Sunday was a day of rest!  We didn’t even hardly watch TV!  And today we were up early for a tour of 3 of the NASCAR big teams garages.  Mostly what you see is the area where they are building the shells and their museums of there winnings and of course the gift shop!

We saw Hendrick Motor Sports,  Home of the #5, #24, #48 and #88!  I love these guys and really hope #5 starts having a better year!

We also went to Roush and Stewart/Haas Motors.  They all have lots of cars on display and this is one we saw at Roush!

OUCH!

#10, Danica Patrick

I wish she would do better so I could become a Fan!  She drives ok, but I would hope she would put the petal to the metal and show these boys how to drive!

The most interesting thing on this tour was we met a coach for the Hendrick Motors who trains the athletes that are the pit crews.  The actually recruit from college campuses, have training camps and lower divisions just like other sports.  The guy was really informative and said he tried it but the coaching side is what he is best at!

This is an area that is a replica of a pit road that they use for practice and training.  They brought the car around while we were there.  Paul is sitting on the wall that they have to stand behind until the driver comes to a stop!

I knew going to the races would be different than watching at home; you get to smell the rubber, see the smoke, blow out your eardrums from the thunder, eat lousy hot dogs that cost more than a steak and the beer!  What I didn’t know was that there is even more waiting when you are at the track but there is plenty to see and lots of stuff to spend your money on.

We arrived at the track on Saturday about 3 pm, just in time to see Jake Owen take the stage

Whoa! What about NASCAR or at least some cowboy boots!

He was lots of fun, I had a spot about 20 feet from the stage so it was really entertaining watching him.  He was definitely enjoying his JOB!  Someone handed him some moonshine from the front row and he had to take a moment to recompose himself!  I really enjoyed when he brought his mom up on stage who he said had never been to a NASCAR race.  He was such a hippy, fun guy.

Paul standing at the entrance from pit row onto turn 1

So you arrive at the track at 3 pm, we watch a 1 1/2  hour concert, make our way to our seats, watch the stands fill while listening to another concert with TRAIN.  Not my favorite, it mostly sounded like noise!  We were seated a ways away but they were not nearly as entertaining.

When they got done there was a break and then finally the qualifying laps!  This is very entertaining as each of the 21 drivers took to the track seperatly, made a warm up lap, a full speed lap and then a full speed lap where they finished in their pit for a 4 tire change and back onto the track to finish.  They qualified with the 3 laps including the pit stop!

Darius Rucker sang the National Anthem

Several drivers missed their pit as they are going full speed and had to back up.  The drivers I was rooting for all made their pits, had good runs, started the race well and Kasey Kahn, the #5 almost won the race!  Actually he hit the wall after leading at least 1/2 of the race and he was done.  The driver that won is not a big name but a very happy guy and won by staying out of trouble, making a couple of great moves in the pits and racing hard.  Congratulations to Jamie McMurray, the #1 driver and his team.

We had a great time but it was really long.  The race didn’t start until almost 10 pm, was over by 11:30 and we were in bed by midnight!

Finally!  We decided to do this in December, bought our tickets and paid for our camping in January and today we sat in the stands to enjoy wildcard qualifying for the Allstar Race on Saturday and the Campingworld Truck Series race.  Great seats right near the start/finish line and midway up so we can see the back stretch!  (I’m learning the lingo!)  The big weekend race is Saturday night and A.J Allmendinger and Clint Bowyer won a spot in the race with the Allstars.

Today I wore my Jeff Gordon shirt. I have several shirts with different drivers I will wear this week. I just couldn’t decide on only one driver!

A.J. known as “the Dinger”  is who we were rooting for as he is from Los Gatos and so we think of him as a neighbor!  We even bought Paul one of his shirts that for now hangs in our windshield as our token NASCAR fan showing.  I am hoping Paul wears the shirt tonight but maybe not as he has a really bad case of poison oak again and has modified several shirts to reduce the rub!

Before the race can begin we have to have introductions!  Two drivers we will be watching,  not sure about rooting for them yet!

#10 Danica. She is a woman in a mans world. I wish she would do better. I really want to be a Fan!

The Dinger!

Back to the race!  The Allstar qualifying was not real exciting except when Boyer overtook A.J. after 18 of the first 20 laps.  The second half was all Boyer with A.J. right behind and the rest of the 20 or so cars way back.  There was only one caution in the 40 laps so as a fan it wasn’t much to watch.

