5:40am
5:00am comes waaaaaaay too early for me!!!
But that's the time Tony wanted to get up.
We did get to bed early and I don't think
we had any problem getting to sleep as we
were all wore out from the drive, swimming
a couple times and the hot tub.
I am still fighting a cold or allergies,
whatever it may be. Blowing my nose
every couple of minutes. My body is so stiff this
morning and I took a couple ibuprofen to help loosen up some.
Whelp, it's 6:00am, time to walk down to the dining area and
get some breakfast.
Heading out soon after breakfast and we pack the truck
for things we're taking to the track.
------------------------------------------------------------
8:18am
Arrived at the Michigan International Race Track at 8:18am.
We got there with no problems using
my written directions I planned out ahead of time.
Took about an hour to get there from our hotel
and that was taking all the back/farm field roads.
Once we got there we found our seats
and put our coolers and bags at them and left
to walk around.
The race was supposed to of started around 12-1:00pm.
It rained and rained and did I mention it rained.
Anyone at the track was drenched and all hiding out
under the bleachers. We were nowhere near our seats.
This place was HUGE! And of course didn't have our
rain ponchos with us. And even under all the bleachers there
it leaked and dripped and some places looked like
mini waterfalls. Eventually me and Jonathan braved the hike
to our seats to retrieve our coolers/bags to get our lunch,
drinks and ponchos. We finally walked back to the truck
and sat there for awhile til it quit raining.
We thought we had gotten a good spot where we parked.
We didn't know any better being first timers
and followed the people that
worked there with their hand signals. We were able
to park in handicap parking because we had our plaque.
We parked almost
underneath the water tower and was the fourth car back from
turn one's grandstands. Did ya catch what I said,
TURN ONE! Our seats were at the opposite end of the track
at turn four and the start of the front straight away.
I swear it had to be a mile in each direction from our
seats to the truck and we went to the truck twice
along with walking around an area they had set up
with displays and souveneers (don't know how to spell
at the moment and don't care. It's 10:15pm and
we've been up since 5:00am!)
It was I think just after 2:00pm and we were making the
truck along the backside of the grandstands
to get to our seats. The rain finally stopped and we could
hear the jet dryers drying the track.
We had been seeing the jet fighters flying off in the distance
and as we were walking below the bleachers they made
the one low flying pass as they usually do at the beginning
of all NASCAR races. They were EXTREMELY loud
to the point I had to cover my ears. Louder than the
NASCARS themselves and they were really loud.
We got to our seats right before they announced,
"Gentlemen, start your engines."
I think it was around 6:30-7:00pm that we finally made it out
of Michigan International Speedway. Traffic wasn't as
bad as I thought it would be considering
how many people were at the track.
We took the same back roads back to the hotel.
We were traveling with some of the NASCAR haulers,
We had Long John Silvers truck in front of us
along with Stanley. Then behind us was
the 43 car STP? and Mendards.
It was pretty cool riding in the convoy of trucks.
Have you ever seen Smokey and the Bandit
and seen where the Bandit would drive through small
towns and people would be cheering him on,
on the side of the road waiting for him to pass by?
Well there was people in these small, don't blink
as you pass through them or you'll miss them towns
and people sitting out along the road at their homes
Heading out soon after breakfast and we pack the truck
for things we're taking to the track.
------------------------------------------------------------
8:18am
Arrived at the Michigan International Race Track at 8:18am.
We got there with no problems using
my written directions I planned out ahead of time.
Took about an hour to get there from our hotel
and that was taking all the back/farm field roads.
Once we got there we found our seats
and put our coolers and bags at them and left
to walk around.
The race was supposed to of started around 12-1:00pm.
It rained and rained and did I mention it rained.
Anyone at the track was drenched and all hiding out
under the bleachers. We were nowhere near our seats.
This place was HUGE! And of course didn't have our
rain ponchos with us. And even under all the bleachers there
it leaked and dripped and some places looked like
mini waterfalls. Eventually me and Jonathan braved the hike
to our seats to retrieve our coolers/bags to get our lunch,
drinks and ponchos. We finally walked back to the truck
and sat there for awhile til it quit raining.
We thought we had gotten a good spot where we parked.
We didn't know any better being first timers
and followed the people that
worked there with their hand signals. We were able
to park in handicap parking because we had our plaque.
We parked almost
underneath the water tower and was the fourth car back from
turn one's grandstands. Did ya catch what I said,
TURN ONE! Our seats were at the opposite end of the track
at turn four and the start of the front straight away.
I swear it had to be a mile in each direction from our
seats to the truck and we went to the truck twice
along with walking around an area they had set up
with displays and souveneers (don't know how to spell
at the moment and don't care. It's 10:15pm and
we've been up since 5:00am!)
It was I think just after 2:00pm and we were making the
truck along the backside of the grandstands
to get to our seats. The rain finally stopped and we could
hear the jet dryers drying the track.
We had been seeing the jet fighters flying off in the distance
and as we were walking below the bleachers they made
the one low flying pass as they usually do at the beginning
of all NASCAR races. They were EXTREMELY loud
to the point I had to cover my ears. Louder than the
NASCARS themselves and they were really loud.
We got to our seats right before they announced,
"Gentlemen, start your engines."
I think it was around 6:30-7:00pm that we finally made it out
of Michigan International Speedway. Traffic wasn't as
bad as I thought it would be considering
how many people were at the track.
We took the same back roads back to the hotel.
We were traveling with some of the NASCAR haulers,
We had Long John Silvers truck in front of us
along with Stanley. Then behind us was
the 43 car STP? and Mendards.
It was pretty cool riding in the convoy of trucks.
Have you ever seen Smokey and the Bandit
and seen where the Bandit would drive through small
towns and people would be cheering him on,
on the side of the road waiting for him to pass by?
Well there was people in these small, don't blink
as you pass through them or you'll miss them towns
and people sitting out along the road at their homes
out in the middle of BFE with signs,
waiting for the NASCAR hauler trucks to pass
by their home and give them the "blow your horn" signal
and the trucks would sound their horns as the passed
by in the middle of nowhere.
Now you know it's a small town or out in BFE
when you have nothing better to do than
wait for the NASCAR trucks to go bye, LOL.
Made it back to the hotel about 8:30.
We had to take a little detour. When you left the track
they had the main road all going in one direction.
And of course it was the opposite direction we wanted
to go. That set us back about a half hour with that
detour. Got back to the hotel and I warmed up the
homemade lasagna I brought from home.
After we ate we went down to the pool about 9:15pm.
Kids swam in the pool and I got in the hot tub.
Tony sat along the sidelines watching us all.
At 10:00pm we all returned to our room.
And that is when I found the chance to get back on the computer.
It's 10:30pm now and I'm ready to hit the sack.
We've been awake 17 hours and I'm too pooped to pop.
So you'll understand why I don't feel like uploading any
photos tonight. Once we get home tomorrow sometime
I'll work on the pictures. We have to be out of the hotel
at 11:00am. And breakfast is 6-9:00am so are hoping
to get up in time to get some grub. Then start packing up
the truck. Heading out after any rush hour traffic.
NIGHTY NIGHT!
IT'S BEEN A LOOOONG DAY!
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