Birthday Roses! We collected shells and shark's teeth and even went to a Craft Fair in downtown Venice. One day we even ventured up to Englewood Beach, only to be chased off by a thunderstorm. All in all, it was a great 4 days and on the way home we stopped to visit Aunt Judy & Uncle Don in Avon Park to wish Aunt Judy a Happy Birthday, too!

It is so hard to go back to work on Monday morning (for me anyway) after 4 relaxing days away!

Father's Day Weekend

Rudy and I got out on the motorcycle! It was so nice and relaxing (for me anyway). We had a nice ride up towards Clermont, went to an Art Fair at the Lakeridge Winery, stopped for a nice relaxing dinner at Chili's and came back home! We haven't been out on the bike in so long, we've got to do this more!

Chapter Three - Race Day in Charlotte

Sunday, May 25th:

It was finally here! Race Day In Charlotte! The Race didn't start until 5 p.m., so we took our time in the morning and had a great lunch at MacAlister's before going to the Track. We got a great parking spot (we hoped) and walked over to do all the pre-race stuff before finding our seats. The Pre-Race Show on the Track was spectacular. Got great pictures of the cars coming onto the track and lining up. The fly-over was amazing and then the four words we'd been waiting to hear all day, "Gentlemen, START YOUR ENGINES".

What a great day! There were some dull spots during the racing, but for the most part there was a lot of side-by-side racing, position changes and in the end, Kasey Kahne took the Checkered Flag!

Our parking spot turned out to be very good and we didn't have to wait long getting out to the road - Rudy did good!! Everyone was exhausted when we arrived at the hotel and ready to hit the beds!

We left to return home at 7:15 a.m. on Monday, May 26 and arrived in Apopka to drop Janine off at 6:00 p.m. - Great Trip - Loads of Fun with Great Race Fans & Friends!!

Can't wait until we can do it again!!

Chapter Two and One-Half - More Pictures

I think I forgot to mention that we went to Joe Gibbs Racing (twice). It was impressive and we had to make sure Cully got to see it, too!

Chapter Two-Charlotte-May 23

Chapter Two - Friday, May 23:

We left bright and early to go meet Ashley & Jason so that we could get a good start on our day of visiting Race Shops. We visited Hendricks, Roush Fenway, Penske, Red Bull, Yates, and even ran into Robby Gordon just outside his shop (got his autograph on the run).

With Dale Earnhardt, Jr. now driving for Hendricks, Janine was happy to visit HMS. They've remodeled and we spent a lot of time there this year checking out the place. We didn't see any drivers at Roush, but we made it just in time to the Red Bull Shop to get in line and catch Brian Vickers and AJ Almendinger signing autographs! We stuck around there for awhile (Brian is Ashley favorite Driver) and enjoyed several variations of Red Bull samples that were being passed around. We also went to JR Motorsports so Janine could spend some money on some new Jr. shirts, etc. Later in the evening Cully arrived and after dropping Ashley and Jason off at his families house, we ate some dinner at an Olive Garden.

Saturday, May 24th. We picked up Ashley and had to backtrack a little and repeat a few stops at some Race Shops because Cully missed so much by arriving so late on Friday, so we went to Penske, Yates and Petty Enterprises new Shop on this day before heading to Speed Street and making a pass through Jr's new bar, "Whiskey River". I wasn't impressed that much, but we can say we were there!

Hold on - there is more to come -

Catch Up Time - Charlotte, NC - Memorial Day Weekend

Wednesday, May 21 - Chapter One:

We left at Noon for our long weekend in Charlotte, North Carolina. Janine decided yesterday to go with us instead of riding up with Ashley and Jason on Thursday. We had a great and a fast trip! We arrived at our hotel in time to get a good night's rest, as Rudy and I had a BIG day ahead of us and I could hardly wait!!

Thursday, May 22 - We were on the road to Hendrick MotorSports for the Jeff Gordon Network Fan Event! I was so excited and so ready and we weren't sure about the traffic delays so we left the hotel in Pineville, NC at 7:15 a.m. The traffic wasn't bad and we arrived at 7:45 a.m. and was the third couple in line to get in the doors where the event was to take place (the event was to start at 9:30). We had a great time chatting and making new JGN friends! Because we arrived so early when we were allowed to enter the building - we got front-row, center-stage table seats! We couldn't have asked for a better place to sit and view all the action and excitement that happened that day! Rudy won a JG wastebasket in a raffle drawing, we had some Bojangle's chicken for brunch (not my favorite), but I was too excited to eat anyway! Then . . . Jeff arrived and he was so relaxed, personable, down-to-earth, patient and just plain friendly as he talked and answered questions. Each one of the 250+ guests were able to get his autograph, chat a minute with him and get their picture taken with him by a professional photographer. Of course I had my camera clicking the whole time, trying to get the perfect picture of my favorite driver.

(Oh yeah, I almost forgot to tell you that I even convinced Rudy to wear a HMS t-shirt to the event). Rudy got one of die-cast cars autographed and I got a picture of me and Jeff autographed that Rudy took in January at Testing in Daytona that I had framed and is hanging in our RV. I was the last Fan to go up on stage and stand next to Jeff, so I decided to ask him if I could KISS him on the cheek and he obliged, he even hugged me and put his arm around me as I did it! Got pictures to prove it too! AAAHHHH - (i was shaking like a leaf when I walked off that stage).

We were there until 1:30 p.m. when the started kicking everyone out of the building. This was the best way to spend a Thursday morning - in the presence of JEFF GORDON, his fans, new friends and old friends, too. We headed back to the hotel to pick up Janine and find some lunch!

Chapter Two - coming soon!

OMG - It's been a Month

WOW - I can't believe it's been over a month since I last shared our travels experiences with you. I've really got to rack my brain now to try and remember what and where we've been in the past month! Ouch!!

Highlights coming up real soon!!

Have a wonderful Day!