The final pace lap on the back stretch

And they are off- this is the only time the #3 led the race, as A.J. overtook him near the first turn

And the winners are:

#15 Clint Boyer and the #47 A.J. Allmendinger

And then the fans vote one more driver in and the winner is….. #98 Josh Wise.  He is a very new driver and has embraced social media and it worked!

Just like any other sporting event NASCAR has filler stuff between events while you at home get to watch commercials.  Tonight they had a parade of very fancy Big Rig trucks.

A really big truck, with a big truck and another truck!

All lite up

Then the truck race.  There was some action and wrecks but mostly the #51 Kyle Busch was in the front for every lap and usually way ahead of any competition.  The closest anyone got was after cautions for maybe a lap.  The trucks do go pretty fast and we saw one car lifted right off the ground for a second.  No injuries, only some sparks and most trucks finished the race.

The trucks ready for qualifying

Today we get to see  Jake Owens perform on the track along with Train,  and then it is a couple hours of NASCAR’s best in the Allstar Race!

Being married 30 years has taken a lot of compromise and I find myself at one of those moments, Charlotte North Carolina for 12 days of NASCAR, or as those that are not fans say, the GO FAST, TURN LEFT, GO FAST sport!  Paul really likes this sport and tries to watch it on TV when we can get it.  He has worn the hat of each years Championship driver since we have been on the road.  We went to our first NASCAR race at Talladega Superspeedway for our 25th anniversary so being a very good sport I agreed to come to two races at the Charlotte Motor Speedway.  We will be seeing a truck race, lots of qualifying races, an allstar race, a Nationwide race and the Coco Cola 600!    We will also get to see lots more NASCAR stuff this week because this is NASCAR country!

Let the racing begin!

I could do this!

Charlotte Motor Speedway

We can almost see the entrance from our campsite!  I’m figuring we will be able to smell the smoke once the racing begins – oh boy!

NASCAR Hall of Fame

Our first event was to visit the Hall of Fame for NASCAR where they have everything race car!  This is an actual strip of race track that has the banking so you can step onto it and see how steep it is.  I had a hard time standing on it.

Trevor Bayne’s Garage

Too clean!

We thought we were going to see A.J. Allmendinger, the No. 47 but he shares the garage and they did not have his area open.

Dale Earnhardt Sr.

In the town of Kannapolis where Dale Earnhardt grew up they have a giant statue as he is the King of NASCAR.

Statues impress me!
Love a nice butt! You could see the stitching and the Wrangler Patch!

So far we haven’t seen any racing but it is getting very festive with lots of banners,  big trucks with drivers names painted on the sides and tomorrow promises lots of race track excitement!

A quiet evening before the excitement!

Now I’ve got to pick a driver, get a banner and start cheering!  Don’t tell Paul but I am actually looking forward to the experience!!!

This morning I woke up with the worse case of mosquito bites ever and I applied repellent and stayed inside as much as possible.  I even had an oyster shooter at Howard’s Pub!  We took another ferry to get off the island and landed in Hatteras.  What a cute town!  We didn’t stop as we have a very busy schedule and I wanted to get away from the bugs!!!!

We landed in Kitty Hawk and proceeded to the monument.  Paul loves this stuff.  I was just happy that the wind was blowing so hard I knew there were no mosquitos!  It sounds like I am complaining.  Well, I am!  You should see my body.  I have at least 50 bites on my lower right arm and many more everywhere else! Sorry no photos!!!!

As you stand facing the monument and then when you climb the hill and look over the take off area you realize the magnitude of what these two young men accomplished with so little.

Orville & Wilbur Wright Memorial

A marker for each flight that famous day

Cocktails were inside today because you couldn’t keep your chair upright in the wind!  I am starting to question this part of our trip, between the rain, mosquitos and now the wind it makes it hard to just sit and enjoy the scenery.

Our friends arrived!  Pat & Kip arrived in Selma on Sunday afternoon to very rainy skies and it seems it has been raining every since!!  We showed them to their site where they spent the next couple of days relaxing, catching up on things and getting a quick dose of southern hospitality from Paul’s family.

45a and 45b Linda Lane!

The sites are large, the amentities include meals and the happy hour is fabulous.

