Wrapping Up Charlotte Trip

We had a great time in Charlotte, as always and the Race was a good one even if Jeff got spun out and crashed early in the Race. I got great pictures of the whole thing and I think I broke my record for the most pictures taken at a race. I took over 1400 pictures just on race day alone.

Janine and I went on a ONMC Garage Tour - it wasn't the best tour I've been on, but we got to see the cars in the Garages and get our pictures by the Haulers so it was worth it. It was very warm that day and when we got finished we found the guys waiting for us in the shade sitting on the grass relaxing. Later we walked through the driver merchandise trailers and through all the vendor exhibits. We had a lot of time to kill before the race began. We headed to our seats around 3:30 and enjoyed the shade and light breeze as we watched all the pre-race demonstrations by several branches of the armed services, with fly-overs and soldiers dropping from helicopters, ground battle demonstrations and then the most spectacular demonstration of blowing up some buildings on the grassy infield. This is why the cars weren't on Pit Road like they always are before a race. We had great seats. We were almost right behind the Flag Stand and Driver Intro Stage. Jeff's Pit was in full view and so was Tony Stewart, Jr., and Robby Gordon's. With Casey Mears (# 25) winning this race, the Hendrick Teams have WON 9 of the 12 points races so far this year. Jeff has won 6 Poles and 3 Races. He is still in first place with the points, but Jimmie Johnson is looming close by!

This is our last race for awhile (unless we get surprised), so we will be heading off in other directions for some different scenery and adventures.

See ya on the Road!!

Third Edition - Charlotte

Good Morning - It's Race Day! I am ready and waiting for the others to get out of bed! Can you believe it???

Yesterday was another day with lots of windshield time. We drove again up to Welcome, NC which is about 20 miles south of Winston-Salem and 90 minutes from our hotel. We went to see the RCR Race Museum and Childress Racing Shop. They have the largest collection of Dale Earnhardt race cars in the world... From there were drove back to Huntersville to arrived an hour past Joe Gibbs Race Shop closing time, so we took a few pictures from the outside and decided that we might stop in before heading back on Monday morning.

RCR has a memory wall that they want visitors to sign, they gave us a silver Sharpie and we all signed. We got lots of great group photos along the way at every stop too!

After trying to get into Gibbs Race Shop, we drove to uptown Charlotte to SPEED STREET to see if there was something we missed and to also give Cully a chance to see all the action.

The others are getting around and up now. We hope to be out of here by 10:00 so that Janine and I can be on time for our Garage Tour with ONMC at Noon. That means that there will be more pictures to follow.

Watch for us on TV. See you at the Races!!

2nd Edition - Charlotte Trip

This morning we are on the road (again) heading towards Welcome, NC for a day trip to the RCR Racing Museum and Race Shop. After that we are going to go to Gibbs Racing Shop.
Yesterday, we went to Evernham's Fan Appreciation Day at the Race Shop and got some shots of Elliott Sadler, but we weren't there early enough to get wristbands for autographs. They had all kinds of vendors and we played all kinds of games and got all kinds of prizes. From there we went to Childress Winery for lunch and a Tour. It was getting late when we headed to Speed Street for a walk down the street. There were so many people on the streets. I got a couple of Sam Bass posters and he autographed them and I got my picture with him again for the 3rd year in a row!
Cully arrived around 10:00 p.m. and we finally shut the lights off at 12:30 a.m. I got up this morning at 8 am while the others slept, I went down to breakfast and at out at the pool. Very relaxing. Now we are on the road and getting close.
Updates coming soon!

Charlotte N.C, Here We Come

This is the fifth year that Janine and I have come to Charlotte for the Coca-Cola 600. Rudy is with us this year and Wendy is not. It is a little sad to leave her behind this year, but with little Jake, she's got her hands full this year!! We left Apopka at 9:15 p.m. and drove until approximately 1:30 a.m. where we stopped in the SC Welcome Center to get some shut-eye. We woke up at 6:00 a.m. and continued out journey. We stopped for breakfast at Cracker Barrel and upon our arrival in the Charlotte/Concord area were visited several Race Shops and then went to Qualifying at 6:00 p.m. before heading to our hotel! We finally crashed about 11:30 p.m. Oh yeah, almost forgot - Can you believe that we walked into Ruby Tuesday's for lunch and there sitting was the CREW for the 24 Team. I talked with them and wished them good luck and had my picture taken with them.

Now it is 8:15 and we are about to hit the road again, heading towards Statesville, NC to Evernham Motor Sports to see if we can catch a glimpse of Elliott Sadler and others. There are other stops on our agenda, but no one knows where we will end up. I'll try to keep you posted as we make our journey today!

The Weekend

Can you believe it is almost June already? The weekend was a good one. Lots got done and taken care of. I felt very productive and I even got time with little Elani. We have so much fun with her and she loves to come and stay at our house and go to church with us.

The weather was perfect in central Florida all weekend long, too!

Now I am counting the days until we leave for Charlotte, North Carolina for the Coca-Cola 600!

We are planning to leave Wednesday night after choir rehearsal and after Forest Lake Academy's End-of-the-Year Staff Party. Qualifying is Thursday evening and we are planning to be there for it! There is always so much to do in the area that weekend, we are constantly busy going here and there to Race Shops and Speed Street and of course at the Track!

See ya on the Road!! Travel Safe!

More Time with Elani, too

We haven't seen Elani in a few days, so Rudy picked her up on Tuesday night to come and play with. We had a ball. She wanted her picture taken in the chair and when we went outside to play on the swing, she asked me where the camera was???? So I went and got it and took pictures of her swinging and then Grandpa took her for a ride way up high in the bucket truck - she loved it and when it got time to go home she didn't want to go and cried really hard, so I promised her that she could come again on Friday. Yeah - it's definitely a promise I will keep with her. I want to spend time with her as much as she wants to be with us! It's the love of a grandchild just Grand?!!

Darlington Burnout!!

I just got a chance to actually look at some of the pictures I took in Darlington and order some prints and I am totally amazed at how good this burn-out picture turned out! Happy, happy, happy! I love it - going to blow it up to an 8 x 10 and frame it....