Wednesday we loaded up the homes on wheels and headed out to Ocracoke Island.  To get to the island we have to board a ferry for a 2 1/2 hour ride across the inland waterway.  The ferry leaves at 4:30 so the plan was to get the RV’s on the ferry, crack a bottle of wine open some snacks and have a relaxing ride!  Sounds great and then someone always has to mess with my plans.  We arrive at the ferry dock and the first sign we see says “no restrooms on the ferry”  how does that work?  Hopefully we can get to our rig cause if I drink a bottle of wine there is going to be a need.  Next we see a sign that says “no alcoholic beverages allowed on the ferry”  Seriously!  Maybe we can just sit in our RV and that won’t count!!!

A close fit!

We are on one side of the center of the ferry and the other rig is on the other side!  It’s tight but we could get out!  Duke had to stay inside.  We decided to take seats in the ferry lobby and just enjoy the ride.  It is a pretty long ride, it was raining off and on and their isn’t much to see but we managed to pass the time just talking!  The guys went down and took naps.

That's our ferry in the background

Our campsite is right on the ocean.  After a morning walk on the beach we headed to town.  Ocracoke is a very small island where life is slow and town is dotted with little boutique stores and lots of island charm.  They don’t give things away out here!  Pat and I tried and just couldn’t find anything we had to have.

The island has some ponies that no one knows how they really got here but now they are penned up and protected from the vehicles that cruise around on their turf.  The National Park Service protects them and keeps them where the public can still see them today.

Ponies

The island ponies are suppose to look different than other horses, they have less vertibra’s and ribs.  I really couldn’t see the difference but they were fun to watch grazing there in the rain not paying any attention to the 10 or so humans peaking thru the fence taking pictures!

We will say good bye to Ocracoke and it’s interesting culture tomorrow and head north towards Kill Devil.  I am hoping the weather improves and the mosquitos will be gone!  Wish us luck.

Amy & Stephanie came to visit the family in North Carolina and deliver me my Mother’s Day Gift!  Amy crafted a beautiful serving tray that I can use to serve up great lunches or cocktails or whatever we choose.

They arrived really late on Thursday evening so Friday was spent getting pedicures and hanging out with Grandpa.  Saturday we had a cook out with the cousins.  It was fun to see them all together.  The boys tried to play a game of baseball and then the thunder came!  It was raining so hard and within a very short time the yard was flooded.  Everyone retreated to Carol’s house and a game of Charades with the cousins pitted against the friends provided everyone with some side splitting laughter!

Sunday, our little family of four met some old friends of mine for breakfast at Cracker Barrel and then headed for Wilmington and the beach!  It was a cold, cloudy day and the wind was blowing enough that it felt like being sand blasted so we didn’t linger on the beach.  It was a long day of driving but we found a great hotel right on the beach and had a wonderful sunset.  Monday morning we had lunch on the patio and sat facing the ocean for a bit before heading to Historic Wilmington for some site seeing.

Wrightsville Beach

Wilmington is not as grand as Savannah or Charleston and a bit run down on the waterfront but we did get to see some interesting architecture and ride a horse drawn trolley car!

North Carolina is a state where you have to go to a special store (ABC) to purchase liquor.  You can buy beer and wine in the market but for anything better you have to make a special trip to the ABC store.  So when we were driving along in Wilmington and we see this

Drive thru Beer store!

Unbelievable!  You can’t buy alcohol just anywhere but you can drive thru and pick up a six pack!  And, they bring it right to your car just Jack n the Box!

Amy flew to New Jersey Monday evening and Stephanie flew home on Tuesday.  It was great to see them, I just wish it was longer.

Our home for the next 3 weeks will be in Paul’s sister’s backyard.  We arrived Monday evening and got settled.  This week was a week of learning about dad’s care, cleaning the RV and just enjoying visiting everyone.  Carol, Paul’s sister is very busy with life and her two sons are both getting married this summer (June and October).  Good thing it is sons!

Saturday evening we got to go to a Pig Pickin’ celebration for Adam & Christin (Carol’s youngest) It was a great party.  Here in the south they don’t just have a bridal shower and a bachelor party, they have multiply showers.  This one was a household shower.  They got lots of fun stuff, a wheelbarrow and cooking supplies complete with recipes and ingredients!  These kids (23 years old) are buying their first home before they get married.  Get this people from CA!  A 1500 sq. foot, 3 bedroom, 2 bath home on two acres brand new (it’s being built to order!)  $150K.  That is not the down payment, that’s the cost!!!!

Sunday I got to connect with an old friend from childhood.  She lives in Raleigh and we met for lunch!  I love this living on the road and getting to reconnect with people that I have lost touch with.

Stay tuned, we will be here until May 16th.